Easy Protein Pasta Sauce with Hidden Veggies
This easy protein pasta sauce with hidden veggies uses jarred pasta sauce with TWO additional ingredients to make it packed with protein, fiber, vitamin A, and potassium. The taste is mild in flavor, and both my kids ate this nutrient packed sauce. It's a balance of convenience and nutrition.
Servings 5 servings
Calories 380kcal
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rao's vodka pasta sauce or preferred jarred or homemade sauce
- 2 cups sweet potatoes cubes, frozen
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast see notes
- 1 box Barilla Protein Plus Pasta or preferred pasta
- 1/2-1 cup pasta water
- 1 lb. Italian sausage, optional
- Garlic powder, salt, pepper (to taste)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Reserve about 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
- While the pasta cooks, microwave the frozen sweet potato cubes until soft.
- In a blender, combine the pasta sauce, cottage cheese (or yogurt), sweet potatoes, and ¼ cup of the reserved pasta water. Blend until smooth. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
- Return the drained pasta to the pot (or a large pan) and pour the sauce over top. Heat on low, stirring to combine.
- Add parmesan cheese and stir until melted. Slowly add more reserved pasta water as needed until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.
- Top with additional parmesan cheese and serve.
Notes
Nutritional Information for Barilla Protein+ with Sauce. The nutrition for the sauce without noodles is 150 calories, 9.6g protein and 1.8g fiber about for 5 servings.
Swapping parmesan cheese for nutritional yeast is actually a really smart idea to boost nutrition even further - adding more protein, fiber and micronutrients! It tastes very similar to parmesan.
Nutrition
Calories: 380kcal | Carbohydrates: 60g | Protein: 22g | Fat: 7.4g | Sodium: 550mg | Fiber: 7.8g