Easy Pasta with Winter Greens

I’m constantly on the lookout for quick weeknight meals that feel restaurant-quality—it should make a Tuesday feel special without creating a gigantic mess in the kitchen or taking up all of my precious free time.

Enter Joshua McFadden and Martha Holmberg’s instant classic, "Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables." While there are plenty of excellent recipes packed into this cookbook, the one I keep going back to again and again is the “Kale Sauce with Any Noodle.”

The vibrant kale sauce is simply a blend of kale, pasta water, olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. While it may not sound like much, it’s a forgiving, quick, easy, and flavorful pasta with a beautiful green hue. There are no nuts, and the kale is cooked, making for a super silky, luxurious sauce.

I made tweaks here and there to suit my tastes—adding more garlic, reducing the cheese, using different leafy greens and pasta shapes, and adding lemon and red pepper flakes until I got it just right. The sauce is creamy without a drop of cream. It’s garlicky, salty from the Parmesan, and bright from the lemon. It’s crowd pleasing enough for the whole family.

The Best Greens for Pasta

While McFadden calls for kale, my favorite green to use for this pasta is Swiss chard. It’s easy to prep, cooks quickly, and blends into a super smooth, deep green sauce. It also pairs effortlessly with garlic, lemon, and Parmesan.

This sauce will work with any winter greens, like lacinato or curly kale, spinach, collard greens, or a mixture of any of these. In fact, it’s an excellent way to use up random greens from a CSA box.

When using chard, I recommend the white or yellow-stemmed leaves. Red-stemmed chard works fine, but it lends the dish a muddy color. If you use spinach, larger more mature varieties work better than baby spinach. Simply snap off the stem from the leaf and it’s ready to go.

Choosing Your Pasta

Any pasta shape will work here. My preference is for fat, fun shapes like rigatoni, but the smooth texture of the sauce works with many shapes like orecchiette, pappardelle, and spaghetti. It’s also a fun choice for gnocchi or even cheese ravioli.

Since this is a simple dish, I suggest choosing quality pasta and cooking it al dente since the texture will make a noticeable difference.

How to Make Winter Greens Pasta

This recipe is a practice in multi-tasking, but don’t let that scare you. It’s easier than it sounds!

As your large pot of water is coming up to a boil, prep your greens then cook the garlic. As soon as the water comes to a boil, add your prepped greens. They only cook for a couple of minutes, until dark green, limp, but still vibrant.

Don’t drain the pasta water—retrieve the greens with tongs or a slotted spoon and let them drain. Use the now-green water to cook the pasta and, as the pasta cooks, blend the sauce, adding some fresh lemon juice.

Toss it all together with the cheese and a little extra pasta water and you’re done in under 30 minutes.

Tips and Tricks for Making Perfect Pasta Sauce

While this recipe is simple, there are a few key tips for success when making it for the first time:

• Don’t burn the garlic. Make sure your heat is set to medium-low. Keep an eye on it, ensuring it gets light brown on both sides, adjusting the heat as needed.
• Don’t drain the water. Try not to switch into auto-mode and accidentally drain the water after cooking the greens. There’s no need to boil a whole new pot of water—use the same water to cook the pasta.
• Save some pasta water. Before draining the pasta, save about a cup of the cooking water. In addition to adding some directly to the blender for the sauce, you’ll want some handy to loosen up the sauce after it’s tossed with the pasta.

Recipe Variations

This vegetarian pasta is easy to customize:

• Vegan: Swap the Parmesan cheese for a couple of tablespoons of nutritional yeast.
• Gluten-Free: Swap for your favorite gluten-free pasta.
• More lemon: Add a little more flavor and lots of lemon aroma by adding up to 1/2 teaspoon of freshly grated lemon zest to the sauce.
• Add herbs: Add a large handful of fresh basil or parsley leaves to the blender. It’ll contribute fresh flavor and even more bright green color.
• Extra creamy: Add a splash or two of heavy cream when tossing together the pasta and sauce.
• Extra cheesy: Add a large spoonful of ricotta and stir it in with the sauce.

How to Store Leftovers

This dish is much, much better served and eaten as soon as it’s made since it loses its signature texture over time. You can halve the recipe for two servings, especially if you’re serving it with a salad or side dish.

If you end up with leftovers, store them in a covered container for up to three days in the fridge. Add a sprinkle of water and loosely cover it before microwaving until warm.

What to Serve With Winter Greens Pasta

This pasta can be served as part of a hearty dinner for four alongside a simple side or a light main dish. Try serving it with one of these recipes:

• Radicchio Salad with Green Olives, Chickpeas, and Parmesan
• Boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Easy Baked Salmon
• Three Bean Salad

More Quick-Cooking Pasta Recipes

• Pasta Carbonara
• Pasta Puttanesca
• Pasta with Spinach, Artichokes, and Ricotta
• Bowtie Pasta with Peas, Prosciutto, and Arugula
• Pesto Pasta with Spinach and Avocado