FAST High Protein Beef Pasta Meal Prep

Today we're doing creamy spiced steak pasta meal prep. Each one of these containers is 659 calories, 47 grams of protein, it makes six servings and it's perfect for storing and reheating. We'll start us off by placing a pot of water onto our stovetop over a high heat and you can whack a lid on as well, it just speeds up the process. The steak that we want to use for this recipe is anything lean. Personally I'm using topside, it's nice and lean, it's cooked quickly and it's cheap. You can use anything like flank, skirt, rump or even ribeye, just make sure that there's not too much excess fat. The method for this is to slice it across the grain, this is going to break up the muscle fibers resulting in even more tender beef. You can also place it in the freezer for about 20 to 30 minutes beforehand, it's going to firm up and make things a lot easier to slice. Place the steak into a bowl and we're not doing too much to it, all we're doing is a simple salt and pepper. Mix it around with clean hands and then set it aside for the time being. For our sauce we're going to need some garlic, this is six cloves of freshly peeled garlic. All we're doing is running along a microplane to create a paste, you can also roughly chop it or thinly slice but because we're making a quick sauce I do recommend using that paste and you're going to get the best flavor out of doing so. Parsley is optional, I'm using flat leaf parsley, you can also use curly parsley and the amount is going to depend on how much you like. I'm using roughly 5 grams or 0.2 ounces. Scrunch it up, roughly chop it, make sure there's no large leaves or stems and you can cut it any size you want really, it doesn't really matter. Place a large high rimmed pan over a high heat, add in one tablespoon of olive oil or avocado oil or even spray oil which is going to cut down the calories even more, just use a good quality one. Add in the steak, doing so in batches so we don't overcrowd the pan. Let it sit for about 30 seconds and then mix it around. I'm going to cook this for a total of about two to two and a half minutes and all we're looking for is that nice brown golden crust, we don't want to cook this all the way through otherwise it will become quite tough. Once you have that nice golden sear we can then remove it from the pan, place it into a bowl and repeat with the remaining batch. There's no need to add any extra oil here either as there is still some left over in the pan. When the steak's seared off and the water is at a boil, generously season it with salt and then we can add in 500 grams or 1.1 pounds of any pasta of your choice, personally I'm using rigatoni, you can also use penne, you just want that tubular pasta so it soaks up all of that sauce. Mix it around and cook it for one minute less than the packet instructions. Into the same pan that we cooked the steak in, place it over a medium high heat, add in one tablespoon or 14 grams of unsalted butter as well as the garlic once the butter's melted, mix it around and cook this for about one minute making sure that our garlic hasn't clumped up and make sure that doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. An easy way to prevent garlic from burning is just to keep it moving. Deglaze the pan with one quarter of a cup or 60 milliliters of beef, chicken or vegetable stock, personally I've used chicken stock here. We're going to cook this for about one minute just to rip up all of that flavor left behind from the steak and then 350 milliliters of thickened cream or evaporated milk for lower calories, if you are using evaporated milk just be careful of the sugar content and for the spices we want two and a half teaspoons of smoked paprika and about a quarter to half a teaspoon of chili flakes or chili powder and that is optional, you don't have to use it. Mix this around, make sure that's all combined, bring it up to a simmer and then we can also season this to taste with a little bit of salt and cracked black pepper, the amounts are completely up to you. Reduce the heat to low and cook this for about five to six minutes or until reduced and slightly thickened. At this point add in 200 grams or 7.05 ounces of washed baby spinach, you don't have to use it and I have included it in the macros. Mix this around, cook this for about one and a half to two minutes or until wilted. Add in the seared steak along with any resting juices and at this point the pasta will be perfectly cooked or one minute less than the packet instructions. Transfer it into the sauce and I'm using a kitchen spider just to drain off a little bit of the excess pasta water but it is okay to bring some of that over as it will help our sauce stick due to the starch. Increase the heat back to medium high, mix this around and cook it for one minute, it's going to help finish off cooking the pasta and also thicken the sauce, coating everything really well. This recipe serves six, I'm using 750 milliliter containers, I do have a link for them in the description if you're interested and each portion weight is 400 grams or 14 ounces. An optional topping is some parmigiano reggiano or regular parmesan cheese, you can do it now or do it after you've reheated or even both if you wanted to. Add over that flat leaf parsley which is of course optional and hit it up with a little bit of cracked black pepper. What that leaves us with is these creamy spiced steak pasta meal preps, it's quick, it's easy and it is delicious. Once we have them portioned and weighed out let them cool down for about 15 to 20 minutes or so and then we can start placing on the lids. These will last three days in the fridge and four months in the freezer, if you have them frozen just allow them to thaw overnight in the fridge. For reheating I do recommend using a microwave, you don't need to add anything to this to rehydrate it if you do so, whereas if you use a pan you will need to add a little bit of cream or even stock just to rehydrate that sauce get it nice and creamy again and obviously that's not accounted for when we're doing the macros so you will have to adjust if you do do that. As for the macros this is everything right here, a single portion and there is a more detailed nutrition fact in the link in the description. With everything done there's only one thing left to do and we can then dig in. I feel like the amount of sauce in there is just the right amount, it's not over the top, it's not completely drowning and it has a lot of flavor. I've used rigatoni because it holds that sauce really well but you can use different types like penne as well, baby spinach is just that little vegetable addition and then the steak's nice and tender. Of course you can use different cuts as well, I just use this one because it's nice and cheap. Hope you enjoy it and thanks for watching!