Quick pasta & mini-meatballs
10
Points®
Total time: 30 min • Prep: 12 min • Cook: 18 min • Serves: 1 • Difficulty: Easy
This is the perfect, quickest, most delicious pasta recipe for one. You can multiply this recipe to serve a crowd or to make easy take-to-work lunches for yourself. We call for rotini here, but you can use any kind of whole wheat pasta you have on hand. The tiny meatballs are made with lean ground beef, fresh basil, seasoned breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and a pinch of salt, all of the classics we love in a meatball. Cook them in a small skillet, then add the pasta along with store-bought marinara sauce, and your satisfying pasta dinner is ready to go.
Ingredients
Uncooked whole wheat pasta
2 oz
Uncooked 93% lean ground beef
3 oz
Basil
4 tsp
Seasoned breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp
Grated Parmesan cheese
1.5 Tbsp
Garlic
1 small clove(s)
Table salt
1 pinch(es)
Cooking spray
3 spray(s)
Jarred fat-free marinara sauce
0.333 cup(s)
Instructions
1
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt if desired. Drain, reserving some of the cooking water to thin sauce if necessary.
2
Meanwhile, combine beef, 2 tsp basil, breadcrumbs, 2 tsp Parmesan, garlic, and salt in a small bowl; form into 8 meatballs.
3
Coat a small skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Add meatballs; cook, shaking pan occasionally, until meatballs are browned and cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add drained pasta and sauce to skillet, along with some reserved pasta cooking water, if desired; toss over low heat until coated. Stir in remaining 2 tsp basil; serve sprinkled with remaining 2 ½ tsp Parmesan.
4
Makes 1 serving.
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