Creamy Kale Pasta
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Let me paint a picture for you: chewy bowtie pasta, coated in a light, salty, barely-creamy sauce, flecked with red pepper flakes and little bits of tender sautéed garlic kale. Oooo-eee! This kale pasta is yummy.
The general mood of this meal is just beautiful and simple, which is… kind of how I’m doing life lately. Taking things back to the basics, not overcomplicating, working in lots of lovely and wholesome ingredients (kale, we see you), going big on flavor and texture without long ingredient lists or hours of work.
Let’s talk about the creamy-but-just-barely-there sauce that pulls this whole thing into a bowl of comfort food. It’s a food processor sauce (of course it is, this is how I operate) made of:
- pine nuts
- capers or olives
- herbs
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
The pine nuts make it a little creamy, so it’s like a less-herby pesto that has the perfect amount of sticky cling to hold the pasta and kale together.
Speaking of kale, we are absolutely not skimping on flavor with this. These little shreds of kale get sautéed with garlic and butter, and wowee. Simple magic.
Toss that with your sauce and your pasta and then ask yourself, really, why would you eat kale any other way?
You can add shrimp or chicken to this creamy hot pot of pasta, but this month we’re taking a hot second to build on our love for vegetables and plant-based proteins, so I would also recommend chickpeas or white beans or tofu, if that’s in your wheelhouse.
Plant-based or not, you have options, but pinky swear you actually don’t need to add anything. My whole family, toddler included, loved this just as it is!
Kale, you star, you! ♡
Watch how to make this recipe:
Common Questions About Creamy Kale Pasta
White beans, chicken, shrimp, or even garbanzo beans all work well here.
Sunflower seeds could work well here for a nut-free option.
We’d recommend spinach in place of kale.
Creamy Kale Pasta
This Creamy Kale Pasta is fresh, easy, and DELICIOUS. Chewy bowtie pasta, coated in a light, salty, barely-creamy sauce, flecked with red pepper flakes and little bits of tender sautéed garlic kale.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: dinner
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: italian
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
For the Sauce:
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1/4 cup packed parsley
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp. packed basil
- 2 tablespoons capers or pitted olives
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- juice and zest of half a lemon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
For the Pasta:
- 8 ounces farfalle
- 2 tablespoons butter or vegan butter
- 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 stalks kale, stems removed, leaves chopped into bite-sized pieces
- 1/2 cup white wine, reserved cooking water, broth, or any combination
- lemon juice, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan to finish (omit Parmesan if vegan)
Instructions
- Make the sauce: Pulse all sauce ingredients together until mostly smooth. (The sauce will be very salty. That’s okay, it’ll tone down once it mixes with everything.)
- Prep the pasta: Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- Cook down the kale: While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the garlic; sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the kale; sauté for 1-2 minutes. Add the wine, water, or broth; let it sizzle out for a minute.
- Finish: Add drained, cooked pasta and sauce. Toss to combine. Season to taste with Parmesan, lemon, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Fast, easy, yum.
Legit accidentally bough too much kale last week and have been desperate to use it up…then this happened. It’s a sign.
This is a smooth meal that looks quite friendly on the stomach and delicious. 🙂
Made last night for dinner. Loved it. I ended up short on white wine so added half the volume of pasta water instead of broth. Turned out so delicious as it thickened the sauce in the best way and kept it vegetarian. So good Lindsay & crew. I am enjoying the plant based recipes!
This is very tasty and was a hit with the household! I substituted sunflower seeds for the pine nuts and it came out great.
This is definitely going on my dinner menu this week! We need more kale in our diet!