How A Bag Of Frozen Veggies Effortlessly Takes Pasta Night To A New Level

Next time you throw your favorite pasta dish together for dinner, consider adding veggies from your freezer. Frozen veggies take pasta dishes from simple noodle-and-sauce combos to meals with more texture, color, flavor, and nutrients. Whether you like marinara or Alfredo sauce, and spaghetti or penne shapes, frozen veggies have a place at pasta night. Frozen vegetables are especially convenient for adding to your pasta because they can be on standby in the freezer for months and are faster to prepare and cook than raw vegetables. 

Adding vegetables to pasta is sometimes merely an afterthought; the pasta just finished cooking, but you remember you have a bag of green beans, so you toss them into the pot. However, with a bit of planning, you can buy the best frozen veggie for the pasta job. Some of the highest quality frozen veggies like peas and broccoli are common in the freezer and the most versatile for your pasta.

Although they experience a loss of some nutrients like vitamins, ascorbic acid, and carotenoids, the remaining nutrients frozen vegetables bring to pasta are still plenty to benefit from! Plus, their convenience could mean the difference between no veggies at all and a veggie-filled pasta primavera.

To impress your dinner party (or your family), add a frozen veggie that will enhance your pasta. Frozen legumes like peas, edamame, and green beans are an excellent source of plant protein, and their earthy and buttery flavors work well in nutty pesto sauces. Frozen spinach harmonizes with creamy flavors and is your best friend for cheese- and other dairy-based sauces. Try it in a fettuccini Alfredo or this 15-minute creamy spinach pasta recipe with cream cheese and mushrooms. Broccoli is among the more versatile veggies and adds a pop of color and texture to spaghetti marinara or other tomato-based pasta dishes.

If you want to make your frozen veggies taste amazing and are worried about them becoming limp and soggy in your pasta, sauté them. Use a drizzle of olive oil in the pan to give them a flavorful sear and reintroduce texture to their skin. The high heat of the stove thaws them quickly and helps evaporate excess water.

However, to reap the full benefit of frozen veggies' convenience, you can toss the still-frozen veggies into the pasta sauce as it cooks (or as it warms if you're using a jar sauce for extra convenience). Just be sure to add your veggies at the last minute to prevent them from overcooking in the bubbling sauce.