Kale Pasta with Lemon and Garlic Butter
A bold kale pasta recipe with garlic, butter, lemon, and chile flakes. Silky, glossy, and packed with enough greens to actually taste them.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 6
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 4 bunches kale, stems discarded and leaves torn into 2” pieces
- 1 lb linguine
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 lemon
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Crushed red pepper
- Grated parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add kale and cook for 90 seconds, or until bright green and tender. Transfer to a colander, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking, and squeeze dry. Keep the boiling water for the pasta.
- Heat half the butter and olive oil in a large, deep skillet over low heat. While the butter melts, grate the garlic over the butter. Stir until the garlic is fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Finely grate the zest of the lemon into the pot along with a few grinds of black pepper, and a big pinch of crushed red pepper.
- Add blanched kale to skillet, season with salt and cook, stirring often, until tender and flavorful, about 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, cook pasta, stirring occasionally, until very al dente (2–3 minutes less than package directions).
- Use tongs to transfer pasta to kale along with 1 cup pasta cooking liquid and remaining 3 tablespoons butter. Increase heat to medium-high and cook, tossing and adding more pasta cooking liquid as needed, until sauce lightly coats pasta, about 2 minutes.
- Remove from heat, squeeze in the juice of the whole lemon, and toss to combine. Serve pasta topped with Parmesan, red pepper flakes, and more black pepper.
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
- Calories: 475
- Sugar: 3g
- Sodium: 450mg
- Fat: 24g
- Saturated Fat: 9g
- Unsaturated Fat: 14g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 52g
- Fiber: 6g
- Protein: 15g
- Cholesterol: 55mg
Find it online: https://www.withspice.com/blog/kale-pasta/