Kale and Walnut Pasta Recipe (2024)

This would be delicious with broccoli rabe. Add cannelini beans for protein and sun dried tomatoes for a flavor boost.

I keep all of my nuts in the freezer. This keeps them from going rancid.

Amazing! We’ve been making this for years. I wouldn’t use spinach because it shrinks down so completely that you’d need a LOT for this recipe to work. In addition to kale, we like beet greens, dandelion greens, mustard greens, or whatever combination you have in the fridge. If you want to splurge, you can use pine nuts instead of walnuts.

Any green will be fine. I add baby spinach to many of the pasta, rice, grain dishes I make. Even arugula works!

Could you please provide (approximate) weights for the kale? When I buy Tuscan kale, it’s usually about 4 or 5 oz, so 3 bunches would be less than a pound. When I buy curly kale, a bunch is usually a pound or so, so 2 bunches would fill the large pasta pot!

Kale is a member of the cabbage family. I make this recipe with whatever type of cabbage I find at the market. Napa cabbage or bok choy work well. If I don’t have walnuts, toasted bread crumbs and/or a poached egg are a good substitute.

To my mind, a pantry dish is one that can be made with things that we always have around in our pantries – like, say, a can of anchovies. Things I do not have around in my pantry at all times include a bunch of kale and walnuts that are stipulated to be fresh. having said that, maybe I'll try cooking this anyway.

I’ve made this and would not decrease the amount of garlic—it’s there to flavor the oil and it’s definitely not overpowering in the final dish. Also added the zest from the lemon, which gave it a nice brightness.

For those like me who can't eat walnuts, I recommend hazelnuts, left whole or lightly crushed with the flat of a large knife. Also, that's a lot of garlic! I plan on using half the amount.

For the walnut haters, they're meant to substitute for bread crumbs, so you could just toss some bread crumbs with salt/pepper/olive oil, toast it up, and use that instead.

Julia Child did a wonderful dish on TV that this reminds me of: spaghetti, tossed with olive oil, walnuts and fresh parsley... I find online her "Spaghetti Marco Polo" that adds roasted red peppers, black olives, garlic and fresh basil and lots of parmesan.. and of course salt and pepper. Perhaps that is the one I am remembering.

Keep the walnuts in a jar in the fridge, they will last much longer that way and not become rancid.

can you substitute spinach

So easy, we made it twice in one week.So good, the second time was for company!

Used two bunches of kale and since I picked them from the backyard, it would be nice to know the weight. Can you provide this in the future? Enjoyed the dish. Nutritious and tasty.

I made this tonight following the recipe exactly. I used a one pound bag of kale and about 3/4 pounds of spaghetti. More than enough for three. Excellent easy meal. It’s a keeper.

This was amazing. I made a low carb version using edamame pasta! I could have eaten a second bowl it was so good!

Walnuts are already bite-size pieces.

Made this exactly as written except I halved the recipe and used parmesan. Costco has some excellent walnuts right now that I keep in the freezer.

Forgot to say: 5 stars. So good.

I grow my own kale. What is the weight of a "bunch"?

My husband created a recipe much like this, purely by coincidence. He cuts up bacon into 1" pieces before cooking, then uses some of the bacon fat to cook the kale and garlic, instead of olive oil. Decadent but unbelievably delicious. Works really well with wider pasta.

3/4 lb kale. Ok without beans. Maybe to fill out meals

YUM?!! I saved this ages ago and wasn’t super excited about it. But this is incredible. I’m way behind the kale train and didn’t realize that well seasoned, lemon kale could be so magnificent.

We found this dish to be too heavy on the pasta and would prefer a higher greens/walnut ratio. Next time, I'll try using half a pound of pasta for the same amount of other ingredients.

My question is what nut wouldn't work here? I can envision pecans, slivered almonds, grated Brazil nuts. I'm all in here with the greens and the nuts. I even use radish greens for this sort of dish, if the greens look appetizing enough. Can't wait to try!

Could I make this dish earlier in the day and gently heat it up? I’m thinking of serving it at a casual dinner party

I was halfway through prepping for this meal when I realized I didn't have any pecans, which is my normal sub for walnuts. All I had was sliced almonds, so in they went. For kale I had one bunch of dinosaur kale and a container of baby kale/ spinach. So I added three large handfuls of the mix in addition to the kale. Next time I think I would add four or five. This was- DELICIOUS! I would definitely agree that this is one that you can mix and match with what you have in your fridge and pantry.

Added mushrooms (sautéed before adding garlic as step one), sundried tomatoes, and lemon zest. Absolutely delicious and perfectly simple.

Up north a sorta winged it, good enough to give it another go with real garlic and Parmesan cheese.