Post sponsored by Barilla. See below for more details.
When it comes to vegetarian pasta dishes, it can feel a bit harder to get protein into the meals. I typically opt for making a side salad loaded with chickpeas and occasionally I’ll make a version of lentil Bolognese. However, sometimes I just want a simple, 20-minute dinner that doesn’t take any fuss. Enter this black olive lentil pasta using at Barilla Red Lentil Penne.
Alliums
I love shallots, but I know they can be a bit of a pain when it comes to mincing. Swap out shallots for minced garlic or minced onion. If you want to make this during the spring, this is also an opportune time to use green garlic.
Olive varieties
I typically reach for kalamata, primarily because we pick up olives from the olive bar quite frequently. However, using black or green olives would work as well. We keep a couple cans on hand for quick meals, and this would definitely be one of those quick meals!
Barilla Red Lentil Penne
Up to now, I’ve showcased the chickpea pasta from Barilla, but I’m also excited to share their red lentil version. This beautiful pasta is made from just red lentils and one serving has 13g of protein. When cooking vegetarian, it can be a puzzle to get enough protein into your day and I love when I can use ingredients like lentils in unexpected ways. You can find all varieties on Amazon.
Make it Vegan
One of the best things about this pasta: it’s easy to make vegan. While I love the parmesan in this recipe, you could easily leave it off. Or, try your hand at some vegan parmesan. I love using this mix that has hemp and nutritional yeast- it’s such a great nutty flavor.
Black Olive Red Lentil Pasta
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
- Category: dinner
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: international
Ingredients
4 ounces Barilla Red Lentil Penne
¼ cup olive oil
⅓ cup minced shallots
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup sliced kalamata olives
2 teaspoons minced rosemary
½ cup grated vegetarian parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the instruction on the package, making sure to not overcook the pasta. Drain, reserving a ½ cup or so of pasta water, and make the olive oil mixture.
- Heat a medium pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil, followed by the shallots and a pinch of salt. Cook until the shallots are tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the olives and cook for another few minutes until the olives are warm.
- Finally, stir in the rosemary and cooked pasta. Cook for just a minute, to bring everything together. Turn off the heat and add the parmesan. Stir, taste, and adjust the levels of salt/parmesan as desired. If it’s looking like the olive oil hasn’t coated the pasta, add a splash or two of the reserved pasta water.
Keywords: red lentil pasta
Disclosure: This recipe was created in partnership with Barilla. All thoughts and opinions are my own. It’s content like this that helps me keep this site running to provide the vegetarian recipes you see every week.
Gio says
This is a great dish Congratulation in a savory healthy colorful dish using the most Mediterranean ingredients I used to have all my life: lentils garlic olives pasta Parmesan olive oil rosemary’s
Long live the Mediterranean!
★★★★★
Kim says
Really, quick, simple & tasty! Made it for lunch today.
★★★★★
Stacy says
I never leave negative reviews, but this was terrible. It would probably be good if the rosemary were cut in half. I didn't even use all of what was called for and it was still almost inedible. I feel mean leaving this review, but my goal is to save someone from wasting their time. Make some of her other recipes; they're wonderful!
★★
Erin Alderson says
AHHHHHH! I am so sorry. It's supposed to be 2 teaspoons. I feel horrible but thank you for leaving the review.
Amy says
Thank you for this recipe. I used onion powder, added garlic powder, and deglazed my pan with lemon juice but otherwise followed the instructions subbing canned black olives for kalamata and the chickpea rotini for the lentil penne, and it worked out great. I'm so glad to have this recipe and plan to make it again because we bought too many olives from Costco and I have to use them up!
★★★★★