This post may contain affiliate links. See my disclosure policy.
My high protein pasta recipe has over 40 grams of protein per serving. The pasta is baked with a tomato meat sauce and three kinds of cheese. It’s perfect for meal prep and weeknight dinners.
Table of Contents
Since I started tracking my protein, I’ve had to pay attention to one of my favorite meals, pasta, and find a way to transform it into a high-protein powerhouse.
I call this my triple-threat protein pasta because it contains added protein in three key elements: the protein pasta itself, the meat sauce, and the creamy cheese sauce. Everything is baked together in one dish, and I love how it ticks all the nutritional boxes, so I feel good about serving this as a complete meal to my family.
Protein pasta recipe highlights
Quick and easy: With a busy family and schedule, I’m all about fuss-free dinners. For this, you boil the pasta, cook the meat, layer everything, and let it bake. That is it!
Made with real ingredients: No protein powders or funky substitutes are needed—just authentic pasta and real, protein-packed ingredients.
Meal prep friendly: I often make a double batch of the pasta for quick and easy lunches throughout the week. It also reheats like a dream, so you can freeze the uncooked pasta until you’re ready to serve.
If you’d like more traditional high-protein pasta recipes, try my cottage cheese pasta sauce (with rigatoni) or cottage cheese alfredo (with linguini).
Key Ingredients
Scroll down to the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients. These are a few points about the main ones:
- Protein pasta. Any high-protein pasta can be used, including penne, rigatoni, and elbows. I find chickpea pasta keeps the best consistency. In terms of brands, I like Barilla and Banza.
- Meat sauce. It’s essentially a Bolognese sauce with lean ground beef, garlic, onion, and tomato sauce. Skip the expensive and sugar-laden grocery store brands and make your own pomodoro sauce or sugo.
- Cheese sauce. Inspired by the cottage cheese lasagna filling, it’s eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and parmesan cheese.
- Mozzarella cheese. To cover the top of the pasta.
How to make high protein pasta
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Step 1- Heat olive oil in a skillet. Sauté onion and garlic for 2 minutes, then add ground beef and cook until browned. Stir in marinara sauce and Italian seasonings; cook until warm.
Step 2- In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, fresh parsley, Greek yogurt, parmesan cheese, and cottage cheese.
Step 3 – In a baking dish, layer the meat sauce, half of the pasta, the cottage cheese mix, and the mozzarella. Repeat this process with the remaining pasta and cheese mixture, then top with the meat sauce and mozzarella.
Step 4- Bake for 40 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Recipe variations
- Cook the pasta for longer. Pasta high in protein takes slightly longer to cook than regular pasta, so keep this in mind and follow the package directions accordingly. I learned in culinary school that al dente pasta is best for pasta bakes.
- Oil the pasta. I find that drizzling a little oil over the drained pasta helps to prevent it from sticking together while I cook the meat sauce.
- Add more protein. In addition to the ground beef, toss in air fryer meatballs, shredded rotisserie chicken, or ground Italian sausage.
- Amp up the veggies like spinach, bell peppers, onion, Swiss chard, tomatoes, or garlic.
Storage instructions
To store: Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 5 days.
To freeze: Place the cooled protein pasta in an airtight container (or individual containers) and store it in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Reheating: Microwave the pasta for 30-40 seconds or reheat in a preheated oven until warm.
Protein Pasta
Video
Ingredients
- 14.5 ounces protein pasta uncooked, see notes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 24 ounces marinara sauce
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 cup parsley finely chopped
- 1/2 cup Greek yogurt plain and non fat
- 1 cup parmesan cheese freshly grated
- 1 pound cottage cheese
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish and set aside.
- Cook the pasta as per package instructions. Once cooked, drain it and set aside.
- In a medium pan, add the olive oil and place it over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, until fragrant. Add the lean ground beef and break apart and cook until no longer pink. Add the marinara sauce and Italian seasonings and and cook until the sauce is warm. Remove from the heat.
- In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, fresh parsley, Greek yogurt, parmesan cheese and cottage cheese.
- Add a thin layer of the meat sauce onto the base of the baking dish then add half the cooked pasta, then half the cottage cheese mixture, then a sprinkling of mozzarella cheese. Add the remaining half of the cooked pasta, followed by the remaining cottage cheese mix. Pour the remaining meat sauce all over the top, then the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake everything for 35-40 minutes, until the cheese has melted and golden brown in spots. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with fresh parsley and slice and serve.
Notes
- Barilla Protein plus pasta. Comes in a variety of shapes, including penne, elbow, farfalle, and rotini. Each serving provides 10 grams of protein.
- Banza protein pasta. Made from chickpea flour, this brand packs in 23 grams of protein per serving.
- Modern table pasta. Made from lentils, each serving provides 20 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber.
Nutrition
This was delicious! Thanks for sharing.
Can I also ude normal pasta with lots of cottage cheese etc? Its still high protein.
I made this recipe this week. Just changed Greek yoghurt for normal yoghurt. Still it was veeery good!
This sounds as so healthy and high protein meal. Great to try this while working intense job.
Best protein pasta recipe ever!
This recipe is downright awesome, I’ve made it three times already and enjoy it thoroughly every time, as does my husband who’s not as big on “healthy” options as me. I cannot believe the portion size you get for those calories!! I used low-carb pasta in mine for lower calories, and it’s still just as delicious.
I just made was so good. What exactly is the portion size y we should get? I was confused about that but it was delicious.
I love this recipe, have made it several times. A+
I am a sports Dietitian and I made this recipe for one of the soccer team’s I consult for. It tasted delicious and was a great meal to fuel their energy stores for their two games the next day. We have a vegetarian so even with swapping out the meat for sautéed veggies it tasted great and still had a good amount of protein. Will be using again! Thank you!
THIS WAS AMAZING!!! So satisfying to eat a protein pasta dish that is actually really good for you! It was super filling, too. We used lasagna sheets rather than pasta and made it an actual lasagna (using the cottage cheese rather than ricotta- so much healthier). I loved this and so did my husband. Thank you!