This post may contain affiliate links, please see our privacy policy for details.
Giant bowls of cozy, comfort pasta for you today. Yes.
Watch the How To Video Here:
Golden sun-dried tomato red lentil pasta from Half Baked Harvest on Vimeo.
But the healthy kind of course!!
Have you guys ever heard of red lentil pasta? Up until a few weeks ago, I had no idea what is was. My brotherโs girlfriend Caitlin is studying nutrition and is currently into finding all the healthy ways she can to eat her favorite foods. Obviously pasta is a favorite (I mean who doesnโt love pasta?), so she started buying this red lentil pasta from Whole Foods and using it in place of regular pasta. When she came out for Christmas, Caitlin informed me of all these new to me foods, red lentil pasta being one of them. As soon as she told me about it, I pretty muchย immediately ran to Whole Foods and cleared the shelves of each and every box.
Ahh, sorryโฆnot sorry?
Being a lentil lover, and of course a pasta lover as well, I was pretty excited to try these red lentil pastas out. If you guys have yet to try red lentil pasta, I am highly recommending it (no, this is not a sponsored post). Itโs heartier than traditional pasta, but the taste is honestly very similar, and I am in love with its pretty red color. Colorful food gets me every single time. Once I tried this pasta, I knew I wanted to use it to make a marinara inspired sauce full of healthy nutrients, basically I wanted to make a superfood pasta.
Enter thisย Golden Sun-Dried Tomato Red Lentil Pasta.
This dish is full of fiber, healthy carbs, vegetables and yup, that crazy popular ingredient of the moment, turmeric, hence the โgoldenโ in the title. Everyone in my family is a huge sucker for pasta. Actually, I donโt really no anyone who doesnโt love a bowl of pasta. Oh wait, apparently my cousin Abby doesnโt like pasta, but I dunno, either sheโs crazy or sheโs just lying to herself, cause pasta is the BEST. My brother Kaiโs favorite way to consume his pasta is covered in a really good, heavy on the garlic, homemade marinara sauce, topped generously with parmesan cheese. Well, that or fettuccine sauce, but Iโm still thinking red sauce would win if I were to ask him.
When I was talking to Cait about the Healthy January recipes she suggested a super healthy, everyday style, marinara sauce to put over her favorite red lentil pasta. Seemed like a pretty perfect idea to me so I went for it. My goal was to keep the recipe quick and simple, but still healthy and flavorful.
To make the sauce Iย turned to all my favorite ingredients and key players: olive oil, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, salt and pepper, and really good fire roast san marzano tomatoes. Since I wanted this sauce to be flavor packed, but not take all day to cook, I added sun-dried tomatoes into the mix. Trust me, these are a must as they give you that slow cooked all day flavor. SO GOOD.
My super foods for this recipe? Ground turmeric, apple cider vinegar, baby kale (or spinach), and of course, the red lentil pasta.
Put everything together and you not only have the most delicious bowl of pasta, but itโs basically a power bowlโฆmeaning going back for seconds (and thirds?) is totally a must. ๐
I ended up topping my bowls of pasta with toasted pine nuts and sesame seeds and extra handfuls of spinachโฆthe boys dumped on the parmesan, typical. Good news is that they were down with the golden sauce and the red lentil pasta.ย If youโre not a huge fan of turmeric, I would still consider giving tis recipe a try. The turmericโs flavor gets pretty drowned out by all of the tomatoes.
My family members who donโt live here are long gone, but Iโve been making this pasta once a week and loving it. Trust me, itโs going to become your new go-to week night pasta recipe. The best part? It is truly GUILT FREE. Yes, please!
PS. Caitโs healthy eatโs are inspiring so many recipes this month. She is consistently snacking on apples and almond butter and I am starting to think maybe I need to make a recipe involving these two ingredients? Maybe a healthy breakfast/snack? Anyone looking for ideas like that?
Golden Sun-Dried Tomato Red Lentil Pasta.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 sweet onion, chopped
- 6 cloves garlic, minced or grated
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons ground turmeric
- kosher salt and pepper
- 1 (28 ounce) can fire roasted tomatoes, I like san marzano
- 1/2 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes, oil drained + chopped
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 (8 ounce) box red lentil pasta or other short cut pasta
- 2 large handfuls baby spinach or kale
- grated parmesan, nutritional yeast, toasted pine nuts and or seeds, for topping
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook until soft and caramelized, about 5-10 minutes. Add the garlic, basil, oregano, turmeric, salt and pepper. Cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Slowly add the tomatoes and the juices from the can, crushing the tomatoes with the back of a wooden spoon. Add the sun-dried tomatoes and vinegar. Simmer the sauce for 10-15 minutes or until reduced slightly. If desired, you can puree the sauce in a blender.
- Stir in the spinach and cook five minutes longer.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and boil the pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain.
- Divide the pasta among bowls and top with a generous amount of sauce. Top as desired with cheese, nuts and herbs.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Mid week pasta? Yup, yup. YUP. Letโs do it. ๐
Do you have a recommendation for an ingredient I could sub for the sun dried tomatoes? Dying to try the red lentil pasta, just not everyone in my family will eat sun dried tomatoes.
Hi Holly,
I would use a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it!! xx
Super yummy! My toddler approves as well ? thanks for sharing this recipe. I followed exactly, and wouldn’t change anything next time we make it. It’ll definitely be a regular item on our menu.
Hi Megan,
Happy Wednesday!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, I love to hear that it was enjoyed!!? xTieghan
This is literally one of my favorite recipes but my fiance doesn’t like tomatoes ;-; I’ll have to try it with the sauce blended sometime to see if he’ll eat it that way but I love it unblended. If he still doesn’t like it… well I guess it’ll be what I bring to work for lunch!
Hey Molly,
I am delighted you enjoyed the recipe, thanks so much for giving it a try! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan ! I need your opinion on an idea that came to me : what about red lentils in the sauce ? Do you think it would work mixing them with the rest of the sauce ingredients ? Or maybe even skip the canned tomatoes since they’d be replaced by the lentils ?
Hey Laura,
Unfortunately I haven’t tested this, so I can’t quite say how that would work. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
I just made this tonight, I loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for trying this Meheret! xTieghan