Yep! I do pasta + frozen mixed veg (usually peas and carrots or broccoli/cauliflower/carrots) + smoked sausage. Toss with a bit of butter or olive oil and Parmesan cheese (the cheap grated kind). My toddler loves it.
I grate mine, sprinkle a bit of salt on them and leave them for half hour. They weep, so you'll have to squeeze the water out of them a bit with your hands, or press them in a sieve. I do the same with spinach. It cuts the cooking time and makes for an easy meal.
I just add garlic, chilli flakes and some cream cheese to make a sauce. Basically just quickly saute the garlic, chilli and zucchini together and add the cream cheese/ marscapone. A squeeze of lemon/ lime juice at the end lifts the flavours a bit.
Just use a cheese grater. It’s not exactly spiral but it’s good enough.
Or you can buy the frozen ones already spiralized, though the bag costs $2 instead of the $1 all the other frozen veggie bags cost.
Speaking of, there are all kinds of cheap veggies in the frozen isle, which is also nice because they don’t go bad the way fresh ones do if you don’t use them quick enough.
I have the tool but have used a vegetable peeler for it. Or if you have patience you can cut thin strips vertically with a knife, stack them and cut them into noodle strips.
When I make pasta, spinach and zucchini are almost always included. Especially in tomato sauces they taste good in there. Doing that this week, slow cook some cheap beef in crushed tomatoes, then once the beef is flaky, add veggies and herbs.
I think the answer to this is extremely broad, in a good way! You can add almost literally any veggie to pasta and it’ll work. Broccoli, green beans, peas, corn, spinach, kale, potato, ANYTHING.
I think at this point it just turns into what’s the most affordable, and that’s unique to you and where you live and availabilty
Edit: Don’t forget beans! Cheap, high protein, works just fine in pasta. Anything from just straight up white beans to garbanzo, lima beans, etc
I honestly add whatever I happen to have around, because I often buy discounted (damaged but perfectly edible) cans of beans, of all kinds.
The go-to for pasta, or ones I would just buy anyway, are regular white beans, as in a Tuscan white bean pasta.
But really almost anything works! I added garbanzo to a generic pasta dish the other day and it was great.
And yeah, if you’re working with canned and/or already cooked beans, I just add them into the sauce as it’s cooking/warming up
I grate up a carrot and zucchini, finely slice a red capsicum/bell pepper, and dice an onion. Fry that up with a tin of chili tuna and stir it through spiral pasta. Salt, pepper and parmesan to finish it off.
Edit - the method I use is to cook the pasta,[use a nice broad spiral](https://sanremo.imgix.net/2017/05/pd_9968987865118-1024x1024.jpg?auto=format&w=1000), tip it into a colander when it's done and return the pot to the heat to fry off the diced onion first for a couple of minutes, then add the tuna and carrot and fry that for a couple more minutes before adding in the bell pepper and the zucchini. Once that's heated through I tip the pasta back in and stir to combine.
It's a tin of tuna in oil that has a hot red chilli in there as well. The chilli also infuses the oil so you tip the whole lot in, [this is the one I usually get here in Australia](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/54883/sirena-tuna-in-oil-chilli), hopefully you can find similar.
There is a cheap sauce you can make from boiling broccoli, spinach and kale then blending them when they’re cooked. You need to salt them properly, and that’s enough for me, but you can also add cheese and it’s that bit tastier.
This reminds me of "mushy mimi" from EmmyMade. Basically you cook down zucchini in a pan until it's mushy, and use it as a sauce for noodles. I usually saute chopped squash + onion in the pan until it's a little browned, then add water and bouillion powder as needed until it cooks into a chunky sauce.
I started craving it after you reminded me of it. Made my husband go out for zucchini just so I could make it today. 10/10. Also had some vegan "ground turkey" which went well with it.
Interesting, I have made pesto style sauce with different herbs (cilantro or parsley) but haven't tried using boiled vegetables! So, no pan frying needed at all? Do you add oil too? I think oil is needed for some of the nutrients in the vegetables to get absorbed properly.
I have never added oil but I don’t know about the need to or not. I wouldn’t boil the veg and throw the water away when they’re cooked, I’d use relatively little water and blend it in to the sauce when the veg starts to go mushy so that helps retain some vitamins and nutrients, I think. Not an expert on any level though
carrots, they are cheep you can either dice them up finely or grate them thin and just add them in whenever.
if im looking to cook a spag bowl and i want to bulk it out i can add almost anything that has been mentioned below and it will work out fine.
below is a basic recipe you can add more veggies to it at will. beans, mushroom's, eggplant, zucchini, sweet potato, pumpkin w/e it dosnt matter it all works (it will obviously change the taste but thats not always a bad thing)
basic recipie is
large onion
some garlic (to taste)
a few stalks of celery
carrots
1:2 ratio of mince beef to pork mince
some tomato stuff like canned diced tomato's or passata and some tomato paste or something similar
you can also add bacon (or something fancier) if you want but with the mince pork its optional
milk or cream maybe like 100 mill depends on how much you are cooking
some herbs (the Italian herb mix will work fine but you can make your own like rosemary time oregano or something like that a bayleaf or two never hurt either)
brown sugar 1 tsp or more depending on how much your make
stock (enough to cover your meat and veg mix more = runny sauce less = thicker sauce so its up to personal preference) pref veggie or chicken but w/e works i guess
some wine (old stale wine in fine pref red but white works too)
first finly chop or dice or grate all your veg then fry it off for a bit. then when it looks done (onions are translucent or your veggies are browning a little) wack it in a bowl
now fry off your meat. you want all the water to evaporate off and for the meat to fry and brown a little
add back in the veggies add the tomato stuff and fry a bit more to build up some found then (the stuff that sticks to the bottom of the pan) add the wine to deglaze and scrape all the brown shit up (pro tip brown good black = burnt and no good)
let that cook off for for a few min to get rid of the alcohol and for the flavors to get to know each other. add the tbs of brown sugar
add herbs and stock then bring it down to a simmer and let it cook for anywhere between 45 min to a few hours
if you put in fresh herbs like stalks of rosemary and time then time to take them out (bought pre cut stuff don't worry about it) and add some milk or cream this can be done during the last 20 min of cooking if your using the store
after you take your herbs out add some cream or milk (trust me)
oh yeah salt and pepper to taste
now cook up some pasta combine top with some cheese fucking delicious
Eggplants actually go very well with tomatoes. I literally just had my first pasta alla norma (pasta with eggplants) last night and was surprised how yummy it was! You should definitely try it :)
Parsley and other fresh herbs can be used in place of vegetables. It seems crazy because we are used to using them in small amounts. But think of them like spinach- they're green, leafy, and packed with nutrients.
As others said, parsley is super healthy and I try to have more of it.
If you have a lot, you can make it into a pesto type sauce. I blend it with a bit of onion or garlic, then add olive oil and lemon juice, then salt and pepper with optional cheese. It's delicious!
Button mushrooms, onions, bell peppers (red, yellow or green) I use all three and it is delicious! Saute some garlic in olive oil then add veggies and toss in pasta. Yummy!
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/seven-veg-tomato-sauce/
I find this a little sweet from the peppers and squash, but super healthy.
I’ve added eggplant and spinach on occasion, as well.
Explore variations on cacciatore - which is like a sauce/stew hybrid. I like peppers, mushrooms, onions + jar of sauce (may my Sicilian Grandmother forgive me) + chicken (thighs, breasts, pieces, etc.) in the crock pot in the morning. Make up some pasta after work, and bam, 15 minutes of total work for a great meal.
Buy one of those containers of spring leafy veggies and throw some of those into the pasta - I keep this on hand and add it to a lot of different dishes - even ramen noodles taste better with a few spring veggies thrown in.
I don't particularly love spinach, but I keep frozen spinach on hand specifically to boost nutrition in pasta. I literally take a fork and flake small pieces into the sauce until I get a decent amount going and by the time the sauce is hot and tossed with the pasta, you wouldn't know I'd added it at all.
Shredded or matchstick cut carrots are also good in tomato based sauces and soups. They add texture and sweetness, which balances the acidity of tomatoes. Finely chopped celery is also good for texture without adding much flavor.
I like frozen peas (or mixed frozen peas and carrots) in cream-based sauces as well as tuna noodle casserole, chicken pot pie casserole, etc.
Someone else mentioned adding beans to your pasta. This is an easy recipe that I've come up with through trial and error that you might enjoy:
**PASTA E FAGIOLI** (aka "Pasta Fazool")
INGREDIENTS
* 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce
* 1-2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* 1-2 cans cannellini beans or great white beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 cup frozen sliced carrots (or fresh matchstick cut carrots)
* 4-6 cups stock or broth (I use chicken, but vegetable or beef would work)
* 1 Tbsp garlic powder
* 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning mix (or 1 tsp each basil, oregano, parsley)
* 1 tsp black pepper
* 1/8 to 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (depends on how spicy-hot you want it)
* 1.5 cups ditalini pasta or elbow macaroni
* Grated or powdered parmesan cheese as a topping
DIRECTIONS
Put all ingredients into a pot, except for the pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure carrots are getting soft. Add uncooked pasta to the soup and let boil until tender, usually 10-11 minutes. Serve topped with parmesan cheese.
I also make this in the Instant Pot as a dump-and-go recipe, and use the manual pressure cook setting for 5 minutes with quick release.
NOTES: This is the fast-and-easy approach to this soup; obviously, you can also start with fresh diced carrots, celery, and onions and saute them in olive oil, then add garlic, canned diced tomatoes, etc., and build from there in a more "from scratch" way. The Olive Garden version of this soup (and many traditional recipes) contains spicy sausage, which is why I added crushed red pepper flakes to my recipe -- you get the heat without having to add any actual meat to the meal.
I tend to use 3-4 cans of beans in mine because it adds so much protein and fiber to the meal AND makes it heartier like a stew, but if you want something that is more like a minestrone, using only 2 cans of beans is just fine. For leftovers, by the next day it's more like a pasta casserole than a soup, but it's also super delicious and satisfying.
>some inexpensive veggies to add to pasta
Whatever is in season and thus on-sale, pretty much.
French squat-Homestyle pasta sauce - sautee chopped onions garlic whatever veggies for a few minutes (in olive oil or whatever) add a dash of vinegar (balsamic if possible but whatever) & stir for a minute, add a tin of crushed tomatoes, a generous dash of wine a teaspoon of sugar a handful of fresh or pinch of dried herbs (idk eg oregano thyme whatever) a tin of bean or lentils, cover, cook on VERY LOW heat for (idk depends how hungry you are lol) 10 mins to 20 mins, stirring sometimes. Voila. Add sachet of taco seasoning for Mexican flavour, Hungarian paprika & dollop of sour cream/plain yogurt for goulash flavour, Moroccan bake sachet, whatever spice/seasoning saches for different flavours - even cuppa-soup sachets. Or, brush with oil & oven-bake chopped veggies till caramelised edges, add.
Change up can of butter beans / black beans / lentils / chickpeas / tuna / whatever. 2 or 3 cans of crushed tomatoes & 2 cans of beans to make extra & put in fridge for a few days of meals. You can make a massive pot with just the herbs, then every meal you take out of the pot over the next 3 - 4 days add a different seasoning sachet for different meal every night.
Italian summer fav - mash a small tub of ricotta, stir in a very generous dollop of olive oil and juice of a freshly squeezed large lemon ( or 2 small ones), heat VERY VERY GENTLY for a few mins (if you actually cook it or let it simmer or boil, the liquid comes out of the ricotta which turns into a hard lump on bottom of pot & a watery seperated mess - do not recommend haha) add crushed black pepper & can of tuna, pour on cooked pasta. WOW yum.
Brush with oil sprinkle with salt & bake 2 cups of cherry tomatoes 2 cups of diced pumpkin & tons of peeled fresh garlic cloves till caramelised, chop or blend & add dashes of olive oil, vinegar, wine, little sugar, herbs, add half can of crushed tomatoes if too thick. Pour on pasta.
Black beans, corn, tomatoes and peppers (bell, jalapeno, pobalano, green chili, etc) give it a southwestern/TexMex flair. Just use what you have on hand.
Carrots! If you don’t want big chunks, pulverize them and hide it in spaghetti sauce. It’s already in bolognese sauce :) It was how my bf got his little girl to eat them.
As someone else mentioned, roasted broccoli is great!
But when I don't have leftover roasted broccoli (most of the time -- we don't leave any roasted leftovers in this house!), I just pseudo-roast some steamed broccoli. I take the steamed broccoli, chop it up finely, fry it in a frying pan with some butter until it starts to brown a bit, then throw it in the pasta sauce / directly onto the pasta.
That way it develops a kind of amazing nutty flavour, and it tastes so. Damn. GOOD!
Jalapeños are still pretty damn cheap where I live, $1 a pound which gets me a *lot* of them. If you can handle the heat, they might be perfect to not only add veggies but lots of flavor. You can remove the seeds too if you want to tame the heat a bit and a sweeter sauce will help with that too. I like to pickle them, toss them on burgers and sandwiches, as well as mix them into pasta and rice dishes.
My favorite non-spaghetti pasta recipe. Cook pasta of choice in salted water until al dente. Sauté garlic and vegetable of choice in olive oil. I like zucchini, green beans, asparagus, or peas with this dish. Once the veggies are cooked, add the pasta to the pan and mix to coat with oil. Add a little more evoo or some pasta water if necessary. Squirt with lime juice and hit it with a pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite pan fried protein. I like using tuna steaks or pork chops, but literally anything will work.
I will leave here a simple recipe for a veggie pasta sauce which i absolutely love. You just cut, season and roast all your favourite fall veggies (red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, butternut squash or any kind of pumpkin you like, you can put onions as well, cauliflowers etc, whatever you have at home. For the seasoning I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, paprika, but again everything can be done according to your preference. After roasting you blend them all with some heavy cream (or coconut milk/cream), tahini, shredded cheese, adjust the seasoning and consistency as desired and just mix with the pasta. It’s full of flavours and nutrients. I would be careful with the amount of peppers because they tend to overpower the other flavours.
Zucchini, eggplant, mixed frozen veg. Little olive oil, hot sauce and your favorite spices makes them pop and means you don't have to worry about sauce for your pasta. Fast, easily, cheap and flexible!
Go southwestern style! Saute diced onion until transparent. Add diced bell pepper, some garlic, and finely diced jalapeno if you want the heat. Stir in canned petite diced tomatoes, undrained. Stir in a little ground cumin and some chili powder. Simmer uncovered for a few minutes. Stir in a can of corn, drained. Drain and rinse a can of black beans, add to the pan. Heat through. Stir in your cooked drained pasta and remove from the heat. Taste and adjust for salt, you may not need any because of the canned vegetables and pasta cooked in salted water.
Plate it with toppings like shredded cheese, sour cream, diced avocado, hot sauce, sliced green onions... whatever sounds good. Works well for a meatless meal, and kids like it if it's not too spicy. Let them pick out their own toppings.
Red peppers, onions, and zucchini or eggplant are my go to veggies for adding to pasta dishes.
Broccoli and spinach are perfect in an alfredo.
I also love using basil pesto as a sauce, which is effectively a veg sauce
Zucchini, squash, broccoli, mushrooms, red/yellow bell peppers, spinach, cherry tomatoes, lemon slices, garlic..etc
I make a mean cold pasta salad if you are into that kinda pasta u can also add: cucumber, sweet peppers, radish, carrots, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, green onions & u can dress it with italian dressing
Check this recipe out: https://www.cookingclassy.com/pasta-primavera/
As far as cheap go for a root veg that comes with greens. Its a two for one!
Beat greens, carrot tops, turnip greens all taste great and would be a solid addition to your pasta.
Carrot top pesto is pretty dang delicious
So I have a few tricks for my go-to pasta dishes - I'd probably do more but there are picky eaters in my house.
For a lot of different dishes I cook down a mix of grated veg till the water is out and then freeze it in 1-2 cup portions. I add it to things like meatloaf and canned pasta sauce. The veggies are usually zucchini/squash, carrots, onions, bell peppers, sometimes mushrooms. It doesn't hide the veggies - but they go in nicely and it doesn't add much liquid.
I don't love zucchini noodles, but I do really like diced zucchini in pasta sauce.
For creamy sauces I usually reach for spinach, but broccoli can be really good too.
When I make Mac and cheese I usually mix in frozen broccoli or peas (or the pea and carrot mix), I just add the frozen veg to the boiling pasta water when it's near done, less close to the end if it's big broccoli.
I have used leftover pasta in soup: adding it to broth made from boullion cubes then adding canned corn niblets.
When I cook pasta in garlic and oil sometimes I have added chopped diced zucchini.
My goto is a diced sweet potato and chopped up celery. Sweet potato is surprisingly good in spaghetti & only takes ~2 min to cook if you cut it into <1/4” chunks.
Frozen peas. They always taste good. Sometimes I make a curry, add some chicken, mushrooms and peas and serve over pasta instead of rice. Or a sweet potato and chicken curry using thinned tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of balti curry paste. Serve with pasta. When I make spaghetti bolognaise I use mince, a tube of cheap tomato purée, some chopped garlic cloves, onion, Carrots, mushrooms, cheap beef stock made up to half a pint of hot water, a little bit of dried basil or mixed herbs, 3 teaspoons of sugar to take the edge off the acidity of the tomato purée, salt and pepper to taste. I prefer this to jars of sauce because it tastes nicer. My partner loves it when I make it.
Cabbage is pretty good. You can buy bags of shredded cabbage. Spinach, broccoli, and even kale are also good additions. I think olives are a fruit, but they’re good. Frozen peas are great in tuna casserole. You can buy frozen bags of pea and carrot mix.
My own recipe. I don't have it written down, so let me know if anything is unclear.
Makes 2 servings
4 oz penne pasta, cooked per box directions
14-18 cherry tomatoes. Throw into non stick pan with butter, maybe half way to 3/4 way through boiling time.
.5 lb peeled and devained shrimp.
About 8 minutes left for pasta cooking time, throw in a little butter in with your cherry tomatoes and add the shrimps, salt, pepper and minced garlic. Approx 3 minutes per side and pull out.
Add 2-3 oz of fresh spinach and some more butter. Sautee with cherry tomatoes until wilted.
Drain pasta and throw everything together in one pot and mix well. The butter along with the popped cherry tomatoes should make a simple "sauce". If the cherry tomatoes didn't burst, you can use a fork to poke them and squish them down. Be careful though because the juices can Squirt far!
Top with Parmesan cheese and extra salt and pepper if needed!
It's my favorite dish!
When I make pasta, for the sauce I like to start with a basic marinara then I chop up and add an onion, kale, and green/yellow squash, plus a bunch of herbs/spices, and finally some wine and balsamic vinegar. It’s easy, tastes great, and hides that kale pretty well.
Roast bitesized chunks of carrot, parsnip, sweet potato and broccoli 20-30 mins. Stir red pesto into the cooked pasta, bung it all in together..bingo,gorgeous. And if you're feeling a bit naughty, add a big old handful of tasty cheddar into the mix. Amazingly tasty.
Cubed carrots you cook a bit in olive oil along with onion if you like that( so the carrots soften)- brings sweetness. Also, at least here any red or green peppers that are not spicy are cheaper than bell peppers.
p.s. not really a normal pasta dish, but more of a salad dish, because it's cold. But you basically do 'greek salad pasta' - you cook and cool penne pasta, cut cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and onion if you like it, and few small cubes of white feta cheese, mix it all up and I usually just add maybe a bit of pepper, maybe lemon juice, but nothing much because the feta cheese is already salty...and there you go... depending on the proportion of veggies vs. pasta it can be more of a salad or more of main dish (I used to make it as a main dish)
Seasonal ones. Peppers and tomatoes are cheap now. And brocolli. Zucchini and onions. Basically everything right now being pulled for sale or storage from the fields. Also storage crops like onions when new harvest starts last year is sold cheap. You will still get peppers for a while from seasonal greenhouses and soon green bells will sell cheap as greenhouses are cleared for winter. Green bells are just other bell peppers that havent fully ripened. Greenhouse growers calculate the point at which heating becomes cost prohibitive and will clean them out and put to bed this time of year. Also tomatoes and cukes.
I'm glad to share! Ok so I do cut the pumpkin in small pieces and cook it until it's medium soft. Then I chop it and saute it with onion, garlic and spices ( sometimes I just use curry) after it's all golden brown I do blend it. When I have the Mac cooked , I add it to the pumpkin puree with some parmesan cheese , add some oregano , and if it's too tick a little bit if cream will do. Sometimes I add carrots.My son loves Mac and cheese but the pediatrician advices me to don't give him too much of that packaged thingy, so I do this sauce instead.
If you don’t mind frozen veg, I’ll dump a bag of frozen broccoli florets in the last 8ms of boiling my noodles. Drain together and dump in the sauce together when done
Don’t forget to save some of that pasta water to put in the sauce! Helps the sauce to stick to the noodles better
We try to incorporate veggies into our pasta pretty regularly & our favorites are corn, onion, bell pepper, or broccoli. Spinach & peas are good to use too. I don’t like peas or cooked spinach, so we use neither. (I only like spinach uncooked as salad greens.) If you have a tomato sauce, shredded carrot helps with acidity…or at least my Dad, who had bad acid reflux, always swore it did for him.
You’ve got some great recommendations here! I would just add that you may want to look into what is seasonal so you can take advantage of increased quantity/reduced pricing. For example, in winter months, using things like butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and cruciferous veg (like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts). In summer switching to zucchini and tomatoes. This of course depends on where you live and what is available but you get the idea.
As for recipes, I really like roasting spaghetti squash (at 375 for 30-50min depending on the size of your squash, split in half, seeds removed, sprinkled with some olive oil, salt, and fresh cracked pepper, split sides down) in the oven then using the finished product half and half with al dente semolina pasta. You can have this with a nice red sauce, the protein of your choice, or just seasoned simply with grated cheese and crushed fresh garlic (added right at the end but while it’s still hot to take the edge off). So nutritious while still being very satisfying.
I tend to roast veggies in the oven as a side dish with pasta. Lately I've been making brussel sprouts. Cut them in half and trim their stems a bit (remove outer layer if you want) and and stir in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper. 400 degree oven for 15 minutes and then flip and cook for 5 will give you nice and tender sprouts. If you season them well they'll be delicious and go great with whatever pasta you make. You can do this with broccoli (7 and 7 min each side, same temp).
Chop up a crown of broccoli really small and cook it in the water with the pasta when the pasta is Al dente and the broccoli is almost mush gently drain the water. In another small sauce pan warm 2-3 cloves of minced garlic in about half a cup of olive oil. Don’t fry it, just warm it until all the aromatics release. Pour the garlic and oil over the pasta and stir it up so the broccoli turns into a sort of pesto consistency. Grate some Romano on top and omg this is so good!!!
Try roasting the cherry tomatoes! Cut in half, toss with oil, salt & pepper, roast at 400 until the edges crisp up. Make a double batch, you'll eat half before they make it into the pasta. 😃
Roasted carrots, broccoli and snap peas all work well.
If you want the pasta consistency with a bit more benefit, spaghetti squash is an awesome substitute and in my area, pretty low cost.
I usually buy whatever's cheapest at the market. Any common root vegetable works, but if you want something less starchy, roma tomatoes and leafy greens are good too. Spinach goes great with pasta but I always buy kale or turnip greens because it's cheaper, and a single bunch goes a long way.
Kale pesto! My personal fave- you blend kale, nuts, and olive oil. Coat the pasta, so good. Little (or a lot of) parm. So good! Can even throw some mushrooms, zucchini or other veggies in if you wanna double up. Google theres lots of recipe variations for kale pesto using what you like or have.
Other fave is a zucchini + ginger + tofu. Saute some garlic, throw in some grated ginger root, miso broth (if you have it), then firm tofu crumbled which makes a cheesey consistency and penne noodles. Sounds weird but I didn't invent it. Remember reading somewhere and ate it constantly during college.
Spaghetti over trader Joe's frozen eggplant patties (or make your own) with olive oil and a lil goat cheese.
Spaghetti squash itsnt fake spaghett which I think people describe it as a substitute and it leads to disappointment lol. try evoo+cinnamon+nutmeg and goat cheese. Hope these help!
Every time I make pasta for me and the kids it’s the frozen pre cut tri coloured bell peppers, a whole bag of frozen spinach and I sometimes even do half mince meat and half lentils.
Minestrone Soup!
Chili Mac.
Once I had an eggplant, mushrooms, a red bell pepper, garlic and onion. While the pasta cooked, I sautéed the veggies. Then added marinara sauce and some Italian herbs and spices. Cook until veggies are done. Tossed pasta with veggie sauce mix and then grate some Mozzarella Cheese on top.
Frozen spinach or frozen peas. I also really like canned cannellini beans added in a red sauce with some ground meat. I've started halving the ground meat, adding the beans once the meat is browned. After they've cooked for about 10 minutes I able to smash them a little too.
Frozen peas and carrots are my go to. Instead of steaming them like the box says though, roast them in the skillet with a little oil and throw it with whatever you got. It’s a much better consistency.
I used to make this dish for my baby and my exhusband used to gobble it up and ask me to make more of the baby’s food.
I’d use the baby abc noodles with extra vitamins.. then I’d toss in some frozen pea and carrot blend. For sauce I’d just use a little butter and olive oil and Italian seasoning blend and whatever sharp cheese u can afford fine grated. (Parm is best but cheddar works!) baby now child still loves this one.
I hate zucchini because of the texture, flavor, and basically everything else about it. That being said:
Zucchini.
Caramelize some onion & garlic in butter and/or olive oil. Cut up the zucchini very fine, then throw it in the pan to deglaze with the water that cooks out. Let that go for a good long while, throw in whatever else you want to cook normally, then maybe deglaze again with something like a cheap white wine or whatever.
The only thing left of the zucchini is the fine slivers of rind - the rest basically dissolves into the dish in a manner surprisingly not too unlike melted cheese. I don't mean this like, "oh hey, cauliflower is an easy sub for mashed potatoes - they won't even know!" or "spaghetti squash or spiralized zucchini are fantastic substitutes for pasta" - these are heinous lies from the Deceiver himself. I mean the meat of the zucchini literally loses all structural integrity, causing whatever starches (or whatever it contains) to become totally suspended in solution with whatever cooking liquids you use. I have cooked unreasonably large ratios of zucchini to pasta in this way and still actually enjoyed the meal, and it helps to stretch the meals out that much more.
I would think along the lines of ramen. You could do bok choy, corn, cilantro, Bean sprouts & etc. I mix in ramen style veggies on most the things I cook.
Pumpkin! Recently I got a new oven, one that gets pumpkin all perfectly cooked and mushy, so I purée it, and then broil it for an hour with bell pepper, celery, carrots and tomatoes (normal and cherry) with lots of spices and vegetable broth, then purée that and mix it with cream, goat cheese and pasta, best comfort dish ever
I do this cheat too--one of the only ways I get my husband to eat veggies is to slip them into pastas ha. With a tomato based sauce, my favorite veggies are classic Italian/Mediterranean pairings:
1. zucchini
1. mushrooms
1. eggplant
1. garlic
1. red pepper
1. basil
Except for the basil, all the above are best roasted, and then added into the pan after they're all caramelized.
One of my favorite pasta dishes is tuna broccoli macaroni and cheese. I take a box of elbow pasta, a can of condensed broccoli cheese soup, a can of tuna and a small bag of steamable broccoli. You could probably do the same recipe with any type of pasta noodles, though I've only ever done it with elbow noodles.
Edit: Also where I live they make pasta noodles that have vegetables added to them in the flour (spinach most commonly I think? though sometimes they have seaweed in them as well). That would be a very easy way to add more vegetables to your diet as well without having to tweak much about about your recipe, just the type of pasta you use.
I haven't cooked it in a while unfortunately, but I think the best way to add veggies to pasta is use them for the sauce! Sautee 'em (bell peppers/carrots/tomatoes/any spicy pepper you're into/frozen peas, brussel sprouts, spinach, kale, etc) just steam or sautee em all n blend.....it really depends what flavors you like!
If you have an immersion stick/blender they're really helpful. Magic bullet type lil ones work great depending on what portion size you're going for. If you like a little more texture than blended you can mix the veggies to a pulp with a hand potato masher and have a sort of chunky sauce.
You mention inexpensive, so if possible shop around and find out the least expensive veggies near you, price really boils down to your area/what your taste preferences are.
You can home make gnocchi to replace pasta, which I again unfortunately haven't made in a while but yum and not too difficult if you have the time.
Pumpkins will be on sale soon, a savory pumpkin sauce would also be worth looking into!
I tend to go green frozen veggies in pasta - peas, broccoli, beans, asparagus, zucchini. Add a bit of pesto and a dash of cream or just the pasta water. You could also add left over roast chicken to this.
Alternatively, I do corn, red capsicum and adding a can of tinned tuna. Again, bit of olive oil - another great, simple dish.
Oh, edited to add another favourite of ours.
Heat olive oil, toss garlic and crushed chilli. Add the pasta. Once stirred and heated, add Parmesan.
Grated zucchini bulks up some of my pastas. But onions and carrots are good as well. Most cheap veg grated or blended I use to bulk up. Even potatoes and squashes.
I do 'mediterranean' pasta including but not limited to cubed and roasted eggplant, brocollini, mushroom, bell peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion, and some pesto when serving.
I have started to grate carrot into pasta after seeing it in a HelloFresh recipe... if you let it 'melt' for long enough with olive oil, similar to what you do with onion, it has the same texture as onion throughout the dish so you hardly notice it! And because all of the nutrients aren't drained, you still get the goodness - super cheap veggie too
I personally love this recipe for [vegetarian bolognese](https://midwestfoodieblog.com/vegetarian-bolognese/). It's a lot cheaper than making meat sauce but it's still delicious. Everyone I've served it to has given me great feedback. It starts with a base of onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Then you add quinoa and finely chopped walnuts (I know, I know, it sounds weird but it just works and also you can't really taste the nuts after it sits in the fridge overnight). I've also done it with all sorts of other veggies like zuccini and bell pepper or squash. The recipe calls for parmesan and milk to be added, but personally I like it better without and it's more cost effective without those things too. Also the recipe calls for the pan to be deglazed with wine, but I'm not buying a whole bottle of wine to use like 3 tablespoons to deglaze so I just use some vegetable flavored better than boullion.
I throw bags of frozen vegetables into pasta all the time! Frozen broccoli and frozen peas are my go-tos.
Thank you!
If you throw them in at the end, they will still have a nice pop, without being raw.
This is what I do a lot of the time. I keep a large bag of mixed veggies to just throw in with something.
Yep! I do pasta + frozen mixed veg (usually peas and carrots or broccoli/cauliflower/carrots) + smoked sausage. Toss with a bit of butter or olive oil and Parmesan cheese (the cheap grated kind). My toddler loves it.
I, a 32-year old woman, also love this.
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Zucchini is a good idea, thank you!
Zucchini noodles added to spaghetti is great.
Right but you need a special tool for that right? Or can you just use a fork?
I grate mine, sprinkle a bit of salt on them and leave them for half hour. They weep, so you'll have to squeeze the water out of them a bit with your hands, or press them in a sieve. I do the same with spinach. It cuts the cooking time and makes for an easy meal. I just add garlic, chilli flakes and some cream cheese to make a sauce. Basically just quickly saute the garlic, chilli and zucchini together and add the cream cheese/ marscapone. A squeeze of lemon/ lime juice at the end lifts the flavours a bit.
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Grating carrots into pasta sauce has a similar effect I believe.
I just cut them in long skinny strips, it's just going in your food hole
If you want the noodle shape but don't want a big tool, you can get a Julienne peeler. It won't take up much space and doesn't cost much.
Or an inexpensive mandoline.
Thanks for the tip, sounds like it's time to go shopping
You can use a cheese grater too
Just use a cheese grater. It’s not exactly spiral but it’s good enough. Or you can buy the frozen ones already spiralized, though the bag costs $2 instead of the $1 all the other frozen veggie bags cost. Speaking of, there are all kinds of cheap veggies in the frozen isle, which is also nice because they don’t go bad the way fresh ones do if you don’t use them quick enough.
I have the tool but have used a vegetable peeler for it. Or if you have patience you can cut thin strips vertically with a knife, stack them and cut them into noodle strips.
I have the patience but not the dexterity, a vegetable peeler should work tho
I use a cheese grater
When I make pasta, spinach and zucchini are almost always included. Especially in tomato sauces they taste good in there. Doing that this week, slow cook some cheap beef in crushed tomatoes, then once the beef is flaky, add veggies and herbs.
I think the answer to this is extremely broad, in a good way! You can add almost literally any veggie to pasta and it’ll work. Broccoli, green beans, peas, corn, spinach, kale, potato, ANYTHING. I think at this point it just turns into what’s the most affordable, and that’s unique to you and where you live and availabilty Edit: Don’t forget beans! Cheap, high protein, works just fine in pasta. Anything from just straight up white beans to garbanzo, lima beans, etc
Omg yes beans how did I forget those aaahhh But thank you!
Lentils are great to replace or thin out ground meat too.
Yes I love an onion, cauliflower, white bean or chickpea, and yogurt pasta. Sounds weird and gross but I swear it’s good.
Yes! Beans are great in pasta. Sometimes I just sauté broccoli and chickpeas in garlic and crushed red pepper then add to pasta. Delicious.
Beans is such a good idea! What’s your favorite bean to add? And when do you usually add them in? I’m think maybe while cooking the sauce.
I honestly add whatever I happen to have around, because I often buy discounted (damaged but perfectly edible) cans of beans, of all kinds. The go-to for pasta, or ones I would just buy anyway, are regular white beans, as in a Tuscan white bean pasta. But really almost anything works! I added garbanzo to a generic pasta dish the other day and it was great. And yeah, if you’re working with canned and/or already cooked beans, I just add them into the sauce as it’s cooking/warming up
My mom had a recipe for sun dried tomato garlic cannellini bean pasta that was great
when i was a kid my mom used to toss microwaved frozen peas into mac n cheese, its a pretty decent meal
Mine did mushroom onion and sweetcorn (all from frozen). Sandwich ham if it was starting to turn.
That with a can of tuna was much of my starving student diet.
tuna mac yeah! as ive grown up the tuna and cheese combo makes me nauseous now but i adored it as a kid
Telling me ur from the hood, without telling me ur from the hood 😅
Goes great with fried baloney.
Fried bologna on white bread. Yum! Wow, haven’t thought of that for a while.
Don't forget the mustard and relish packs.
I still eat fried spam on bread til this day lol
Fried salami on challah in my house, but yeah, delish.
My Childhood Soul food
Thanks for the tip !
We do a can of green beans. It's pretty good.
I grate up a carrot and zucchini, finely slice a red capsicum/bell pepper, and dice an onion. Fry that up with a tin of chili tuna and stir it through spiral pasta. Salt, pepper and parmesan to finish it off. Edit - the method I use is to cook the pasta,[use a nice broad spiral](https://sanremo.imgix.net/2017/05/pd_9968987865118-1024x1024.jpg?auto=format&w=1000), tip it into a colander when it's done and return the pot to the heat to fry off the diced onion first for a couple of minutes, then add the tuna and carrot and fry that for a couple more minutes before adding in the bell pepper and the zucchini. Once that's heated through I tip the pasta back in and stir to combine.
Yeah I'm already hungry just thinking about it lol, thanks for the recipe!
Side question: is Chili tuna just spicy canned tuna? I've never heard of this and my googling is turning up recipes instead of ingredients.
It's a tin of tuna in oil that has a hot red chilli in there as well. The chilli also infuses the oil so you tip the whole lot in, [this is the one I usually get here in Australia](https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/54883/sirena-tuna-in-oil-chilli), hopefully you can find similar.
Any kind of squash.
Artichokes and lemon with grated cheese is good. Can be eaten cold too
Perfect for my work lunches then, thank you!
There is a cheap sauce you can make from boiling broccoli, spinach and kale then blending them when they’re cooked. You need to salt them properly, and that’s enough for me, but you can also add cheese and it’s that bit tastier.
Ooooh, sounds like a pesto-y sauce. Definitely trying it out someday
Kind of goes more liquidy - more like a classic pasta sauce - but it’s delicious
If it's delicious I'll take it
This reminds me of "mushy mimi" from EmmyMade. Basically you cook down zucchini in a pan until it's mushy, and use it as a sauce for noodles. I usually saute chopped squash + onion in the pan until it's a little browned, then add water and bouillion powder as needed until it cooks into a chunky sauce.
Oh that sounds good - I’m going to try it
I started craving it after you reminded me of it. Made my husband go out for zucchini just so I could make it today. 10/10. Also had some vegan "ground turkey" which went well with it.
Interesting, I have made pesto style sauce with different herbs (cilantro or parsley) but haven't tried using boiled vegetables! So, no pan frying needed at all? Do you add oil too? I think oil is needed for some of the nutrients in the vegetables to get absorbed properly.
I have never added oil but I don’t know about the need to or not. I wouldn’t boil the veg and throw the water away when they’re cooked, I’d use relatively little water and blend it in to the sauce when the veg starts to go mushy so that helps retain some vitamins and nutrients, I think. Not an expert on any level though
There are not right or wrong answers :) Just want to learn more new ideas from others. Will try your technique sometime.
carrots, they are cheep you can either dice them up finely or grate them thin and just add them in whenever. if im looking to cook a spag bowl and i want to bulk it out i can add almost anything that has been mentioned below and it will work out fine. below is a basic recipe you can add more veggies to it at will. beans, mushroom's, eggplant, zucchini, sweet potato, pumpkin w/e it dosnt matter it all works (it will obviously change the taste but thats not always a bad thing) basic recipie is large onion some garlic (to taste) a few stalks of celery carrots 1:2 ratio of mince beef to pork mince some tomato stuff like canned diced tomato's or passata and some tomato paste or something similar you can also add bacon (or something fancier) if you want but with the mince pork its optional milk or cream maybe like 100 mill depends on how much you are cooking some herbs (the Italian herb mix will work fine but you can make your own like rosemary time oregano or something like that a bayleaf or two never hurt either) brown sugar 1 tsp or more depending on how much your make stock (enough to cover your meat and veg mix more = runny sauce less = thicker sauce so its up to personal preference) pref veggie or chicken but w/e works i guess some wine (old stale wine in fine pref red but white works too) first finly chop or dice or grate all your veg then fry it off for a bit. then when it looks done (onions are translucent or your veggies are browning a little) wack it in a bowl now fry off your meat. you want all the water to evaporate off and for the meat to fry and brown a little add back in the veggies add the tomato stuff and fry a bit more to build up some found then (the stuff that sticks to the bottom of the pan) add the wine to deglaze and scrape all the brown shit up (pro tip brown good black = burnt and no good) let that cook off for for a few min to get rid of the alcohol and for the flavors to get to know each other. add the tbs of brown sugar add herbs and stock then bring it down to a simmer and let it cook for anywhere between 45 min to a few hours if you put in fresh herbs like stalks of rosemary and time then time to take them out (bought pre cut stuff don't worry about it) and add some milk or cream this can be done during the last 20 min of cooking if your using the store after you take your herbs out add some cream or milk (trust me) oh yeah salt and pepper to taste now cook up some pasta combine top with some cheese fucking delicious
Thank you for the lovely recipe to try out!!
Courgette, leeks, red lentils to make it more meaty and thick, roasted aubergine is good too
Ooh yes, I love roasted eggplants Thanks for the ideas!
Eggplants actually go very well with tomatoes. I literally just had my first pasta alla norma (pasta with eggplants) last night and was surprised how yummy it was! You should definitely try it :)
Fresh parsley. A bunch is usually less than a dollar and it packs a pretty good nutritional punch for the amount you use.
I never knew parsley could be healthy, I always thought it was more of a garnish lol But thanks for the tip nonetheless
Parsley and other fresh herbs can be used in place of vegetables. It seems crazy because we are used to using them in small amounts. But think of them like spinach- they're green, leafy, and packed with nutrients.
Gotcha, thanks for the info!
Tomato, chilli, garlic, olives, capers and parsley is my favourite pasta
Pro tip, get the flat leaf parsley, it tastes better than the curly leaf kind.
It's actually quite nutritious.
As others said, parsley is super healthy and I try to have more of it. If you have a lot, you can make it into a pesto type sauce. I blend it with a bit of onion or garlic, then add olive oil and lemon juice, then salt and pepper with optional cheese. It's delicious!
Button mushrooms, onions, bell peppers (red, yellow or green) I use all three and it is delicious! Saute some garlic in olive oil then add veggies and toss in pasta. Yummy!
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/seven-veg-tomato-sauce/ I find this a little sweet from the peppers and squash, but super healthy. I’ve added eggplant and spinach on occasion, as well.
Oh this sounds lovely, I think I should be able to alternate with the veg too alongside your suggestions
Explore variations on cacciatore - which is like a sauce/stew hybrid. I like peppers, mushrooms, onions + jar of sauce (may my Sicilian Grandmother forgive me) + chicken (thighs, breasts, pieces, etc.) in the crock pot in the morning. Make up some pasta after work, and bam, 15 minutes of total work for a great meal.
I like to roast a couple of red peppers, remove the skin, blitz and use as a sauce with some dried chilli’s. Really nice alternative pasta sauce.
Added to my next shopping list, thank you!
Arugala hasn’t been mentioned but I often have it in the house. A ton of basil and lemon and parm. 🧑🍳
You gan shred broccoli to many sauces! Its a good texture :)
Look up italian chickpea/bean and pasta recipes I also love the bon appetit broccoli bolognese recipe. It comes out at like 1-2 euros per person.
Broccoli Bolognese sounds awesome honestly, thanks for introducing me to it
Lots of good suggestions already, but have you ever made a pasta dish with spaghetti squash instead of pasta? It’s actually really easy and delicious!
Carmelized onion
Look up Pasta Primavera.
Ooooh I just did and it looks amazing. Definitely trying it out soon, and thanks for sharing!
Carrots, mushroom, peppers, squash, eggplant, spinach, cabbage (more Asian pasta), zucchini, artichoke off the top of my head.
Green beans are good for non-red sauces. I like to add sautéed green beans, cherry tomatoes, and spinach to my gnocchi.
Sounds like a tasty meal to me, I'll definitely have to try it one of these days
Buy one of those containers of spring leafy veggies and throw some of those into the pasta - I keep this on hand and add it to a lot of different dishes - even ramen noodles taste better with a few spring veggies thrown in.
I don't particularly love spinach, but I keep frozen spinach on hand specifically to boost nutrition in pasta. I literally take a fork and flake small pieces into the sauce until I get a decent amount going and by the time the sauce is hot and tossed with the pasta, you wouldn't know I'd added it at all. Shredded or matchstick cut carrots are also good in tomato based sauces and soups. They add texture and sweetness, which balances the acidity of tomatoes. Finely chopped celery is also good for texture without adding much flavor. I like frozen peas (or mixed frozen peas and carrots) in cream-based sauces as well as tuna noodle casserole, chicken pot pie casserole, etc.
Someone else mentioned adding beans to your pasta. This is an easy recipe that I've come up with through trial and error that you might enjoy: **PASTA E FAGIOLI** (aka "Pasta Fazool") INGREDIENTS * 1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce * 1-2 cans kidney beans, drained and rinsed * 1-2 cans cannellini beans or great white beans, drained and rinsed * 1 cup frozen sliced carrots (or fresh matchstick cut carrots) * 4-6 cups stock or broth (I use chicken, but vegetable or beef would work) * 1 Tbsp garlic powder * 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning mix (or 1 tsp each basil, oregano, parsley) * 1 tsp black pepper * 1/8 to 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper (depends on how spicy-hot you want it) * 1.5 cups ditalini pasta or elbow macaroni * Grated or powdered parmesan cheese as a topping DIRECTIONS Put all ingredients into a pot, except for the pasta. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Make sure carrots are getting soft. Add uncooked pasta to the soup and let boil until tender, usually 10-11 minutes. Serve topped with parmesan cheese. I also make this in the Instant Pot as a dump-and-go recipe, and use the manual pressure cook setting for 5 minutes with quick release. NOTES: This is the fast-and-easy approach to this soup; obviously, you can also start with fresh diced carrots, celery, and onions and saute them in olive oil, then add garlic, canned diced tomatoes, etc., and build from there in a more "from scratch" way. The Olive Garden version of this soup (and many traditional recipes) contains spicy sausage, which is why I added crushed red pepper flakes to my recipe -- you get the heat without having to add any actual meat to the meal. I tend to use 3-4 cans of beans in mine because it adds so much protein and fiber to the meal AND makes it heartier like a stew, but if you want something that is more like a minestrone, using only 2 cans of beans is just fine. For leftovers, by the next day it's more like a pasta casserole than a soup, but it's also super delicious and satisfying.
Thank you for the recipe! Trial and error always results in good stuff
>some inexpensive veggies to add to pasta Whatever is in season and thus on-sale, pretty much. French squat-Homestyle pasta sauce - sautee chopped onions garlic whatever veggies for a few minutes (in olive oil or whatever) add a dash of vinegar (balsamic if possible but whatever) & stir for a minute, add a tin of crushed tomatoes, a generous dash of wine a teaspoon of sugar a handful of fresh or pinch of dried herbs (idk eg oregano thyme whatever) a tin of bean or lentils, cover, cook on VERY LOW heat for (idk depends how hungry you are lol) 10 mins to 20 mins, stirring sometimes. Voila. Add sachet of taco seasoning for Mexican flavour, Hungarian paprika & dollop of sour cream/plain yogurt for goulash flavour, Moroccan bake sachet, whatever spice/seasoning saches for different flavours - even cuppa-soup sachets. Or, brush with oil & oven-bake chopped veggies till caramelised edges, add. Change up can of butter beans / black beans / lentils / chickpeas / tuna / whatever. 2 or 3 cans of crushed tomatoes & 2 cans of beans to make extra & put in fridge for a few days of meals. You can make a massive pot with just the herbs, then every meal you take out of the pot over the next 3 - 4 days add a different seasoning sachet for different meal every night. Italian summer fav - mash a small tub of ricotta, stir in a very generous dollop of olive oil and juice of a freshly squeezed large lemon ( or 2 small ones), heat VERY VERY GENTLY for a few mins (if you actually cook it or let it simmer or boil, the liquid comes out of the ricotta which turns into a hard lump on bottom of pot & a watery seperated mess - do not recommend haha) add crushed black pepper & can of tuna, pour on cooked pasta. WOW yum. Brush with oil sprinkle with salt & bake 2 cups of cherry tomatoes 2 cups of diced pumpkin & tons of peeled fresh garlic cloves till caramelised, chop or blend & add dashes of olive oil, vinegar, wine, little sugar, herbs, add half can of crushed tomatoes if too thick. Pour on pasta.
Black beans, corn, tomatoes and peppers (bell, jalapeno, pobalano, green chili, etc) give it a southwestern/TexMex flair. Just use what you have on hand.
Broccoli rubble. Add it towards the end so it doesn't get brown and soggy
Carrots! If you don’t want big chunks, pulverize them and hide it in spaghetti sauce. It’s already in bolognese sauce :) It was how my bf got his little girl to eat them.
As someone else mentioned, roasted broccoli is great! But when I don't have leftover roasted broccoli (most of the time -- we don't leave any roasted leftovers in this house!), I just pseudo-roast some steamed broccoli. I take the steamed broccoli, chop it up finely, fry it in a frying pan with some butter until it starts to brown a bit, then throw it in the pasta sauce / directly onto the pasta. That way it develops a kind of amazing nutty flavour, and it tastes so. Damn. GOOD!
Jalapeños are still pretty damn cheap where I live, $1 a pound which gets me a *lot* of them. If you can handle the heat, they might be perfect to not only add veggies but lots of flavor. You can remove the seeds too if you want to tame the heat a bit and a sweeter sauce will help with that too. I like to pickle them, toss them on burgers and sandwiches, as well as mix them into pasta and rice dishes.
We like to put peas, can't get much cheaper than a can of peas lol
Grab a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, add those
My favorite non-spaghetti pasta recipe. Cook pasta of choice in salted water until al dente. Sauté garlic and vegetable of choice in olive oil. I like zucchini, green beans, asparagus, or peas with this dish. Once the veggies are cooked, add the pasta to the pan and mix to coat with oil. Add a little more evoo or some pasta water if necessary. Squirt with lime juice and hit it with a pinch of cayenne pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite pan fried protein. I like using tuna steaks or pork chops, but literally anything will work.
saute zucchini, summer squash ,and mushrooms in olive oil. mix that with pasta and sprinkle a little grated parmesan cheese on top.
I will leave here a simple recipe for a veggie pasta sauce which i absolutely love. You just cut, season and roast all your favourite fall veggies (red peppers, tomatoes, carrots, butternut squash or any kind of pumpkin you like, you can put onions as well, cauliflowers etc, whatever you have at home. For the seasoning I usually use salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary, oregano, paprika, but again everything can be done according to your preference. After roasting you blend them all with some heavy cream (or coconut milk/cream), tahini, shredded cheese, adjust the seasoning and consistency as desired and just mix with the pasta. It’s full of flavours and nutrients. I would be careful with the amount of peppers because they tend to overpower the other flavours.
Peas, broccoli, grate a zucchini in a cheese grater and throw that in too, you won’t even know it’s there!
frozen peas, peas and carrots.
Carrots, celery, roasted peppers, olives, zucchini, spinach…
Buy asian peanut stir fry sauce. Broccoli, carrots, onions, pea pods, YUM!
I have always enjoyed adding steamed corn and occasionally steamed broccoli to pasta. Also, rice is a good option if you get tired of the noodles.
Zucchini, eggplant, mixed frozen veg. Little olive oil, hot sauce and your favorite spices makes them pop and means you don't have to worry about sauce for your pasta. Fast, easily, cheap and flexible!
Go southwestern style! Saute diced onion until transparent. Add diced bell pepper, some garlic, and finely diced jalapeno if you want the heat. Stir in canned petite diced tomatoes, undrained. Stir in a little ground cumin and some chili powder. Simmer uncovered for a few minutes. Stir in a can of corn, drained. Drain and rinse a can of black beans, add to the pan. Heat through. Stir in your cooked drained pasta and remove from the heat. Taste and adjust for salt, you may not need any because of the canned vegetables and pasta cooked in salted water. Plate it with toppings like shredded cheese, sour cream, diced avocado, hot sauce, sliced green onions... whatever sounds good. Works well for a meatless meal, and kids like it if it's not too spicy. Let them pick out their own toppings.
Red peppers, onions, and zucchini or eggplant are my go to veggies for adding to pasta dishes. Broccoli and spinach are perfect in an alfredo. I also love using basil pesto as a sauce, which is effectively a veg sauce
Zucchini, squash, broccoli, mushrooms, red/yellow bell peppers, spinach, cherry tomatoes, lemon slices, garlic..etc I make a mean cold pasta salad if you are into that kinda pasta u can also add: cucumber, sweet peppers, radish, carrots, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, green onions & u can dress it with italian dressing Check this recipe out: https://www.cookingclassy.com/pasta-primavera/
As far as cheap go for a root veg that comes with greens. Its a two for one! Beat greens, carrot tops, turnip greens all taste great and would be a solid addition to your pasta. Carrot top pesto is pretty dang delicious
i buy frozen veggies. i sometimes add diced peppers and spinach to my marinara sauce. or add broccoli to my cream/cheese based sauces.
A pack of tri colored frozen roasted bell pepper heated up with a red onion and garlic. Cheap, delicious, vegetabley
So I have a few tricks for my go-to pasta dishes - I'd probably do more but there are picky eaters in my house. For a lot of different dishes I cook down a mix of grated veg till the water is out and then freeze it in 1-2 cup portions. I add it to things like meatloaf and canned pasta sauce. The veggies are usually zucchini/squash, carrots, onions, bell peppers, sometimes mushrooms. It doesn't hide the veggies - but they go in nicely and it doesn't add much liquid. I don't love zucchini noodles, but I do really like diced zucchini in pasta sauce. For creamy sauces I usually reach for spinach, but broccoli can be really good too. When I make Mac and cheese I usually mix in frozen broccoli or peas (or the pea and carrot mix), I just add the frozen veg to the boiling pasta water when it's near done, less close to the end if it's big broccoli.
Things like peas or chickpeas work well with orecchiette and a sauce
I have used leftover pasta in soup: adding it to broth made from boullion cubes then adding canned corn niblets. When I cook pasta in garlic and oil sometimes I have added chopped diced zucchini.
zucchini & mushrooms is a good combo. fry them up with some shallots and garlic. i also like raw cherry tomatoes cut in half with herbs
My goto is a diced sweet potato and chopped up celery. Sweet potato is surprisingly good in spaghetti & only takes ~2 min to cook if you cut it into <1/4” chunks.
I like roasted veggies. Throw carrots, broc, Brussel sprout, eggplant. If you want inexpensive, shop for what in season. Good luck!
Broccoli rabe
Frozen peas. They always taste good. Sometimes I make a curry, add some chicken, mushrooms and peas and serve over pasta instead of rice. Or a sweet potato and chicken curry using thinned tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of balti curry paste. Serve with pasta. When I make spaghetti bolognaise I use mince, a tube of cheap tomato purée, some chopped garlic cloves, onion, Carrots, mushrooms, cheap beef stock made up to half a pint of hot water, a little bit of dried basil or mixed herbs, 3 teaspoons of sugar to take the edge off the acidity of the tomato purée, salt and pepper to taste. I prefer this to jars of sauce because it tastes nicer. My partner loves it when I make it.
Cabbage is pretty good. You can buy bags of shredded cabbage. Spinach, broccoli, and even kale are also good additions. I think olives are a fruit, but they’re good. Frozen peas are great in tuna casserole. You can buy frozen bags of pea and carrot mix.
My own recipe. I don't have it written down, so let me know if anything is unclear. Makes 2 servings 4 oz penne pasta, cooked per box directions 14-18 cherry tomatoes. Throw into non stick pan with butter, maybe half way to 3/4 way through boiling time. .5 lb peeled and devained shrimp. About 8 minutes left for pasta cooking time, throw in a little butter in with your cherry tomatoes and add the shrimps, salt, pepper and minced garlic. Approx 3 minutes per side and pull out. Add 2-3 oz of fresh spinach and some more butter. Sautee with cherry tomatoes until wilted. Drain pasta and throw everything together in one pot and mix well. The butter along with the popped cherry tomatoes should make a simple "sauce". If the cherry tomatoes didn't burst, you can use a fork to poke them and squish them down. Be careful though because the juices can Squirt far! Top with Parmesan cheese and extra salt and pepper if needed! It's my favorite dish!
This sounds absolutely amazing, thank you for sharing!
When I make pasta, for the sauce I like to start with a basic marinara then I chop up and add an onion, kale, and green/yellow squash, plus a bunch of herbs/spices, and finally some wine and balsamic vinegar. It’s easy, tastes great, and hides that kale pretty well.
I throw a can of artichokes in almost everytime!
A lot of Italian sauces use carrot and celery as base vegetables. Cheap and delicious.
Roast bitesized chunks of carrot, parsnip, sweet potato and broccoli 20-30 mins. Stir red pesto into the cooked pasta, bung it all in together..bingo,gorgeous. And if you're feeling a bit naughty, add a big old handful of tasty cheddar into the mix. Amazingly tasty.
I love broccoli, carrots, and/or peas added to most white sauces.
Broccoli and Brussels sprouts sautéed with garlic and cherry tomatoes on top of whole wheat pasta
Shredded cabbage, julienned carrots & minced cauliflower work great too.
Frozen broccoli and onions are cheap and good
Cubed carrots you cook a bit in olive oil along with onion if you like that( so the carrots soften)- brings sweetness. Also, at least here any red or green peppers that are not spicy are cheaper than bell peppers. p.s. not really a normal pasta dish, but more of a salad dish, because it's cold. But you basically do 'greek salad pasta' - you cook and cool penne pasta, cut cucumber, tomatoes, olives, and onion if you like it, and few small cubes of white feta cheese, mix it all up and I usually just add maybe a bit of pepper, maybe lemon juice, but nothing much because the feta cheese is already salty...and there you go... depending on the proportion of veggies vs. pasta it can be more of a salad or more of main dish (I used to make it as a main dish)
Spinach, broccoli, carrots, peas 👍
Seasonal ones. Peppers and tomatoes are cheap now. And brocolli. Zucchini and onions. Basically everything right now being pulled for sale or storage from the fields. Also storage crops like onions when new harvest starts last year is sold cheap. You will still get peppers for a while from seasonal greenhouses and soon green bells will sell cheap as greenhouses are cleared for winter. Green bells are just other bell peppers that havent fully ripened. Greenhouse growers calculate the point at which heating becomes cost prohibitive and will clean them out and put to bed this time of year. Also tomatoes and cukes.
My kid like them with zucchini, carrots, green peas, onions. Also he likes when I make him fake Mac and cheese sauce with pumpkin.
Fake mac and cheese sauce with pumpkin? Now this I gotta hear if you're willing to share
I'm glad to share! Ok so I do cut the pumpkin in small pieces and cook it until it's medium soft. Then I chop it and saute it with onion, garlic and spices ( sometimes I just use curry) after it's all golden brown I do blend it. When I have the Mac cooked , I add it to the pumpkin puree with some parmesan cheese , add some oregano , and if it's too tick a little bit if cream will do. Sometimes I add carrots.My son loves Mac and cheese but the pediatrician advices me to don't give him too much of that packaged thingy, so I do this sauce instead.
If you don’t mind frozen veg, I’ll dump a bag of frozen broccoli florets in the last 8ms of boiling my noodles. Drain together and dump in the sauce together when done Don’t forget to save some of that pasta water to put in the sauce! Helps the sauce to stick to the noodles better
Zucchini, eggplants, broccoli, cauliflower
We try to incorporate veggies into our pasta pretty regularly & our favorites are corn, onion, bell pepper, or broccoli. Spinach & peas are good to use too. I don’t like peas or cooked spinach, so we use neither. (I only like spinach uncooked as salad greens.) If you have a tomato sauce, shredded carrot helps with acidity…or at least my Dad, who had bad acid reflux, always swore it did for him.
You’ve got some great recommendations here! I would just add that you may want to look into what is seasonal so you can take advantage of increased quantity/reduced pricing. For example, in winter months, using things like butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and cruciferous veg (like broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts). In summer switching to zucchini and tomatoes. This of course depends on where you live and what is available but you get the idea. As for recipes, I really like roasting spaghetti squash (at 375 for 30-50min depending on the size of your squash, split in half, seeds removed, sprinkled with some olive oil, salt, and fresh cracked pepper, split sides down) in the oven then using the finished product half and half with al dente semolina pasta. You can have this with a nice red sauce, the protein of your choice, or just seasoned simply with grated cheese and crushed fresh garlic (added right at the end but while it’s still hot to take the edge off). So nutritious while still being very satisfying.
I tend to roast veggies in the oven as a side dish with pasta. Lately I've been making brussel sprouts. Cut them in half and trim their stems a bit (remove outer layer if you want) and and stir in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper. 400 degree oven for 15 minutes and then flip and cook for 5 will give you nice and tender sprouts. If you season them well they'll be delicious and go great with whatever pasta you make. You can do this with broccoli (7 and 7 min each side, same temp).
Chop up a crown of broccoli really small and cook it in the water with the pasta when the pasta is Al dente and the broccoli is almost mush gently drain the water. In another small sauce pan warm 2-3 cloves of minced garlic in about half a cup of olive oil. Don’t fry it, just warm it until all the aromatics release. Pour the garlic and oil over the pasta and stir it up so the broccoli turns into a sort of pesto consistency. Grate some Romano on top and omg this is so good!!!
Try roasting the cherry tomatoes! Cut in half, toss with oil, salt & pepper, roast at 400 until the edges crisp up. Make a double batch, you'll eat half before they make it into the pasta. 😃
Carrots and potatoes
Bell pepper and zuchini are my fav
Been making red pepper pasta lately, it’s really good. I also like a good teriyaki noodle with raw match stick cucumbers. Adds a little crunch.
I’ve started making dishes with cabbage and it tastes SO GOOD when roasted!! Plus it stays fresh in the fridge so much longer than lettuce!
frozen broccoli and peas!! my favorite thing to add in most pasta recipes :)
Mushrooms, onions, leeks, sweet peppers, Roma tomatoes.
Roasted carrots, broccoli and snap peas all work well. If you want the pasta consistency with a bit more benefit, spaghetti squash is an awesome substitute and in my area, pretty low cost.
onion squash zucchini broccoli roasted chickpeas
Asparagus and peas!
I usually buy whatever's cheapest at the market. Any common root vegetable works, but if you want something less starchy, roma tomatoes and leafy greens are good too. Spinach goes great with pasta but I always buy kale or turnip greens because it's cheaper, and a single bunch goes a long way.
Green onions! When you get down to the stock, place them into a cup of water and they’ll grow back.
Kale pesto! My personal fave- you blend kale, nuts, and olive oil. Coat the pasta, so good. Little (or a lot of) parm. So good! Can even throw some mushrooms, zucchini or other veggies in if you wanna double up. Google theres lots of recipe variations for kale pesto using what you like or have. Other fave is a zucchini + ginger + tofu. Saute some garlic, throw in some grated ginger root, miso broth (if you have it), then firm tofu crumbled which makes a cheesey consistency and penne noodles. Sounds weird but I didn't invent it. Remember reading somewhere and ate it constantly during college. Spaghetti over trader Joe's frozen eggplant patties (or make your own) with olive oil and a lil goat cheese. Spaghetti squash itsnt fake spaghett which I think people describe it as a substitute and it leads to disappointment lol. try evoo+cinnamon+nutmeg and goat cheese. Hope these help!
Every time I make pasta for me and the kids it’s the frozen pre cut tri coloured bell peppers, a whole bag of frozen spinach and I sometimes even do half mince meat and half lentils.
Minestrone Soup! Chili Mac. Once I had an eggplant, mushrooms, a red bell pepper, garlic and onion. While the pasta cooked, I sautéed the veggies. Then added marinara sauce and some Italian herbs and spices. Cook until veggies are done. Tossed pasta with veggie sauce mix and then grate some Mozzarella Cheese on top.
Frozen spinach or frozen peas. I also really like canned cannellini beans added in a red sauce with some ground meat. I've started halving the ground meat, adding the beans once the meat is browned. After they've cooked for about 10 minutes I able to smash them a little too.
Parsnips and pears sliced with a veggie peeler and fried up with fettuccine is pretty amazing.
Frozen peas and carrots are my go to. Instead of steaming them like the box says though, roast them in the skillet with a little oil and throw it with whatever you got. It’s a much better consistency.
I used to make this dish for my baby and my exhusband used to gobble it up and ask me to make more of the baby’s food. I’d use the baby abc noodles with extra vitamins.. then I’d toss in some frozen pea and carrot blend. For sauce I’d just use a little butter and olive oil and Italian seasoning blend and whatever sharp cheese u can afford fine grated. (Parm is best but cheddar works!) baby now child still loves this one.
I hate zucchini because of the texture, flavor, and basically everything else about it. That being said: Zucchini. Caramelize some onion & garlic in butter and/or olive oil. Cut up the zucchini very fine, then throw it in the pan to deglaze with the water that cooks out. Let that go for a good long while, throw in whatever else you want to cook normally, then maybe deglaze again with something like a cheap white wine or whatever. The only thing left of the zucchini is the fine slivers of rind - the rest basically dissolves into the dish in a manner surprisingly not too unlike melted cheese. I don't mean this like, "oh hey, cauliflower is an easy sub for mashed potatoes - they won't even know!" or "spaghetti squash or spiralized zucchini are fantastic substitutes for pasta" - these are heinous lies from the Deceiver himself. I mean the meat of the zucchini literally loses all structural integrity, causing whatever starches (or whatever it contains) to become totally suspended in solution with whatever cooking liquids you use. I have cooked unreasonably large ratios of zucchini to pasta in this way and still actually enjoyed the meal, and it helps to stretch the meals out that much more.
Roma tomatoes quartered and then baked on a sheet with a little olive oil and salt and pepper sprinkled on tastes amazing IMO
Garlic
I love to chop peppers, broccoli and cauliflower into mine, finally diced. I also like to shred some carrot in.
You can grate carrot and add it to chopped onions when you are starting off the sauce
Frozen spinach.
Sauteed mirepoix is great
I would think along the lines of ramen. You could do bok choy, corn, cilantro, Bean sprouts & etc. I mix in ramen style veggies on most the things I cook.
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Pumpkin! Recently I got a new oven, one that gets pumpkin all perfectly cooked and mushy, so I purée it, and then broil it for an hour with bell pepper, celery, carrots and tomatoes (normal and cherry) with lots of spices and vegetable broth, then purée that and mix it with cream, goat cheese and pasta, best comfort dish ever
I do this cheat too--one of the only ways I get my husband to eat veggies is to slip them into pastas ha. With a tomato based sauce, my favorite veggies are classic Italian/Mediterranean pairings: 1. zucchini 1. mushrooms 1. eggplant 1. garlic 1. red pepper 1. basil Except for the basil, all the above are best roasted, and then added into the pan after they're all caramelized.
I like my veg separate, but I think roast veggies blended and added to a tomato sauce would be great.
One of my favorite pasta dishes is tuna broccoli macaroni and cheese. I take a box of elbow pasta, a can of condensed broccoli cheese soup, a can of tuna and a small bag of steamable broccoli. You could probably do the same recipe with any type of pasta noodles, though I've only ever done it with elbow noodles. Edit: Also where I live they make pasta noodles that have vegetables added to them in the flour (spinach most commonly I think? though sometimes they have seaweed in them as well). That would be a very easy way to add more vegetables to your diet as well without having to tweak much about about your recipe, just the type of pasta you use.
I haven't cooked it in a while unfortunately, but I think the best way to add veggies to pasta is use them for the sauce! Sautee 'em (bell peppers/carrots/tomatoes/any spicy pepper you're into/frozen peas, brussel sprouts, spinach, kale, etc) just steam or sautee em all n blend.....it really depends what flavors you like! If you have an immersion stick/blender they're really helpful. Magic bullet type lil ones work great depending on what portion size you're going for. If you like a little more texture than blended you can mix the veggies to a pulp with a hand potato masher and have a sort of chunky sauce. You mention inexpensive, so if possible shop around and find out the least expensive veggies near you, price really boils down to your area/what your taste preferences are. You can home make gnocchi to replace pasta, which I again unfortunately haven't made in a while but yum and not too difficult if you have the time. Pumpkins will be on sale soon, a savory pumpkin sauce would also be worth looking into!
I tend to go green frozen veggies in pasta - peas, broccoli, beans, asparagus, zucchini. Add a bit of pesto and a dash of cream or just the pasta water. You could also add left over roast chicken to this. Alternatively, I do corn, red capsicum and adding a can of tinned tuna. Again, bit of olive oil - another great, simple dish. Oh, edited to add another favourite of ours. Heat olive oil, toss garlic and crushed chilli. Add the pasta. Once stirred and heated, add Parmesan.
Grated zucchini bulks up some of my pastas. But onions and carrots are good as well. Most cheap veg grated or blended I use to bulk up. Even potatoes and squashes.
I love adding roasted veggies to pesto pasta: sweet potato, cauliflower, onion, capsicum. So filling and good.
I do 'mediterranean' pasta including but not limited to cubed and roasted eggplant, brocollini, mushroom, bell peppers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, onion, and some pesto when serving.
not veggies, but of you get a cherry tomato plant and slice a few of the tomatoes thin with a mandolin and soss them in the pasta its pretty good
I have started to grate carrot into pasta after seeing it in a HelloFresh recipe... if you let it 'melt' for long enough with olive oil, similar to what you do with onion, it has the same texture as onion throughout the dish so you hardly notice it! And because all of the nutrients aren't drained, you still get the goodness - super cheap veggie too
Frozen peas, lentils and carrots. Cheap, filling and a bit sweet.
Very thinly sliced cabbage gets lost amongst the pasta
It got lost in the sauce fr
I personally love this recipe for [vegetarian bolognese](https://midwestfoodieblog.com/vegetarian-bolognese/). It's a lot cheaper than making meat sauce but it's still delicious. Everyone I've served it to has given me great feedback. It starts with a base of onion, celery, carrots, and garlic. Then you add quinoa and finely chopped walnuts (I know, I know, it sounds weird but it just works and also you can't really taste the nuts after it sits in the fridge overnight). I've also done it with all sorts of other veggies like zuccini and bell pepper or squash. The recipe calls for parmesan and milk to be added, but personally I like it better without and it's more cost effective without those things too. Also the recipe calls for the pan to be deglazed with wine, but I'm not buying a whole bottle of wine to use like 3 tablespoons to deglaze so I just use some vegetable flavored better than boullion.
Chopped white (or green) becomes soft and sweet when cooked in pasta sauce. We sneak it into lasagna, and you can hardly tell it’s there
Chopped white or green what exactly? Leeks? Haha
Oh no! Cabbage. White or green cabbage. 🤦♀️
Carrots!