One Pot Beans & Meatballs Pasta

My first recipe of the year is beautifully warming and comforting pasta dish, it is January after all! 🙂 My One Pot Beans & Meatballs Pasta is simple to make, full of veggie and beans goodness with scrumptious sausage meatballs thrown in for good measure. All you need is a spoon to dive right in!

I don’t know about you but I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions. Come January I simply pick up where I left off before all the festivities started which for me is trying to be balanced with our diet without cutting out certain foods or denying ourselves things we enjoy as long as we do it in moderation. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for resolutions if they work for you but I’m staying clear lol!

This year, however, myself and hubby decided to make a difference to the way we “operate” our household and decided to try and reduce our use of plastic as much as we can. Trying to be more plastic aware has really opened our eyes to the problem and we will try and become more conscious shoppers from now on and avoid unnecessary packaging amongst other things! I will be reporting back on how we’re getting on. Wish us luck!

Coming back to the recipe, this One Pot Beans & Meatballs Pasta will have you smacking your lips with delight lol. We all love it and it is one of the staple recipes in our house. It is yet another recipe in my repertoire which is easy to adapt with what you’ve got in your cupboard and fridge. In this version I have used leftover stalks from Cavolo Nero I had lurking in the fridge but other times I might use leftover broccoli stalk to bulk the dish up or even some grated swede or celeriac.

This dish can also work without the sausage meatballs or perhaps with veggie substitute if you wish. Not a fan of butter beans, try kidney, cannellini or even chickpeas. Didn’t I say this pasta is pretty easy to adapt to your requirements? 🙂 I have also used wholewheat pasta in this recipe to make it that bit more wholesome but feel free to use any type you’d like. I have recently come across some lentil pasta which I’m quite keen to try soon too.

You might want to consider making your own chicken stock to use here. It really couldn’t be easier and you can have a nice stash in your freezer to take out and use whenever you need. Check out my guide on How To Make Chicken Stock in Instant Pot (with instructions for hob/stovetop users too)!

This pasta has almost a stew feel to it, with its rich, thick and glossy sauce. Feel free to adjust consistency to your liking. I do find the amount of liquid spot on but you might find that splash more of stock or perhaps some white wine or more passata should be added. One thing is certain, crusty bread with some butter to accompany this dish is highly advisable! You might want to give my super quick and easy Irish Soda Bread a go!

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One Pot Beans & Meatballs Pasta

Servings 4

Author Jo Allison

Ingredients

• 6 pork sausages approx 400g
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks roughly chopped
• 2 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
• leftover Cavolo Nero stalks finely chopped or leftover broccoli stalk finely chopped
• 2 plump garlic cloves finely chopped
• 500 g carton tomato passata
• 1 ltr chicken stock from cube is fine
• 1 generous tsp mixed herbs
• 205 g whole wheat fusilli pasta
• 410 g can butter beans drained and rinsed
• some fresh basil chopped
• oil salt, pepper
• some parmesan for grating

Instructions

• Prepare your vegetables by peeling and chopping them accordingly. I like to use my food processor here to make my life easier.
• Remove sausage meat out of the casing and roll into small meatballs.
• Fry the meatballs in a glug of oil in a heavy duty pan until browned all over. Remove from the pan and set aside.
• Pop all your chopped vegetables into the pan you fried your meatballs in (onions, celery, carrots, garlic, cavolo nero stalks) and sweat until softened, approx. 10 min. You might need to add a bit more oil to the pan if it's getting dry.
• Pour tomato passata and stock into the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and add mixed herbs. Stir well.
• Add the pasta and meatballs and stir gently. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes until pasta and meatballs are cooked. Add beans and simmer for couple of minutes to heat them through.
• Adjust seasoning if need be and serve sprinkled with grated parmesan and some fresh basil.
• Enjoy!

Tried this recipe?Tag me @Joskitchenlarder or use hashtag #joskitchenlarder!

Some more recipes you might enjoy:

Carbonara Sauce Recipe

Roasted Tomato & Basil Pasta

One Pot Leftover Ham and Pea Pasta

One Pot Smoked Sausage Jambalaya

Sausage & Lentil Casserole with Cavolo Nero

Pin For Later!

I’m linking my One Pot Beans & Meatballs Casserole with the following pages:

Cook Blog Share hosted this week by Eb from Easy Peasy Foodie and by Kirsty at Hijacked By Twins

Cook Once Eat Twice hosted by Corina at Searching for Spice

Brilliant Blog Posts hosted by Vicki at Honest Mum Blog

Simple and in Season hosted by Katie at Feeding Boys