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This healthy chicken sausage pasta with spinach, lemon, and green beans is healthy, full of flavor, and filling! Ready in less than 30 minutes.
I don’t know about you, but I need food to actually taste good. It’s probably obvious by now, but I’m totally not one of those “food is fuel” type people. I believe in eating healthy most of the time, but I need my healthy food to taste better than cardboard.
Sure, you could probably come up with a dish that’s healthier than this one, but that probably wouldn’t be much fun either. 🙂
If you still want your pasta and a bit of meat but you don’t want to spoil your new year’s resolution, this dish is for you.
The spinach and green beans are packed with vitamins. The lemon, sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic give it a pop of flavor. If you want a bit of spice, add some red pepper flakes. And chicken sausage is a lot healthier than some alternatives out there.
It doesn’t take long at all to throw this dish together, and you can feel pretty good doing it.
I hope you enjoy this healthy chicken sausage pasta!
Healthy Chicken Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 16 ounces chicken sausage* cut into bite-size pieces
- 12 ounces fresh green beans cut into bite-sizes pieces
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained (or 1 cup fresh, chopped)
- 2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes chopped
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 dashes Italian seasoning
- Red pepper flakes to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a salted pot of water to a boil and cook pasta (I used spaghetti) according to package directions.
- Warm the oil in a skillet on medium-high heat then add the sausage and brown for 8-10 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium and add the spinach and beans. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice, garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper if desired. Cook for another two minutes.
- Add a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water to the skillet prior to draining the pasta. Drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
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You may also like my healthy 20 minute turkey bolognese recipe or if you’re a fan of chicken sausage, you may like my chicken sausage pasta with roasted tomatoes.
Hi Natasha – I made this tonight. Ugh – off to a bad start. I miscalculated my dinner schedule and the fresh green beans I bought a week ago had already gone mushy when I went to make this. I don’t like sun-dried tomatoes and forgot to buy fresh. The fresh spinach was still good, so ok there. Yes, I needed a win on this! 😉
I wasn’t sure there would be enough liquid when I added the spinach to wilt so I did proactively add about a 1/4 cup chicken broth – I did not measure. When the dish was done I also added a little of the pasta water as you suggested.
Overall, it was very nice and healthy and I loved it. Will be looking forward to making it again with the green beans and tomatoes included. Please do more of the healthy style recipes – much appreciated! ❤️
I’m glad you enjoyed this!! It’s definitely an older recipe… took me a sec to remember which one this was haha. As always, appreciate your review!! 🙂
This looks so yummy! I’m the same way as you, even if I eat healthy, my food has to TASTE good. Adding this to my menu asap!
Thanks, Valentina! I hope you like it. 🙂
I don’t know what I like better…your sister’s comments or your replies to her comments! Ha!! I love the green beans and spinach. And good idea to sub in the chicken sausage! Nice and healthy!
Thank you, Mary Ann!! Haha yes, we’re silly.
I love finding easy and delicious weeknight meals. This looks so yummy and perfect to whip up during the week when I have two crazy toddlers running around under my feet! They will probably even like it too if I leave out the red pepper flakes. Yum!
Thanks, Kate!! I hope you enjoy it. And yeah, red pepper flakes aren’t for everyone. I go easy on them myself, while my husband would use the whole jar if he could. 😛
Lol, your sister has a funny sense of humor 🙂 This looks and sounds fantastic, Natasha! And your photos are gorgeous, as always!
Thank you!! 😛
Can you make a vegetarian version? Except I don’t like green beans or cooked spinach. Can you make something better?
No.