Easy One Pot Pasta with Cannellini and Kale

This is the one pot pasta dish you didn’t know you needed. And it comes with a major bonus: one dirty knife, one dirty cutting board, and one dirty pot.. all the mess you’ll be left to clean up.

#WINNING is a one pot pasta dish that’s creamy, packed with protein, poppin’ with fresh veg, comes together in just 30 minutes AND requires minimal cleanup. This is one of those solid lifesaver recipes I know you’ll be adding to your fam’s meal rotation.

Easy One Pot Pasta with Cannellini and Kale

5 from 2 votes

Recipe by Susanna Grace Course: MainCuisine: Italian InspiredDifficulty: Easy

Servings

8

servings

10

minutes

Cooking time

20

minutes

Calories

655

kcal

Total time

30

minutes

This one pot wonder will have you wondering why all pasta isn’t cooked this way! The pasta cooks in the broth that becomes a sauce as it thickens. One and done, and oh so perfect. Everyone will be asking for more!

Ingredients

• 1 pound 1 Orecchietti pasta

• 1 pound 1 Hot Italian Sausage, ground

• 1 15oz can 1 Cannellini beans, rinsed

• 1 medium 1 Yellow onion, diced

• 3-5 cloves 3-5 Garlic, minced

• 6 cups 6 Chicken broth

• 1 bunch 1 Kale, ripped into bites size pieces

• 1/2 cup 1/2 Parmesan cheese, grated- plus more for serving

• Salt & Pepper & Olive Oil

Directions

• Preheat a large pot over medium low for at least 5 minutes. Then, turn to medium and add a splash of olive oil. In goes your pound of Hot (or mild) Italian Sausage. Cook until thoroughly browned.
• Next, add your sliced onion and cook until translucent- about 3-5 minutes.
• In goes your minced garlic, can of rinsed Cannellini (white kidney) beans, and orecchiette pasta. Mix to combine.

  • 

• Immediately after combined, add in 5 cups of chicken broth, stir, and bring to a boil. You may need to add another cup of broth depending on the weather and elevation of where you are cooking. Some days, my pasta needs that extra cup in order to develop a thick creamy sauce! Don’t worry if you accidentally add too much. Once you add the Parm and let the dish cool, everything will thicken nicely.
• After the pasta has reached boiling, turn back to medium after 5-8 minutes. Add your shredded bits of kale as your pasta starts to hit al dente. Stir to combine.
• Once pasta is al dente, or to your preference, add in at least 1/2 cup of Parm. I normally don’t even measure. Just add however much Parm makes me happy in a given moment. More can always be added later.
• At this point, your pasta should be completely coated in a light, creamy sauce.
  
• Serve into bowls, top with freshly cracked black pepper, grate some additional Parm over top, and sprinkle with any fresh herb of your choice such as parsley or basil (optional).
• DIG IN

Notes

• Sure thing. You can totally sub orecchiette for penne or bowtie pasta. I’m particular to orecchiette because each piece of pasta is like a little sauce bowl making each bite absolutely incredible. But feel free to use what you have on hand. The results will be similar!
• Same with the broth. Swap in veggie broth, beef broth, or even add some white wine in with your chicken broth.
• I love the flavor Hot Italian Sausage gives this dish, however, I have also used ground beef and sliced sausage links as well. This recipe makes for an easy fridge clean out turned delicious.
• Please note the nutritional information below was calculated using a calculator designed by: Verywell Fit. This information is accurate to the best of my knowledge, but should not be taken as medical advice 🙂 

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Benefits of One Pot Recipes

Besides the obvious -less mess- there are a few reasons why one pot pasta dishes are amazing. The most important to me being flavor. When you use different pots and pans to individually cook ingredients you leave a bits of developed seasoning and caramelized fats behind. We want that flavor IN and ON the food, not coating a pot or pan. Sheet pan meals work a lot like this too! They let individual flavors build off one another, creating an incredibly easy yet delicious experience. I mean, it’s kinda the perfect at home combo if you ask me.

While I’d made a few one pot pasta meals in the past, this particular combination was inspired by one of my favorite places to learn- Milk Street. Their site is filled with recipes and stories that highlight dozens of cultures and ethnicities… bringing travel right to our tables. If you haven’t checked them out before, go do it! And of course, I’d love you to come on back and join me here!

And if you’re already here because you dig a one pot meal, make sure to check out my Easy Beef Curry recipe. I assure you, it comes in swingin with flavor.

Layering Flavor

There is one big misconception, however. One pot or one pan meals don’t mean you get to throw everything down and walk away for 30 minutes. This is not a crockpot. Ingredients don’t work like that. Not if you want depth of flavor. No. For flavor one must layer ingredients in a way that allows them to shine individually yet work together like the flawless gifts of goodness they are.

This is especially important when preparing to make a one pot pasta dish. If you were creating a dish on your own, let’s say with leftovers, the first step would be to consider what ingredients you plan on using.

Is anything super watery? What might need searing? Are you working with anything that’s precooked or could easily burn? For example, you wouldn’t start off a dish by adding minced garlic to hot oil… by the time you finished assembling everything else that garlic would be burnt, because well, garlic burns easily. Most greens, like kale, only need residual heat to become tender. Overcook them and… sure they’re edible, but they’re definitely not as enjoyable.

The goal here is to create a dish where ingredient compliment each other while maintaining their individual character. You’ll find this one pot pasta dish does just that. Making it completely irresistible.

Finishing Touches

While you could just plop a blob of pasta in a bowl and go to town, I’m going to ask you to push pause for a sec.

Sure, plop it.

But take a moment to grind a bit of fresh black pepper on top. Grate or dust fresh Parm all over. Tear a few leaves of basil or parsley and sprinkle like confetti. Go crazy and drizzle of high quality olive oil all over. Now go to town. After taking the time to prepare a home cooked meal, don’t cut this corner. The garnish. It’s not for show. It’s another layer of flavor that takes elevates any dish to super star status. And it only costs you about 30 more seconds.

If you make this recipe, I’d love you to come back and leave a review!

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Hugs, because handshakes are awkward~