Bacon Kale Spaghetti

Kale bacon pasta with spaghetti noodles and fresh basil.

4.67 from 3 votes

Bacon Kale Spaghetti is a seriously quick and easy pasta night made with garden ingredients! In the time it takes to cook the pasta, a simple kale sauce is made with sautéd crispy bacon, garlic, Parmesan cheese, basil, and the starchy pasta cooking water. So simple, yet incredibly delicious! A light summer favorite you'll want to make again and again!

Prep Time5

Cook Time20

Total Time25

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 645kcal

Author: Meryl Downing

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti reserve 2 cups of the starchy cooking water before draining!
6 strips bacon sliced
6 leaves kale stems removed and chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
6 grinds fresh black pepper
½ cup Parmesan cheese grated, plus more for serving
fresh basil for serving

Instructions

Prepare your ingredients. Cut the bacon into slices and chop the garlic. Shred the Parmesan cheese. Wash the kale and slice the leaves off the stem with a knife. Discard the stem and wad the kale leaves into a tight pile to thinly slice.
Cook the pasta in salted (½ teaspoon) boiling water, about 10 minutes. BEFORE DRAINING, use a ladle or measuring cup to pull out 2 cups of the starchy cooking liquid. Ladling into a glass pyrex measuring cup works great!
When you begin heating the pasta water to boil, start making the sauce. In a large skillet or Dutch oven, over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes, and remove it to a bowl. Discard about 2 Tablespoons of the bacon fat, leaving the rest in the skillet to saute the kale and form the sauce.
Add the kale to the remaining bacon fat and saute about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper. Cook another minute.
Lower the temperature to medium low and add ½ cup of the hot starchy pasta water to the kale and garlic (you can pull the water out even if the pasta isn't finished cooking). Stir and simmer, the starchy water will combine and reduce with the bacon fat.
Add back the bacon and the drained pasta and begin tossing with tongs. Little by little, add in the Parmesan cheese and more of the starchy cooking liquid as you continue tossing. You may add up to 2 cups of the pasta cooking water.
Allow the pasta to stay on the heat another minute or so while tossing, and keep adding the starchy pasta water if it seems too dry. If you sit down to eat and then go back for seconds, you may want to add another ½ cup of the pasta water and toss well, it will dry as it sits. The pasta water, bacon fat and the melting Parmesan is what makes "the sauce."
Garnish with more Parmesan and fresh basil.

Notes

Important! Make sure to reserve 2 cups of the starchy cooking liquid before draining the pasta. This is what forms the sauce!
Don't discard all the bacon fat, just about 2 Tablespoons. Keep the rest to make the sauce! Don't pour your discarded bacon fat down the drain, not good for drains! Let it cool and pour it in the trash, or you can even save it in the fridge and fry eggs in it!

Nutrition