Roasted garlic & caramelized onions deepen the flavors of this super addicting pasta recipe. The spicy parmesan kale chips are so fun and add a perfect crunch to this comforting pasta recipe.
Hi, today we’re taking chips and chucking them onto a bowl of pasta. MmK?
Yeah no, that sounds gross, unless you’ve got more than a few in you and the night’s still young. You know it’s true.
But hopefully you trust me enough to know that I sort of, kind of, usually try not to make gross things for your consumption.
Okay, in this moment I wish I were cool and confident enough to not feel the need to follow that up with saying that that was obviously me being sarcastic since I love trying my best to come up with the tastiest recipes possible for you guys, but truth is, I’m actually not cool at all. Just paranoid.
So chips on top of pasta sounds unhealthy, yes, but this recipe right here is crazy healthy! Two huge bunches of kale and approximately two heads of garlic go into this dish. Yes! Just looking at all that kale in my video, I can’t believe how easy it is to actually consume all of it when it’s been cooked.
Cooking kale makes it so much easier on our stomachs to digest, and thank goodness we’ve evolved this way as humans because I prefer eating kale chips to gnawing at a bunch of kale, all goat-style. Our stomachs can’t deal with all that fibrous, leafy material. We’d turn into uncomfortable, bloated, distended-bellied hot messes. Cooking the kale makes it way easier to digest, plus we get to eat more chips that way so it’s a clear win-win.
The flavors in this pasta are out of this world. And let me tell you why—If I’m going to forgo my meat, I better make up for the flavor (and obviously fat and protein) elsewhere. I’m not one of those girls that can just have a bowl of plain pasta and call it my carb-heavy cheat day. Um. No.
That pasta better have some really good cheese, and if there’s no meat, let’s throw in some other really good flavors to hit our taste buds—like today’s sweet, caramelized onions, oven-roasted garlic, and definitely some butter because when you’re cooking pasta and you aren’t using a marinara-based sauce, then you should use butter to give the pasta smoothness, richness, and flavor. You can then add more flavors like lemon and a dash of cream to make different butter sauces, or just leave it simple and let the other ingredients in the pasta speak for themselves.
Also, I can’t tell you how excited I got when I came up with the idea of putting baked parmesan cayenne kale chips on top of this pasta. It just makes the whole experience of eating pasta that much more exciting when you have a crunchy, salty treat on top. Seriously, it really is an exciting scene.
These chips are so addictive and have just the perfect hint of heat from the cayenne, and obviously crisped-up parmesan makes everything better. I never want to make pasta without these chips again. At least for now.
If you love your pasta as much as I do then you need to check out my braised beef shank pasta because it’s one of the best food recipes EVER. I’m not even a tiny bit kidding. Trust. And for a traditional spaghetti bolognese, try this recipe out. It’s full of flavor and is a quick weeknight treat.
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Roasted Garlic Pasta with Parmesan Kale Chips – VIDEO!
Ingredients
- 2 heads Garlic 1 head of garlic peeled and the other head of garlic peeled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon of Olive Oil can substitute ghee (clarified butter)
- Sea Salt to taste
- 4 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
- 2 large Onions cut in half and sliced
- 2 large bunches of Kale rinsed
- ¾ cup Parmesan Cheese grated + some extra for topping each bowl
- 1 tablespoon Butter
- 1 pinch Cayenne
- 12 ounces Spaghetti Pasta this is ¾ of one 16-ounce package of pasta
- Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
FOR THE ROASTED GARLIC:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (177ºC).
- Place the peeled-only garlic on a large cookie tray and drizzle 1 teaspoon of olive oil over the garlic. Give it a toss to coat and add a pinch of sea salt.
- Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the garlic halfway through baking. Once cooked, remove garlic to a clean plate and keep the oven on for the kale chips. The cookie tray will be reused for the kale chips as well.
FOR THE KALE CHIPS:
- For 1 of the bunches of kale, rip off large pieces from the tough rib in the center. Place onto a clean plate.
- For the other bunch of kale (which will go into the pasta), rip off small-medium pieces from the rib. Place onto another clean plate.
- In the same cookie tray used for roasting the garlic cloves, add the bunch of large, ripped kale leaves.
- Drizzle approximately 3 tablespoons of olive oil over the kale and add a big pinch of salt. Toss to coat.
- Spread kale out evenly so there is enough room to crisp up every leaf.
- Add ¼ cup of parmesan and a pinch of cayenne over the top of the kale.
- Bake at 350ºF (177ºC) for 20 minutes or until crisped.
FOR THE PASTA:
- In a large, deep skillet over medium heat, add 4 tablespoons of ghee (clarified butter).
- Add in the two sliced onions and give them a toss in the ghee to coat. Mix occasionally to keep from burning. Cook until completely softened and caramelized. Turn to low heat once cooked and mix rarely to ensure it doesn’t burn.
- Boil a large pot of water and salt generously for the pasta.
- Add the other bunch of kale to the pan of caramelized onions and place lid over the top to wilt the leaves.
- Once wilted, turn heat up to medium-low and mix to saute for about a minute before adding in the chopped garlic. Mix for another minute to saute garlic.
- Turn heat back to low and mix occasionally.
- Add a large pinch of sea salt and black pepper to the onion mixture.
- Add in the roasted garlic cloves.
- Once pasta water has boiled, add the pasta and cook until just barely done.
- Then add the strained pasta into the pan with the onion mixture.
- Add ½ cup of parmesan cheese and 1 tablespoon of butter. Toss to mix.
- Top each bowl of pasta with some kale chips and extra parmesan.
Looks delicious. Incredible photos!
Thank you, Becky!! xoxo
Really tasty! Didn’t have kale on hand so I used spinach and didn’t do the chips. Also, I skipped the parmesan cheese. But it was amazing! Very flavorful