You will love how what seems like a huge pile of greens shrinks into this quick and easy dinner of spaghetti with leafy greens and pesto! While the the pasta water comes to a boil, saute onions, wilt in the greens, and finish with a decent dollop of garlicky pesto!
A pound of greens cooks into just about 2 cups of tangy cooked sweetness. You can use any leafy greens for this pasta. I like the slightly bitter flavor of beet greens, so if you come across beets with healthy looking greens attached–you definitely need to make this spaghetti dish.
If you’re using chard, use both the stems and the greens. Slice the stems off the leaves, then dice the stems into small pieces and sauté along with the onions.
Keep a stash of Basil Walnut Pesto in the freezer. Three large dollops of pesto are the easy garlicky-herby seasoning for spaghetti and leafy greens. You can use purchased pesto too! If you don’t have any pesto–mince garlic and add it the sautéed onions.
Easy Spaghetti with Leafy Greens and Pesto recipe notes:
- Most any leafy greens that are delicious with pasta: radish greens, arugula, spinach, chard, mustard greens, kale, beet greens. Start with a good amount because greens shrink a LOT when cooked!
- As with all cooked greens, be sure to stir in an acid at the end of cooking, to sweeten and bump up the flavor. In this recipe we add sherry wine vinegar.
- A stainless steel pot with pasta insert (affiliate link) makes it so you can remove the noodles when they’re done, without draining the water.
- Use brown rice spaghetti instead of wheat spaghetti if you don’t want the gluten.
- Try these other easy pasta with greens recipes: Spinach Fettuccine with Arugula and Tomatoes and Penne Pasta with Mixed Greens.
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Easy Spaghetti with Leafy Greens and Pesto
Ingredients
- ½ pound leafy greens, chard, beet greens, collards, kale etc.
- 8 ounces whole wheat spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ each yellow or red onion , sliced
- 1 tablespoon sherry wine vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- About 1/4 cup basil pesto , homemade or purchased (see note)
- ⅛ teaspoon red chile flakes
Instructions
- Wash the greens. Trim the leaves from the ribs. If you're using chard, cut the ribs into 1/4-inch pieces.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Following package directions, cook the spaghetti until it is tender to the bite (al dente).
- Over medium high flame, heat the oil in a large skillet.
- Add the onions and sauté, stirring often until they soften and become translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Chop the greens into 1-inch pieces and add to the skillet. Reduce the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens wilt and shrink, about 10 minutes. Season with the sherry wine vinegar and salt.
- Stir in the pesto and red chile flakes, and then gently toss in the cooked spaghetti, stirring to mix well.
Notes
Nutrition
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**This recipe is an update of one I wrote in July 2009, and migrated over from my now defunct muffintalk.wordpress.com blog.
Wondered what to do with beet green ribs and found your recipe, which sounds worth trying:) Just posted a stirfry beet recipe on Facebook. Had been including ribs, snipped to 1/4″ or less as recommended for chard, but wanted to see if it was common practice. Gonna try your spaghetti soon. · 6 September, 2011