Full of nutrients and flavor!
This lightened up version of pesto is definitely not light on flavor! This vegan roasted kale pesto pasta is oil free, vegan of course, and the base is all kale instead of basil giving you those extra health benefits we all need after the holidays. Kale is roasted with a ton of garlic, then blended with nutritional yeast, walnuts, veggie broth, lemon juice and salt and pepper. That’s it. Clean and beautiful!
I think roasting the kale and garlic gives this pesto pasta such a depth of flavor that is beyond compare. It is so simple and easy. You just throw the kale and garlic on a pan to roast as you cook the pasta. Then blend and done. I highly recommend serving this pesto pasta with your favorite vegan sausages.
The combination of roasted kale pesto, and spicy Italian sausage is AMAZING! I literally had to walk away from this pasta to make myself stop eating it. It is so addictive! I can’t stop thinking about it. It haunts my dreams.
This vegan roasted kale pesto pasta will definitely be on rotation this winter. I try to eat a little bit lighter in January, to balance out the 1000’s of vegan Christmas cookies I just ate. Kale has like every vitamin and mineral you need, and I absolutely need all of them right now!
Vegan Roasted Kale Pesto Pasta
Ingredients
- 5 Cups Kale, chopped
- 10 Cloves Garlic
- 1 Tablespoon Olive oil (or vegetable broth for oil free option)
- 2 Tablespoons Nutritional yeast
- 1/4 Cup Vegetable broth
- 1/4 Cup Walnuts
- Juice of 1/2 a Lemon
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- a Pinch of Red pepper flakes
- 16 oz. Pasta
- 4 Vegan sausages, sliced (I used Field Roast)
- Vegan Parmesan for topping, I used Violife Parmesan
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- In a large bowl, toss the chopped kale and garlic cloves with the olive oil(or if you want an all oil free option, use veggie broth) and a few pinches of salt and pepper. Rub the olive oil all over the kale and massage it in to make sure the kale is all moist.
- Pour the kale and garlic on to a baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for about 8-10 minutes. The kale should be nice and soft. Remove from the oven when done.
- In the meantime, cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain the pasta when done.
- If you are adding vegan sausage, slice and brown on each side in a non stick pan while the pasta is cooking. Set aside.
- Once the kale and garlic are done, add them to a blender or a food processor. Then add the nutritional yeast, the 1/4 cup of veggie broth, walnuts, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. salt and red pepper flakes. Blend until completely smooth, scraping down sides as needed.
- Return the pasta to the pot, scoop the pesto into the pot and toss to coat the pasta. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add more salt or pepper if needed. Then add the sliced sausages. Serve with vegan Parmesan on top if desired.
Notes
This whole recipe looks delicious! My wife and I have been addicted to pasta lately so this is something we’ll definitely have to try out soon! Thank you
What Vegan Parm do you use over your pasta? It looks incredibly similar to real parm!
It is the VioLife that I wrote in the recipe. It is soooo good and it is a grateable block so it looks and tastes super real!
OMG!!!! This meal is so SLAMMIN!!!!!! I’ve been vegan for over 2 decades but my fella is only vegan at home (I cook all of our meals), and honestly this is one of the best meals We’ve ever had for dinner: I followed it to a T. No need to make any adjustments. I honestly enjoy this even more than pesto with basil and all of that jazz.
Keep all of the great recipes coming!!!! You’ve got a long life fan right here in North Carolina. ❤️❤️❤️
Any nut substitute recommendations? Just leave out?
If you can’t have nuts, I would just leave them out! I still think it would be delish!
Just curious, what vegan sausage do you recommend?
I LOVE field roast brand and beyond meat!
I have made this about 20 times and the Beyond HOT Sausage is our fave!
Can you substitute spinach for kale? Would cook requirements be the same?
You can definitely use spinach! I wouldn’t roast it though since cooked spinach releases a lot of liquid and turns pretty mushy. You could use raw spinach, or saute it for a minute if you want to cook it. If you cook it though you may want to add an extra cup or so of spinach so your pesto isn’t liquidy. I haven’t tested this recipe with spinach, so I can’t be 100% sure how it would work out, but I think it would be great!
Delish! I did follow the note and have to add more liquid to get the pesto to blend better (I always save some pasta water, so that’s what I used), but I would totally make this again! I had some basil olive oil I drizzled over the top of our bowls. Yum yum
I have made this dish twice now and I really do enjoy it. It is a little dry, and the amount of walnuts was a little bit too much for my liking. I also had a hard time blending the pesto. I found adding buffalo sauce on top of the dish helps boost all the flavors!! Overall, great recipe!! Thank you for sharing!!
What an amazing recipe. I’m always a bit hesitant about Instagram recipes but this one turned out to be amazing! I did use less garlic because I thought 10 would be a bit much and it turned out great. Would definitely do it again <3
Delish! I made this with cheezy kale and cashew syndian sausages (in Australia) it was the shizz
Best recipe i’ve made so good!!
My husband is allergic to nuts. Do you think I could replace the walnuts with an equal amount of raw shelled pumpkin seeds? I did that in another recipe and it worked fine, but I’ve never made pesto with them before. Thanks! Can’t wait to try this!
Yes! I think that would work out great!
Beyond delicious! Didn’t change a thing. Perfect recipe.
We’ve made this a few times now. I am a “heavy sauce” kind of girl on any pasta I eat, so we just added some additional EVO before serving b/c I do find it dry if I don’t. The only bad part is trying to keep the family from swiping the kale after it comes out of the oven. I had many casualties on the way to the blender.
Made this last night and it was amazingly delicious. I did not use the sausage or the parm, and it didn’t lack for anything! Thank you!
I make this at least once a week. It’s fabulous. I also add pepitas and hemp seeds to the pesto 🙂
I make this pesto all the time. It freezes beautifully. Initially I made it exactly as directed and it is delicious and a nice change up from basil. I like basil, but I tend to like it as a flavor enhancer, not the star of the show, so this recipe is great for me.
However, after awhile, I have made some alterations, depending on what I have on hand.
1)I tend to double the amount of stock, as it is a little dry to my liking. You could also just add some of the pasta water to your dish to loosen it up as well.
2)If you have extra greens on hand, mix them in! Today I just made this and added in beet greens and some fresh basil from my garden. No need to cook either of them before hand.
3)Another time, I had a box of beautiful mesclun greens that were on the verge of turning. I was not in the mood for a basic green salad, so I used the mesclun instead of kale. It came out beautiful and tasty. A bit more mild than kale, so I upped the garlic and a touch more salt.
Experiment with your greens. Lots of folks don’t eat their leafy greens because they don’t like the flavor or find it boring. This is a great way to get your super greens into your diet, while enjoying some great flavors. I would recommend mixing in raw spinach, escarole, arugala, etc.
This is super easy and delicious. I smashed up some almonds as a substitute, used vegan maple/apple sausage. Soooo good.
SO good!! Didn’t know kale made such an great pesto. I chop the sausages a bit thinner so there’s some in every bite
I love all of ur recipes! Just found this kale/pasta recipe and will be making tomorrow. Tonight we’re having left over kale/lentil/v. sausage for dinner. I often tweak recipes to our liking but urs are always perfection! Thank you for all of your work.
Absolutely delish!! I added about 3/4 cup of the pasta water but everything else is exact to the recipe! Love this flavor FULL dish! That pesto is amazing! Thank you so much!
Delicious!
This is one of our absolute favorite recipes!! My partner and I make it regularly! Highly recommend! Don’t forget the parmesan!!
I’ve made this meal more times than I can count, exactly as written, and it is perfection. This time, I had no walnuts, so I tossed in cashews, and it was a really fun twist! Gave it a sort of pesto-cream twist that I’ll probably do again in the future. Thanks for an awesome, delicious, and healthy recipe!
Sounds delish. What kind of pasta did you use? Can you use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth if you don’t have any.
This is casarecce! But any kind works. Yes, you can definitely use chicken broth if prefer!
Absolutely delicious! I’ve been making this constantly!
Just made a second batch of the pesto (because I bought too much kale last batch) it’s delicious. Thanks so much for this recipe! Love the roasted kale and walnut combo!