Want to Save this Recipe?
Enter your email below & we'll send it straight to your inbox. Plus you'll get great new recipes from us every week!
This is one of those dishes where my 6-year-old will yell from upstairs, “Mommy, what are you making?!? It smells sooooo good down there!” That girl loves to eat good food, and I love to make it, which makes us a perfect match. This recipe is also the only time I’ve ever seen my 8-year-old actually eat mushrooms and somewhat enjoy them.
See, even though I know she “doesn’t like” mushrooms, I make them anyway and just try to serve them different ways in different dishes. And once in a blue moon, all that hard work pays off when they eat (and enjoy) something new - score!
Weeknight Mushroom and Kale Pasta
Here's a great quick and easy weeknight dinner that even if you or your family isn't a fan of mushrooms, you might be surprised. This Mushroom and Kale Pasta is so tasty and pairs well with a simple side salad.
Print Recipe
Servings: 4 people
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces whole-wheat pasta (boiled and drained according to pasta directions)
- 1 ounce mushrooms (dried)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 shallots (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ cup white wine
- 2 cups kale (with big stems removed and cut into strips)
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- pepper (to taste)
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated)
Instructions
- In a small pot, add the dried mushrooms and cover with water (minimum of 1 ½ cups). Bring to a boil and cook until the mushrooms have softened, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain while reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Dice the cooked mushrooms (I do this by using culinary scissors).
- In a sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the shallots, mushrooms, and garlic to the pan and cook while stirring for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour in the white wine and turn up the heat so the mixture comes to a boil. Cook until the wine almost completely boils off, about 3 to 4 minutes (if you are doubling this recipe, it will take longer).
- Pour in the 1 cup of the reserved mushroom cooking liquid and cook until reduced by half.
- Turn the heat back down to medium and add the heavy cream, kale, salt, and pepper to the pan. Cook until the sauce thickens, 2 to 3 more minutes. Fold in the noodles, garnish with Parmesan, and serve.
Notes
We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
Nutrition Facts
Nutrition Facts
Weeknight Mushroom and Kale Pasta
Amount Per Serving
Calories 492
Calories from Fat 234
% Daily Value*
Fat 26g40%
Saturated Fat 16g100%
Cholesterol 84mg28%
Sodium 361mg16%
Potassium 425mg12%
Carbohydrates 51g17%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 2g2%
Protein 15g30%
Vitamin A 4250IU85%
Vitamin C 42.2mg51%
Calcium 206mg21%
Iron 2.9mg16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Want weekly REAL FOOD meal plans made for you?→ Check It Out
Jessica says
Hello! Making this tonight using fresh mushrooms. I'm guessing I'd skip step 1 and just cook the fresh mushrooms with the onions in Step 2? Thanks! :)
Amy Taylor (comment moderator) says
Sorry that we can rarely answer recipe questions in real time. How did it turn out?
Page Fulton says
This is incredible! Best easy creamy pasta recipe ever. I couldn't find dried, so I used fresh mushrooms and Mushroom stock! I recommend adding some shredded deli ham or pre cooked salmon on top.
Nora says
HI,
Can i use fresh mushrroms instead of dried.? I have some on hand and have been using them for omelets and stuff.
Amy Taylor (comment moderator) says
Hi. You can. Another reader above added vegetable stock since you wouldn't be adding the reserved mushroom stock.
Karen says
Made this last night and I was a little worry because it looked like it wasn't turning out right. It turned out great! So Good! Ran out of kale this week but still had some spinach and used that instead. I'm currently participating in pledge and want to say thank you for all these awesome meal recipes!
Tamara says
I modified slightly but this is a big hit at our house!
Trudy says
This is absolutely delicious.....my husband, who is a meat lover, could not stop eating it!!! I used fresh mushrooms so used vegetable stock.
Karla says
Loved this. Made it tonight. Served to 8 year old daughter and 10 year old son. My son asked if he could take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Husband wasn't a fan, but only because he tends not to favor most creamy pasta dishes.
This was delicious!!!! Thank you for posting on FB this week. It was my grocery shopping day so I was able to grab the dried mushrooms. YAY for a new recipe in my pocket!
Nina says
This is one of my favorite recipes from this blog! My extremely picky 4 year old even loves it! i will definitely be adding this into the rotation.
Jen says
I really wanted to love this, but we didn't :( I wanted to have a weeknight dinner that didn't have any meat and I thought this would satisfy my creamy craving for pasta which I never make. I don't know if I didn't let the wine evaporate enough, but the wine taste was too strong for me, my husband, and kids. They just ate the pasta. I even added bacon, hoping the bacon would add that yummy flavor. The mushrooms soaked up too much wine :( Maybe next time, I'll just omit.
John Farless says
This was delicious! I used fresh crimini mushrooms and vegetable broth. Also substituted white onion for shallots (all I had).
Jamie says
Is it okay to substitute frozen Kale for the fresh? Fresh Kale is virtually impossible to find here, however, our commissary has the frozen.
Amy Taylor (comment moderator) says
Hi Jamie. Frozen will work, too.
Tracy says
This was amazing!! I used frozen kale, fresh mushrooms, and chickpea pasta. Everything else was exactly the same. And it was easy too. This recipe is a keeper!!
100 Days Admin says
Awesome. Glad you enjoyed it. - Nicole
chantelle says
I'm curious why your recipes call for dried mushrooms so often? They are very expensive in Canada ($8 for 25 grams!)
Amy Taylor (comment moderator) says
Hi Chantelle. Lisa likes both, actually and you can always use fresh mushrooms. :)
Meg says
I assume there is an easy way to adjust this recipe so i can use fresh mushrooms instead. Can i try adding some chicken broth? if so, how much would you add?
Amy Taylor (comment moderator) says
Hi Meg. We've not tried so it would be an experiment but I think it would turn out fine.
brandyb says
I have been wanting to try this, I had some leftover BEET GREENS that needed to be used, and this was just perfect!!! The whole family honestly LOVED it, and my littlest carnivore kept asking for more!!!
I only had a little bit of dried mushrooms, so I used those along with baby portabellas. I also didn't have heavy cream, so I made a roux with flour and added milk/halfnhalf. This was amazing really!
Jess says
This recipe is missing from the recipe index. Good thing Bing found it, this one of our favorites!
Jess Johnson says
Thanks for adding it back in!
kristi says
I just made this with fresh mushrooms and chicken broth for the liquid...it is so good! My 4 year old likes the mushrooms and kale! Thanks for the recipe..its one of the best things I've ever made!
Andrea @Butter is Better says
I have to preface by saying my entire family sort of dislikes kale, but somehow this dish has been made (and devoured!) over and over again in my house! A real winner!
Elayne says
This was really good and easy to make! My 5-year old requested the leftovers be sent to school for lunch. I used fresh white mushrooms since our local stores' dried selection scares me. I followed someone's advice and added a cup of vegetable broth in place of the mushroom juice. Very tasty! Will definitely make again!
Heather A says
Made this tonight for the first time and wow it was delicious! I also made a few substitutions; b/c I used button mushrooms (they were on sale and organic - had to have them!) I used a mushroom based stock (also organic) since there was no mushroom liquid to use; plain goat yogurt and some almond milk for the cream as I am dairy free(did end up thickening it a bit with brown rice flour and potato starch - am also gluten free); organic kale, but also used up some spinach I had in the fridge and some of the really large mustard greens leaves and chives out of my garden, so it became a "Mushroom and Assorted Greens Pasta" :) I didn't want to open a full bottle of wine so used a smaller bottle of apple cider (that my husband makes) which worked out great! No subs for the garlic, just used extra. I did add in some leftover chicken to stem the complaints of the males in the house hold, altho it was negligable. I will definitely make this again!
Shirley says
Oh and you can sub chicken broth (I use chicken bone broth) for white wine.
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
For the wine? Yep, that should work just fine. ~Amy
Shirley says
Add a can of tuna - WOWZA!
Eileen says
Wonder if substittuting Marsala wine would be good in it, too! I think I would like fresh mushrooms and maybe add some onions as well. Lots of good ideas coming from seeing this! Thanks.
Franki says
So I always love all of Lisa's recipes, but I was skeptical to say the least that my girls would even touch this. I made a big deal about all of the hard work (not true it's super easy) I put into making this special white sauce and that I'd like them to try it. So they did and they ate it. They weren't jumping up or down but they ate enough to satisfy me and they each had a bite or two of kale! Yipee! I subbed veg broth for the mushrooms and ran out of heavy cream so I used about 1/4 c and added some greek yogurt. I also only had sweet white wine. Worked anyhow! I'm excited to try it as written too. But nice to have such a flexible recipe!
Wendy says
@Ashley. If you go to Food.com and enter the information, it will calulate the nutritional info for you ;). I too am following WW, so it's nice to have the option.
Maggie Kiser says
I noticed that the kale doesn't get blanched or sa
Ashley says
I made this tonight and yum! But I'd like to know the nutrition facts if anyone has them? (I'm doing WW and need to calculate my points. : / )
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Ashley. We do not provide nutrition information on our recipes. Our focus is on helping people cut out processed food while replacing them with real/whole foods. These posts help explain our philosophy: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/04/healthy-eating-defined/, https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/23/portion-size-matters/, and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/10-reasons-to-cut-out-processed-food/. ~Amy