Healthy Banza Recipe in LESS than 10 Minutes!
For a girl that had previously sworn off pasta for good, I’ve been living by my boxes of Banza lately. When I’m on the go all day and exhausted by the time I get home at night, I’m ready for a nutritious and easy dinner that fills me up and doesn’t take all night to make (or use five million dishes).
Enter: My ten minute Banza recipe that’s gluten free, dairy free, and only uses four ingredients! Let me tell ya, when my metabolism was through the roof back in the day and I was in high school sports full-throttle, I could put away an entire box of buttered noodles without thinking twice. Oh how I missed downing carbs and butter on the reg.. until Banza came into my life! Now, I’ve put together a quick recipe that tastes pretty freakin’ close, without the fat and triple the protein (and maybe just a little broccoli too).
A few months ago, I decided I’d try going 3 weeks without dairy. (LOL if only I’d known how hard it was going to be, I probably wouldn’t have ever come up with that ridiculous idea at all), but I went through with it! A few products I had never tried before that helped me through:
- Nutritional Yeast– It look a little bit of searching and a few grocery stores, but I found a decent sized container of the flaky “cheese substitute” at a Whole Foods and I haven’t looked back since. Does it replace the melty, creamy taste you get from cheese? Hell no. Nothing tastes like cheese except CHEESE. But, I like the flavor it gives to the food I add it to, especially Banza!
- Coconut Milk/Almond Milk- Even though I had had almond milk before, I’d never used it to make homemade ice cream. Because ice cream is a necessity in my life (and I didn’t want to fork over $5-8 for a pint of dairy-free ice cream), I used coconut milk or almond milk at home to make banana “nice cream” and I LOVED it. Keep an eye out for a recipe on my fav way to make it coming soon.
- Soy or Dairy Free Yogurt- Because I’m not quite “DIY” enough to try making my own yogurt at home, I did spend a little extra on dairy free yogurts to find out I really did enjoy a little dollop added to my smoothies. I’ve started to make smoothies without yogurt altogether lately, so this wasn’t a huge necessity.
On to the recipe!
To make this dish under ten minutes, you can use frozen broccoli (or any other veggie of your choice) and cook in the microwave while you throw the banza pasta into the boiling water on the stove. Once the pasta is finished cooking, toss with olive oil, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper to taste. Add in the cooked broccoli and you’re good to go! I’ve been on a huge roasted brocc kick lately, so when I made this recipe this past weekend I roasted my broccoli (previously tossed in olive oil, salt, and pepper) in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. It gives the tips of the “trees” a little crunch which I love.
Enjoy!
Banza and Broccoli Ten Minute Meal
Dinner in a jiffy! This protein-packed dish fills me up and doesn't weigh me down like regular pasta.
Ingredients
- 1/4 package Banza Noodles
- 1 cup broccoli
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- Nutritional Yeast, to taste
Instructions
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Cook Banza according to package directions.
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To keep the recipe under ten minutes, steam frozen broccoli in microwave. If you have a little more time, roast fresh broccoli (tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper) at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through.
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Once pasta is fully cooked, drain and toss with olive oil, nutritional yeast, and salt and pepper to taste.
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Stir in broccoli and enjoy.
