30 Minute Meals
Prep
10 minutes
Cook
20 minutes
Yield
1 jar of pesto
Who said eating your greens has to be boring? 🥬 This kale pasta transforms the superfood into a crave-worthy pesto that'll make you forget you're actually being healthy – date night dinner that's delicious AND nutritious!
It can be so hard to make time for your partner, when you’re both busy you just pass each other like two ships in the night. That’s why it’s so important to me to make time to make a delicious meal for Andrew & me multiple times during the week to sit down and connect. This Kale Pasta is the perfect recipe for that!
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Kale Pasta
- Easy: For date night, you want a recipe that isn’t going to be super complicated. This Kale Pasta is easy to make and easy to prepare.
- Versatile: You can make this recipe your own by adding your favorite proteins, sides, or veggies.
- Healthy: The kale pesto in this recipe is a great way to get even the pickiest of eaters to eat greens.
🍲 Ingredients
Kale – Kale is so good for you and so easy to incorporate into recipes. This Kale Pasta is a great example. Kale is rich in antioxidants that help keep your body healthy. It’s also full of potassium, fiber, folate, and calcium.
Nutritional Yeast – Nutritional yeast is a great way to get a cheesy flavor without cheese, so it can be a good dairy-free or vegan substitute. It’s also loaded with B vitamins, making it healthy and easy to add added nutritional benefits with just a sprinkle.
👩🍳 How to Make Kale Pasta
- To a food processor, add the basil, kale, walnuts or hemp seeds (or both), garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and sea salt and blend until a paste/thicker consistency forms.
- While the processor is blending, stream in the olive oil, 1 tbsp at a time, and scrape down sides as needed. Then begin to add 1 tbsp. of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency. You want it to be pourable so it will incorporate well into pasta or so it can be used as a marinade.
- Adjust your sauce as needed or desired. More lemon for tang, more salt for enhanced flavour, more nutritional yeast for that thick, cheesy consistency and more nuts or seeds for that hearty, rich effect.
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- Prep Pesto: I like to make a big batch of pesto and freeze some in jars for an easy sauce to grab, thaw, and use in recipes.
- Versatile: Use this pesto on pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and more.
- Texture: For a smoother pesto, remove tough kale stems before processing.
- Oil Quality: Use a high-quality olive oil for the best flavor in your kale pasta.
🗒 Variations & Substitutions
- Greens: You can swap the kale out with spinach instead for a milder flavor.
- Herbs: Traditional pesto is made with just basil and/or parsley; you can switch this recipe up and use herbs only.
- Nutritional Yeast: Swap nutritional yeast for parmesan cheese if you’re not keeping it vegan.
- Nuts: Try almonds or pistachios instead of walnuts for different flavor profiles.
🗒 Best served with
- Garlic Confit (spread this on warm bread for a delicious side with your Kale Pasta)
- Dutch Oven Bread
- No-Knead Bread Recipe
- Brussel Sprout Caesar Salad
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Pesto will last up to one week in a tightly sealed container in the fridge. You can store it on the pasta or separately. You can also freeze pesto in a jar to use later.
🤔 Common Questions
If you are trying to use up kale you can make it into pesto like this recipe, you can throw it into your smoothies, soups, stews, or salads, or you can even freeze washed kale to add to soups, stews, or smoothies later.
Since this kale is made into pesto, it doesn’t have the consistency and texture of regular kale leaves, which many people dislike. However, if you still aren’t sold, try spinach instead.
A thin layer of olive oil on top of the stored pesto will help prevent oxidation and browning. Additionally, the lemon juice in the recipe helps maintain the bright green color.
Yes! This pasta pairs wonderfully with white beans, grilled chicken, or sautéed shrimp for a complete meal.
Shapes with ridges or curves like fusilli, penne, or orecchiette work beautifully because they catch and hold the pesto. However, any pasta shape you enjoy will work!
Yup! This recipe is naturally gluten-free. Just use a gluten-free pasta noodle of your choice.
Kale Pasta
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup fresh basil discard stems
- 2 cups packed kale
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or hemp seeds
- 3 large cloves garlic rough chop
- 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
- 3 tbsp. nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup warm water – add 1 tbsp. at a time
Instructions
- To a food processor, add the basil, kale, walnuts or hemp seeds (or both), garlic, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and sea salt and blend until a paste/thicker consistency forms.
- While the processor is blending, stream in the olive oil, 1 tbsp at a time, and scrape down sides as needed. Then begin to add 1 tbsp. of water at a time until you reach your desired consistency. You want it to be pourable so it will incorporate well into pasta or so it can be used as a marinade.
- Adjust your sauce as needed or desired. More lemon for tang, more salt for enhanced flavour, more nutritional yeast for that thick, cheesy consistency and more nuts or seeds for that hearty, rich effect.
So easy to make and delicious! Thank you Maria for creating yet another amazing recipe!
You are so welcome, my friend!
You’re awesome!
This was so easy and quick to make! Love it
So glad you loved it Elisa!