Golden Sun-Dried Tomato Red Lentil Pasta.
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 brother’s 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 doesn’t 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 much immediately ran to Whole Foods and cleared the shelves of each and every box.
Ahh, sorry…not 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). It’s 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 this 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 “golden” in the title. Everyone in my family is a huge sucker for pasta. Actually, I don’t really no anyone who doesn’t love a bowl of pasta. Oh wait, apparently my cousin Abby doesn’t like pasta, but I dunno, either she’s crazy or she’s just lying to herself, cause pasta is the BEST. My brother Kai’s 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 I’m 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 I 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 it’s basically a power bowl…meaning going back for seconds (and thirds?) is totally a must. 🙂
I ended up topping my bowls of pasta with toasted pine nuts and sesame seeds and extra handfuls of spinach…the boys dumped on the parmesan, typical. Good news is that they were down with the golden sauce and the red lentil pasta. If you’re not a huge fan of turmeric, I would still consider giving tis recipe a try. The turmeric’s flavor gets pretty drowned out by all of the tomatoes.
My family members who don’t live here are long gone, but I’ve been making this pasta once a week and loving it. Trust me, it’s going to become your new go-to week night pasta recipe. The best part? It is truly GUILT FREE. Yes, please!
PS. Cait’s healthy eat’s 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?
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Golden Sun-Dried Tomato Red Lentil Pasta.
By halfbakedharvest
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: red lentil pasta
A delicious pasta dish that is full of super foods
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.
Mid week pasta? Yup, yup. YUP. Let’s do it. 🙂
Always looking for healthy (breakfast) snacks 🙂
Awesome! Thank you Lea!
Hahaha, I totally expected lentils in the sauce. Was kinda excited for it, since I’m looking for a pasta sauce with red lentils (#winkwink #nopressure). So, I’m a bit bummed but the recipe sounds great. Never new about pasta made from lentils.
I may just have to make one! But this pasta is only red lentils.. and thats it! So good for you! I hope you love this dish, Kat! Thanks!
Interested that you love this so much, because I tried a box of green lentil and quinoa pasta for dinner last night, and the sauce was the only thing that saved it – never again!
Hmm I have not tried green lentil pasta, so I do not know if the taste is much different. But, I hope you try this and like this one, Rachel! Thanks!
Interesting recipe!!! I’m super curious to taste this good looking red lentil pasta with this unique tomato sauce. I’m curious about the apple cider, What is the taste like with the addition of the apple cider?
This looks so tasty! Sophie x
sophiehmstewart.com
Thank you Sophie!
Pasta is a main food for me and this does look good.
I will have to make this now with Delallo because that’s all I have.
Thanks for telling us about that one too.
I haven’t been to Whole Foods in months I’ll have to make a trip.
I hope you love this pasta, Nancy! Thank you!!
Oh wow this sounds amazing, will have to look out for red lentil pasta!!
I hope you love it, Rhian! Thank you!
This is my absolute favorite pasta! My local Earth Fare had a “discontinued” sign on them recently and I bought 9 boxes 🙂 This looks AMAZING
Yay!! I am so glad you love these already & I hope you love the sauce! Thank you Allyson!
This looks amazing! I am so into these flavours, and I definitely need to try out red lentil pasta! 🙂
I hope you love this, Maya! Thank you so much!
We’re all kind of addicted to sundried tomatoes here in my household! THis is a dish to make, for sure!!http://www.spiceandsprout.com/
https://bloglairdutemps.blogspot.pt/
Perfect! I hope you & your family loves this, Ruth! Thanks!
I wish I could eat pasta everyday it’s soo good and so many sauces. This looks amazing. I can’t wait to try!
I hope you love it! Thank you Sahra!!
I love sun dried tomatoes! That rich flavor drives me mad.
I’ve been eyeing red lentil pasta for awhile now, but always thought it would cook funny and didn’t want to waste cash. But clearly, it’s awesome.
I would definitely give it a try, Annie! I hope you enjoy it and this sauce! Thank you!
This looks so delicious 🙂
Rachael xx.
theteacozykitchen.blogspot.co.uk
Thank you Rachael!
pls tell us more about Caitlin’s new to you/me foods 🙂
Haha I will have to share! Thank you Linda!
OMG YUMMM!!
This looks so good! I’ve never heard of red lentil pasta!
Aleeha xXx
http://www.halesaaw.com/
Give it a try!! I hope you love it, Aleeha! Thanks!
This looks so amazing!!!! xo
Thank you Rebecca!!
I’ve been using black bean pasta (it’s black and it looks like squid ink pasta) and edamame pasta (green in color) lately; super healthy and tastes great! I just saw in the stores the red lentil pasta and am excited to try it, if it’s as good as the others, more options! Can’t wait to try this pasta, love sun-dried tomatoes too! Thanks Tieghan!!
I hope you love it, Penny! Thank you so much!
I’m going to cook this tonight but I’ve already given it five stars because this recipe is exactly what I had in mind and i know it will be DELISH! Plus I have just about all of the ingredients on hand! Thank you! I’ll be back to tell how it turns out!
Great! I hope you love this and yes let me know how it goes!
A cozy bowl of pasta is just what I’m craving :). I’m all about that sauce and lentil pasta sounds fab!
Thank you Laura! I hope you love this one!
Never heard of red lentil pasta before, but now I’m dying to try it! Your sauce sounds totally amazing. I never would have thought to add sun dried tomatoes to the mix, but it’s a perfect combination!
Thank you Melissa!
Made this last night and the sauce was great but $8.00(!!!) for a box of pasta?? I love the idea of using red lentil pasta but this isn’t conducive to our grocery bill for a larger family. 🙁
Hey Erin! Sorry about this, it is pretty expensive for feeding a larger family. If you still want to try it though, Amazon sells it in bulk online for cheaper than store price. I will put the link below if you are interested!
https://www.amazon.com/TOLERANT-Organic-Non-GMO-LENTIL-Rotini/dp/B00N88O6TM/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1484348213&sr=8-3&keywords=red%2Blentil%2Bpasta&th=1
This looks so delicious. I have to try it!
I hope you love it, Anna! Thank you!!
This looks delicious! I’m definitely going to try it soon. Also, the oil drained from the sun-dried tomatoes would probably be a DELICIOUS substitute for the EVOO at the beginning. I always substitute it when I’m using sun-dried tomatoes.
Oh my gosh yes! It would be delicious. What a great idea!
Hope you love it Nicole.
This is great, it really is what I was looking for, thank you for sharing!
Thanks!
What are the actual ounce amounts for the fire roasted tomatoes and the pasta. The recipe only says 1 oz for each but I am guessing you would need a bit more than that 🙂
Hi Maddy! So sorry for the trouble, you need a 28 ounce can of tomatoes. Hope you love the pasta, let me know if you have other questions. Thanks1
Just made this and my family LOVED it! Thank you!!
I am so glad everyone loved it, Rebecca! Thank you!
Thank you so much for introducing me to red lentil pasta and other amazing dishes.
I recently discovered you on Instagram and stayed up for hours going through your recipes, after buying two lame ass cookbooks.
You’re inspiring and I can’t wait to make more food!
So happy you like them Laura! Instagram can be so time consuming! I’ll catch myself scrolling for to long!
Thank you so much!
Just made this today. OMG! So good. I have wanted to try lentil pasta and this looked pretty easy and healthy to make. It was both easy and delicious. Two thumbs up
I am so so happy you loved this! Thank you Mimi!
Delicious Teagan, just made his on a cold jan night in Amsterdam holland! We love your recipes and have converted our huge foodie family of 26 to your HBH site and book over in the UK. Keep up the great work!
Thank you Selina! I am so glad you like my blog and are enjoying my book!
A little tomato basil feta on top… SO GOOD!
Thank you Jesse!
Loved this recipe!! Do you happen to have a nutritional analysis for it??
Hi Ashleigh! I am so glad you loved this! Unfortunately I do not. So sorry about that! xTieghan
I just made this tonight, I loved this recipe! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for trying this Meheret! 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
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