One pot pasta meals are a saviour for me on those packed weeknights. Throw everything in the pot and let it cook itself – perfect! This one pot bacon and lentil pasta recipe is filled with tasty ingredients to make dinner time delicious.

Smoked bacon is where the majority of the flavour comes from, and it’s important to give this the time it needs to impart all of that flavour.

The rest of the sauce is simply made from courgettes, lentils and stock – easy peasy. The use of lentils makes a really filling sauce, so you can use less pasta if you like.

This dish is best topped with plentiful grated cheese and ground black pepper, but that’s completely optional!

Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations

Smoked bacon – the smoked part is the important bit for this one pot bacon pasta you need that flavour. Aside from that, you can use any cut of bacon.
Courgettes and mushrooms – two medium courgettes and 100g mushrooms are perfect. You could also use carrot and/or celery.
Lentils – use dried green lentils. They’ll cook in the stock and suck up all of that delicious flavour.
Chicken stock – or 600ml water and a chicken stock cube.
Dried pasta – any short shape (I.e. not tagliatelle, linguine, spaghetti etc.) will do. I used rigatoni.

Top Tips

Let the bacon brown Give the bacon enough time to get properly golden. This time is well spent in terms of flavour.
Let it sit When the pasta is almost cooked, turn off the heat and let the dish rest for 5 minutes. All the flavours will settle and the pasta will be perfect.
Get ahead You can make the recipe up to the point where you would add the pasta in advance and leave in the fridge for 24 hours. When you’re ready to eat it, warm through on the hob and add 200ml more water before adding the pasta.