Not Beans, Not Chickpeas: Pasta Sauce Is Twice As Good When You Toss In This Fiber-Packed Canned Vegetable

Pasta is an essential easy dinner, whether you are making a simple pasta sauce yourself or resorting to jarred, and that means people are looking for their next easy upgrade. No matter how much you love tomato sauce, it just gets a little boring week after week, and is begging for additions to make it more filling and flavorful. Thankfully, there is no shortage of options, and one of the best and easiest is artichoke hearts.

Canned or jarred artichoke hearts have a versatile flavor that is mildly briny, earthy, and vegetal. They are ready-made to complement acidic or sweet tomato sauce, and it's a flavor combo that is already used in other popular pasta dishes that use briny ingredients, like the olives in puttanesca. Marinated in oil or brine, artichoke hearts have incredible depth all by themselves. They are already tender and ready to eat, so they can be added towards the end of cooking and simmered with the sauce for a huge boost.

While making a better sauce is a great benefit of artichoke hearts, it's not the only one. Artichokes are also a very healthy, nutrient-packed ingredient. They are particularly high in things like vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium, but artichokes also have a decent amount of fiber. While that fiber will get spread out over multiple servings if you are adding a whole can of artichoke hearts to several cups of pasta sauce, getting a few extra grams of fiber is still a nice upgrade to make your pasta a little healthier.

Adding artichoke hearts to your pasta sauce couldn't be easier. Just drain the artichokes and maybe chop them a little to make sure the pieces are bite-sized chunks. You can adjust how many hearts you use to taste, but using one 7.5-ounce jar or can per 28 ounces of tomatoes is a good starting point. You don't want to cook the artichoke hearts with the sauce for too long, as the already tender pieces may break down too much, but you can simmer them for 10 to 30 minutes to infuse the sauce with flavor.

There are also many natural pairings from other great artichoke recipes that also work well in pasta form. The meaty, earthy flavor of mushrooms complements artichoke, and the two can easily team up for a hearty pasta recipe. If you are looking for a little extra protein to go with that fiber, seafood additions like shrimp go great with the brine and add mild sweetness. 

Or you could go more rich with some cut-up chunks of fresh mozzarella. Another jarred ingredient, pepperoncini, can add some more acidity and a little heat. But canned or jarred artichoke hearts pack in so much extra flavor on their own that all of these additions are truly optional. Don't let the ease of using artichoke hearts in pasta convince you that you need to do anything more.