We love pasta at Slimming World! It’s one of the Free Foods at the heart of Food Optimising, which means that you can enjoy it until you’re totally satisfied, with no weighing, measuring or counting.
This easy, cheesy meatball dish, from our Passion for Pasta (and Noodles!) recipe book, is the perfect mid-week meal. Add it to your list of family favourites!
Slimming World meatball pasta bake
serves 4
1½ Syns per serving
ready in 50 minutes
What you need:
1 small onion, roughly chopped
500g lean beef mince (5% fat or less)
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
1 level tsp Dijon mustard
1 medium egg
2 large courgettes, grated
low-calorie cooking spray
400g can chopped tomatoes
900ml hot beef stock
1 level tbsp rose harissa paste
400g dried penne pasta
50g reduced-fat feta cheese
chopped fresh parsley, to serve
What you do:
1. Preheat your oven to 200˚C/fan 180˚C/gas 6.
2. Put the onion in your food processor and whizz until finely chopped. Put half of the puréed onion in a bowl and set aside. Add the beef to the onion left in the food processor along with the dried herbs, mustard, egg, half the courgettes and a little salt and pepper. Whizz until combined then transfer to a bowl, divide into 20 portions and shape into meatballs.
3. Spray a wide non-stick frying pan with low-calorie cooking spray and place over a high heat. Add the meatballs and cook in batches for 1-2 minutes or until browned all over, turning them occasionally (they won’t be cooked through yet). Transfer to a plate.
4. Reduce the heat to medium and fry the remaining onion and courgettes for 2-3 minutes or until softened, stirring often. Stir in the chopped tomatoes, stock and harissa and bring to the boil.
5. Stir the pasta into the tomato sauce, then carefully pour into a large roasting tin, about 35cm x 24cm. Top with the meatballs, cover with kitchen foil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the meatballs are cooked through and the pasta is just cooked but has a little bite (‘al dente’).
6. Evenly crumble over the feta, sprinkle with the parsley and serve hot with salad or Speed vegetables.
Meatball pasta bake recipe video
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