One-pot taco pasta
35 min · 40 g protein · 436 cals / serving
Taco night in one cheesy pot: little shells simmered right in a smoky, cumin-spiced beef and tomato sauce with black beans, sweet corn, peppers and zucchini, so the pasta drinks up all the flavor. A melty blanket of cheddar on top, then cool yogurt, green onion and cilantro. One pot to wash, and it is on the table in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tsp olive oil
- 1 1/4 lb ground beef (95% lean)
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 2 medium zucchini, in small dice
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 1/2 tbsp taco seasoning
- 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes
- 1 can (15 oz), drained and rinsed black beans
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 3 cups chicken broth, low-sodium
- 3 oz small wheat shells pasta
- 3 oz red lentil small shells (dry weight) lentil pasta
- generous 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese
To serve
- 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- 3 green onions, sliced
- a small handful fresh cilantro, chopped (optional)
Steps
- Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef, onion and pepper and cook, breaking up the beef, 6–8 minutes, until browned with no pink left, 160°F.
- Add the zucchini, garlic and taco seasoning and stir for 1 minute, until fragrant.
- Add the tomatoes with their juice, black beans, corn, broth and the wheat shells. Stir, bring to a boil, then cover, lower to a steady simmer and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the lentil shells (they cook faster and turn mushy if they go in first), cover again and simmer 7–9 minutes more, stirring every few minutes so nothing sticks, until both pastas are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. If it gets dry before the pasta is done, add a splash of water.
- Take off the heat, scatter the cheddar over the top, cover and leave 2 minutes to melt.
- Serve in bowls with a spoon of yogurt, green onion and cilantro.
Good to know
How do I get the kids involved?
Let them build a topping bar: small bowls of yogurt, green onion, cilantro, extra corn and a few crushed tortilla chips. Everyone tops their own bowl, which is half of what makes taco night fun.
Why two kinds of pasta?
Red lentil shells take on the orange-red of the sauce and blend in with the wheat ones, and they bring a lot more protein and fiber than wheat pasta alone. All wheat pasta works too (6 1/2 oz); the dish is then a little higher in calories and lower in protein, at about the same score.
Is it spicy?
Most taco seasoning is mild. For very young or sensitive children, use half the seasoning plus 1 tsp each of cumin and paprika; the grown-ups can add hot sauce at the table.
My picky eater picks out the vegetables
Dice the pepper and zucchini really small, the size of the corn, and they cook down into the sauce. Most children read them as part of the 'taco sauce'.
Per
- Calories
- 86
- Protein
- (38%)
- 8 g
- Fat
- (23%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (39%)
- 9 g
- of which sugar
- 2 g
- Fiber
- 2 g
- Sodium
- 210 mg
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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 2619 kcal goes into the pot and 3484 g of ingredients comes out as about 3040 g of food: 86 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.