We love pasta in our house. It's quick, it's comforting, and our toddler will eat it without complaint (most of the time). But standard pasta dinners can leave you hungry an hour later because they're mostly carbs with very little protein.

That's exactly why I set out to build a full list of high-protein pasta recipes that taste just as good as the regular versions. No. Better! Every recipe below packs at least 26 grams of protein per serving from real, whole food ingredients like bone broth, blended cottage cheese, protein pasta, and lean meats.

Most are on the table in 30 minutes or less. All of them are tested-and-toddler-approved!

Jump to:

• Quick Reference to Find Your Favorite Protein Pasta Recipe
• Hearty Meat and Chicken Pasta Dinners
• One-Pot and Skillet Pasta Dinners
• Lighter & Brighter Pasta Dishes
• High-Protein Pasta Salads
• How to Add Extra Protein to Pasta
• More High-Protein Recipe Lists

Quick Reference to Find Your Favorite Protein Pasta Recipe

All recipes achieve high protein without protein powder. Sorted by protein per serving. Recipes marked Cold are pasta salads - great for meal prep and summer lunches.

Hearty Meat and Chicken Pasta Dinners

1. High Protein Pesto Chicken Pasta

50g protein | 569 calories

This is the highest-protein pasta on the site, and it doesn't taste like a "health food" recipe. Marinated grilled chicken sits on top of frilly protein pasta tossed in our homemade high-protein pesto (made with hemp seeds instead of pine nuts). The trick to the silky sauce is an egg and parmesan mixture stirred into the warm pasta (the same technique used in carbonara) plus a splash of bone broth to keep everything smooth!

2. Cheesecake Factory Tomato Basil Pasta (Copycat)

50g protein | 780 calories

I kid you not, this one is more indulgent on the calorie side. But it's also one of the most impressive dinners on this list, and it hits 50g of protein per serving. Tender chicken breast, seasoned diced tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella pearls tossed with penne, finished with a basil-oil drizzle that makes it taste exactly like the restaurant version.

3. Healthier Hamburger Helper

47g protein | 612 calories

If you grew up on boxed Hamburger Helper, this recipe will give you all sorts of nostalgia. Except it gets a huge boost being that it's made with bone broth, white beans blended into the sauce (you can't taste them), and a splash of Worcestershire that makes it taste leagues better than anything from a box. Everything cooks in one pot, including the dry pasta, so you're looking at about 25 minutes from start to finish!

4. Ground Bison Spaghetti with Spicy Red Bolognese

35g protein | 632 calories

Classic spaghetti and meat sauce, but made with lean ground bison for a cleaner protein source. The red bolognese gets a depth of flavor from minced carrots (the secret to great spaghetti sauce) and a jar of marinara punched up with garlic and spices. This is the definition of an easy and quick weeknight dinner!

One-Pot and Skillet Pasta Dinners

5. Cottage Cheese Lasagna Pasta

32g protein | 474 calories

All the flavors of lasagna such as beef, marinara, cottage cheese, mozzarella, and fresh basil are made in one skillet in under 30 minutes. The dry pasta cooks directly in the sauce (just keep stirring), so you get that starchy, saucy quality of baked lasagna without heating up the oven. Cottage cheese replaces ricotta for a protein boost, and it melts right into the dish.

6. Bone Broth Mac and Cheese

32g protein | 580 calories

Ok, forget boxed mac and cheese, this one cooks in bone broth instead of water, and the sauce is made from blended white beans, cottage cheese, and cheddar. Creamy, cheesy, and super satisfying at 32g of protein and 7g of fiber. Compare that to the 12g protein and 2g fiber you'd get from a box. Loved by both kids and adults!

7. One-Pot Skillet Protein Pasta

26g protein | 360 calories

At 20 minutes start to finish, this is probably the fastest dinner on the list. It's our take on the viral Meghan Markle one-pot pasta, boosted with Barilla Protein pasta and bone broth instead of water. Cherry tomatoes, garlic, Tuscan kale, lemon, and parmesan all cook together in the same skillet, and the pasta absorbs the bone broth as it simmers, creating a silky sauce without any cream!

8. Dairy-Free One-Pot Tuscan Gnocchi

34g protein | 838 calories

This one is hearty, and it's worth every calorie. Gnocchi simmers in bone broth until tender, then gets coated in a creamy Tuscan sauce made from blended cashews, sun-dried tomatoes, and nutritional yeast. Chicken sausage adds protein and a savory herby flavor with toasted breadcrumbs on top for crunch. Chefs kiss!

Lighter & Brighter Pasta Dishes

Not every pasta night needs to be hearty and heavy. These recipes lean into fresh flavors like lemon and kale while still packing in the protein.

9. Orzo White Bean Casserole

31g protein | 556 calories

This one is a great option for vegetarian pasta nights (just swap bone broth for vegetable broth). It's an easy dump-and-bake dinner that cooks entirely in the oven! Orzo, white beans, leeks, kale, and bone broth go into a baking dish, get covered with foil, and come out 45 minutes later as a creamy, silky casserole. The orzo cooks right in the dish, and the beans provide both protein and 12g of fiber per serving, the highest on this list!

10. One-Pot Lemon Ricotta Pasta

29g protein | 531 calories

The sauce here is so simple it almost feels like cheating: ricotta, cottage cheese, parmesan, olive oil, and lemon blended together, tossed with warm protein pasta and sweet peas. Bright, creamy, and it tastes like something you'd eat on an Italian terrace somewhere.

It also works cold as a protein pasta salad, which makes it a great meal prep option.

11. High-Protein Bone Broth Pasta

29g protein | 388 calories

This is the sleeper hit of the list. Protein spaghetti cooks directly in bone broth (no straining!), then gets topped with a crispy lemon panko breadcrumb topping and pan-fried sardines. Before you skip this one.. I pinky promise you cannot taste the sardines! They get fried and mashed until they're basically crispy breadcrumb bits. Even our toddler eats this without questioning it.

High-Protein Pasta Salads

These pasta recipes are cold, make-ahead, and perfect for meal prep! They bring the same protein punch as the hot pasta dinners but are better suited for summer lunches, potlucks, and BBQs.

12. High-Protein Pasta Salad

28g protein | 476 calories

With an easy homemade Italian dressing, this pasta salad has all the classic flavors with way more protein. Starting off with chickpea pasta, we add mozzarella pearls, tomatoes, salami, and canned chickpeas to crank up the protein content. This easy meal is ready in just 15 minutes and is also high-fiber with 7g!

13. Dill Pickle Tuna Pasta Salad

29g protein | 403 calories

If you love dill pickles (I've been obsessed with them myself), this pasta salad is going to be your new meal prep obsession. It features protein pasta, skipjack tuna, and a creamy Greek yogurt-base dill pickle ranch dressing that's tangy, herby, and so so good! This is my modern high-protein version of my grandmas classic tuna pasta salad.

14. High-Protein BLT Pasta Salad

29g protein | 575 calories

This is your new go-to summer BBQ pasta salad. It's got protein pasta, shredded chicken, crispy bacon, and avocado all tossed in a tangy mayo vinaigrette that makes it both dairy-free and gluten-free. The vinaigrette only gets better as it sits and this is the whole beauty of this recipe. Meal prep it on Sunday and you've got all week to enjoy it!

How to Add Extra Protein to Pasta

Even with this list, there are nights you just want to boil plain spaghetti and call it dinner. Here are the four tricks I use to sneak more protein into any pasta without changing the flavor.

Use protein pasta. There are so many options out there now! But Barilla Protein+ is my go-to because it tastes and cooks exactly like regular wheat pasta. It adds about 10g of protein per serving over standard pasta. One note: single-ingredient pastas like chickpea or lentil pasta don't work well in one-pot recipes because they get gummy as they absorb liquid.

Cook your pasta in bone broth. Bone broth adds 8-9g of protein per cup, and the pasta absorbs it as it cooks. This works in any one-pot or skillet recipe and also enhances the flavor so you might even notice the sauce tastes better.

Blend cottage cheese into the pasta sauce. Half a cup of cottage cheese adds 14g of protein and disappears when blended. We use this in our mac and cheese, lasagna pasta, and lemon ricotta pasta. You won't not even know it's in there.

Add white beans. This might seem controversial, but trust me! Blend some white beans into tomato-based sauces. They add protein, fiber, and make for an ultra-creamy texture.

More High-Protein Recipe Lists

If you're a protein pasta lover then I'm willing to bet you'll be interested in some of these other high-protein recipe lists:

High-protein chicken recipes - 15 easy, filling meals

30-minute high-protein dinners - perfect for busy nights

savory cottage cheese recipes - you can't even tell the cottage cheese is there in most of them