Kisses&Carrots

5-Minute Meals: Easy PEASy Pasta

I don’t know how it happens, but somehow, dinner preparation always comes at the wrong time of day. It falls right in the midst of those hellish hours in which I’m helping both girls with their homework. (Why on earth does my 10-year old need 2 hours of homework? And seriously, should a 5-year old even have homework?! But I digress. That’s a rant for another day.) I’m usually trying to dry tears, comfort them from any school drama that occurred, feed them snacks, unpack and repack their lunches, check for papers that need to be signed, and break up any spats that come up due to them being tired and cranky. All this while making a healthy, veggie-based dinner. No wonder I dread the hours between 3:30 and 6:30! It’s completely overwhelming. And I will venture to guess that I’m not the only one who feels this way.

5-Minute Meals

So, to ease some of the stress, I’ve come up with several 5-minute meals for the weeknights. A few of them require a little prep ahead of time, and some of them take a half-hour or so to actually cook, and almost all of them require my Instant Pot, but as far as hands-on prep time goes—they all take only 5 minutes. Once I dump all the ingredients in, they are basically set it and forget it. AND, they are healthy and cheap, and the kids like them. It’s like the holy grail of meals.

My favorite 5-minute meal is my Easy PEASy Pasta. I typically make this dish on Monday nights, when I’m particularly stressed because I’m still doing laundry from the weekend and the kids bring home a ton of homework. It only has 4 ingredients: Banza chickpea pasta, frozen chopped spinach, a jar of pasta sauce, and water. That’s it! So, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Easy PEASy Pasta

This is a 4-ingredient dish that is chock full of nutrition and takes only 5 minutes of active preparation.
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Prep Time 5 mins
Cook Time 6 mins
Pressurizing and De-pressurizing 20 mins
Total Time 31 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 8

Equipment

  • Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker

Ingredients
  

  • 1 8 oz box Banza Chickpea Pasta any variety: rotini, elbow, etc.
  • 1 10 oz bag frozen chopped spinach I prefer the organic variety
  • 1 24 oz jar tomato-based pasta sauce I prefer the organic variety
  • 2 cups filtered water

Instructions
 

  • Dump all the ingredients into the instant pot or pressure cooker.
  • Seal pressure cooker.
  • Set cook time to 6 minutes and pressure level to high.
  • Allow the instant pot to heat, pressurize and cook for the 6 minutes. It takes approximately 10 minutes to reach the right pressure before the cooking actually starts.
  • Let is depressurize naturally for 10 minutes, then vent and remove lid.

Notes

This pasta recipe is super easy, and because of the Banza pasta, it is chock full of protein and fiber. It’s very filling.
You can use different lentil or legume pastas on the market, but you will have to fiddle with the cook time, depressurizing time, and the amount of water.
This recipe is also very customizable. If your family likes mushrooms, they are divine in this. Just add a fresh package of sliced mushrooms and reduce your water to 1 cup instead of 2. And if you aren’t dairy-free, you can also sprinkle freshly grated parmesan or mozzarella cheese on the pasta to make it even yummier.
Keyword 5-minute meal, easy healthy meal, high fiber, high protein, vegan

I love that this recipe costs me less than $10 and feeds my family of 4 twice. In fact, I frequently use the leftovers in school and work lunches for the next day. This is my go-to recipe when I’m tired, stressed or sick. Just to prove to you how easy this recipe is, here are the pictures of what goes into the Instant Pot:

The three main ingredients: you can get all three at Walmart, or bulk order the pasta on Amazon.
This is what it looks like before it is cooked. Everything is literally just dumped in. You don’t even need to stir before cooking. YAY!
And this is what it looks like after it has finished cooking. Yum!

Happy cooking! And may your dinner hour be more peaceful.