MAINS

The Creamiest and Greenest One-Pot Pasta

Everybody loves a quick and comforting pasta recipe. Here is how to make the creamiest kale pasta you've ever tried. You only 15 minutes, less than 10 ingredients, a sauce pan and a blender!

15 minutes

Serves 2

15 minutes

Serves 2

Have you seen the "TikTok pasta" where you bake feta cheese and cherry tomatoes and then mash it into a sauce that you toss your pasta in? Elsa made that for us yesterday and watching her cook all by herself was one of the cutest and proudest parenting moment I've had. Until I realize that TikTok actually has more influence on our daughters cooking skills than we do :) But it was a pretty delicious pasta dish. And the lesson we learned from a viral recipe like that is that everybody seems to love quick and easy pasta recipes.
We've got a few quick and delicious pasta recipes up our sleeves too. This particular one involves kale so it's not our kids favorite, which makes it the perfect lunch recipe. It is super creamy and you can make in less than 15 minutes with just a few ingredients and one pot for the pasta (and a blender). You let the kale soften in the pasta water for a minute before adding it to a blender to create a creamier version of pesto. I first saw this method in Jamie Oliver's 5-ingredient book, but we have switched it up a bit added a few extra ingredients to make it into more of a meal and serve it in a different way. We toss the pasta in half the sauce and then add the rest to the bottom of the plates. This creates a green base that both looks stunning but also makes the whole dish even creamier. We use bucatini pasta for this, it's similar to spaghetti but thicker and hollow so it can soak up lots of sauce. It's a stunning looking dish and it tastes pretty bomb too.
I'll be making this as a Lunch Therapy cookalong on instagram stories tomorrow (Wednesday, 3 March, around noon CET), so make sure to make sure you have the ingredients below and join me on Wednesday: @gkstories
If you share your versions on instagram and tag me, I will save them and update this post with reader photos.

INGREDIENTS

200 g bucatini (or any pasta, for 2 persons)
4 leaves Kale or Cavolo Nero
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup (75 g) frozen peas (thawed)
A handful basil
A handful mint leaves (optional)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese (or nutritional yeast to keep it vegan)
1/2 broccoli
1 handful toasted hazelnuts / pine nuts

PREPARATION

1. Set a big pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil.
2. Add pasta for two people.
3. Tear the kale off the stem and add it to the pasta water along with a garlic clove.
4. You only want to soften the kale slightly, so after about a minute you can use a tong to pick it up, along with the garlic and some of the pasta water.
5. Add the kale, garlic, half of the peas, olive oil, basil, mint, juice from half the lemon, a good grating of parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and a little bit of the pasta water (start with 4 tablespoons) to a blender. Mix smooth, taste and adjust the flavor, adding more salt, lemon juice, parmesan or pasta water if needed. You want it entirely smooth but not too runny, in that case you can add some more peas, herbs or cheese.
6. Break the florets off the broccoli and toss into the pasta water along with the remaining peas during the last few minutes of the pasta's cooking time.
7. Pour it all into a colander and then back into the pot.
8. Pour half of the green sauce into the pot and give it a stir until it's all creamy.
9. Grab two plates and divide the remaining sauce in the middle of the plates. Use the backside of a spoon to create round puddles. Divide the pasta on top.
10. Chop the toasted hazelnuts and sprinkle over the pasta, along with some fresh mint leaves, a grating of parmesan and lemon zest and freshly ground black pepper.

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20 Comments

Hilary
8 Jan ’22 at 09:46
This was so delicious! A great light and creamy pesto sauce. I didn't have a lemon, so left that out, and added all the peas to the blender (child won't eat peas) and also dollloped some ricotta on top. It all came together in the time it took to boil the water and cook the pasta. Weeknight dinner winner!
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Kavitha
5 May ’21 at 22:00
One of my new favorites! Just made it for the third time and used half spinach + half kale since that was what I had in the fridge. I could see this being really good with fresh asparagus instead of broccoli, or other vegetables too. It is endlessly customizable. I serve it with the Cybele's green veggie rotini (pasta made of green lentils, spinach, kale) for an extra boost of veg and it is delicious!
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Céline
27 Apr ’21 at 21:40
It is a very original recipe that I really like. I also note Jen's idea for the cashews. Your photos make you want 😋😋
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Cara
27 Mar ’21 at 04:25
Hi, is there broccoli in the ingredients? I see it on the picture but not in the ingredients, thanks
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Cara
27 Mar ’21 at 05:10
Hi, sorry, my mistake, couldn't delete the comment. It would be great to have pictures of preparation, the recipe itself is a bit confusing. I needed to go through it several times to understand the steps. It would be nice to have it backuped with pictures and in the ingredients section divided into the steps. Thanks
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Green Kitchen Stories
29 Mar ’21 at 11:05
Hi Cara, check out this video where I make the pasta and hopefully that will make it a little easier to follow along: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMA0xSfBXq6/ /David
Reply

Jen
26 Mar ’21 at 16:13
Whoa I am game to try this!! I can tweak it for my carnivorous spouse and keep it sexy as is for me- might toss in a few cashews to the blender for oomph! Looks divine, thanks for sharing!
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Jane
21 Mar ’21 at 22:49
Delicious! Making it for the second time this week. :)
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Jivan Dios
19 Mar ’21 at 14:16
This looks deliciously easy. I'm looking forward to trying this recipe. Thank you!
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Isabel J
10 Mar ’21 at 04:34
Do you have the nutritional values by any chance? Thank- you! Will be trying this :)
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Kate
8 Mar ’21 at 17:49
This is such a fabulous recipe. I used pici and doubled it for our family. I accidentally doubled the garlic...twice, but it was still great, just a little spicy. Thanks for sharing - it was a good way to get lots of greens into everyone!
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Leena Williams
3 May ’21 at 14:42
Thanks for the idea, Kate. My teen loves garlic in anything (the rest of us don't). So maybe I'll double the amount in her serving :)
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Rezveer Kaur Walia-Dwyer
3 Mar ’21 at 13:35
I am due to make this tonight!! So excited. Thanks for such a quick and easy, healthy recipe! I accidentally got calvo nero AND spinach! Is it possible to toss some into the blender uncooked ya think? Thanks again!
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Els
2 Mar ’21 at 20:05
Nice, quick, easy and tasty! I do wonder where the olive oil was supposed to go. In the sauce? I made it without the oil and it was good as well :-)
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Vera (from Lisbon, Portugal)
2 Mar ’21 at 18:08
Hello! It is great to feel the 'good old' GKS vibe again! With the kind of suggestions that made you so unique, after all. :)) I will definitely try this one and look forward to more of these simple, natural and delicious recipe ideas.
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CARLA VITULLI
2 Mar ’21 at 16:31
PIATTO DELIZIOSO..UNICO APPUNTO: IL NOME CORRETTO DELLA PASTA E'"BUCATINI" CIAO!!!uN SALUTO DALL'ITALIA.
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Janelle
2 Mar ’21 at 14:02
Is there anything (dairy-free option) you could recommend as a substitute for the parmesan cheese and nutritional yeast? I don't do well with either and am wondering what else I can use. Thanks!
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Sasha
2 Mar ’21 at 11:30
This looks simple and delicious! (By the way, I think you mean pick it up with tongs, rather than a thong:).)
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Green Kitchen Stories
2 Mar ’21 at 22:35
HAHA OMG classic mistake!!! Really difficult to use thongs for this :)
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Erin
2 Mar ’21 at 10:47
This looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it :)
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