Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic & Feta
Updated March 26, 2019
Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta. Whew, I am out of breath. I know, that is a really long name for a pasta dish, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t leave out any of the key ingredients. ALL of the ingredients in this pasta dish are stars!
This recipe comes from my fabulous sister-in-law, Whitney. When we went to California, she made us this dish and I immediately fell in love. We’ve been making it on a regular basis ever since. Whitney calls it “crazy spaghetti” and I think I know why because it is CRAZY good! Oh, and probably because Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta is too long to say! Maybe I should stick with crazy spaghetti too!
I could eat this pasta dish every night. It is simple to make and the flavors are outstanding. You might question all of the flavors together, but after one bite, I guarantee you will be hooked like a worm on a fishing pole.The flavors work together in the most amazing way. The slightly bitter kale, sweet dried cranberries, salty kalamata olives and feta cheese mixed in with pasta just works! And don’t skip the toasted garlic on top, even if you claim to be a garlic hater, give the toasted garlic a chance in this dish. It’s awesome!
Go crazy tonight and make “crazy spaghetti” aka Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta. This pasta dish is a staple in our home. We hope you like it as much as we do. Thanks Whit for sharing your c-c-crazzzzy good recipe!
Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 head garlic cloves peeled and thinly sliced lengthwise
- 1 medium red onion finely chopped
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 large bunch of kale stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound spaghetti or other pasta we use whole wheat
- 1/2 cup Kalamata olives cut into slivers-pits removed
- 1 1/2 cups crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
- 1. Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers, then cook garlic, stirring, until golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer garlic with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Cook onion in the remaining oil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add dried cranberries and cook until plumped, about 1 minute.
- 2. Add kale leaves into onion mixture with water and ¾ teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Cook, covered, over medium-high heat until almost tender, about 5 minutes.
- 3. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a pasta pot of boiling salted water until aldente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water and drain pasta.
- 4. Toss pasta with kale, kalamata olives, and ½ cup pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle feta cheese and garlic chips over the pasta dish and serve warm.
Have you tried this recipe?
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If you like this Pasta with Kale, Kalamata Olives, Dried Cranberries, Toasted Garlic, & Feta recipe, you might also like:
- Sweet Potato Cream Pasta with Crispy Kale from How Sweet It Is
- Lemony Kale Pasta from Annie Eats
- Whole Wheat Pasta with Fried Kale, Tomato Sauce, & Goat Cheese from Kalyn’s Kitchen
- Quinoa Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Kale, & Dried Cranberries from Two Peas and Their Pod
So many delicious flavours, love the addition of dried cranberries!
A beautiful and refined pasta dish which must taste really good!
Cheers,
Rosa
I have been adding dried cranberries to everything lately, so this is everything I want in a pasta dish right now! The olives, and sweet cranberries… Aaah, so yummy. 🙂
I’m with you, I could eat pasta every-night too!! I love it and their is much you can do with it! Your recipe looks amazing!
This looks delicious. Sooo many of my favorite things in one dish. Ahhh!
Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis.
This.
Yes.
The dried cranberries are such a cool addition to the pasta! Never would’ve thought to throw those in.
What a great combination of flavors for a pasta dish! Your sister-in-law is a genius! I will be making this for sure!
Maria, That is one glorious bowl of pasta!! I want…
Loving all the different flavors in this pasta!
long name but great ingredients!!
Mmm, I like anything with feta, and those olives just add a little something extra. 🙂
This is such a perfect pasta for fall!
This looks amazing!!! I want some…just discovered my love for kalamata olives this year!
This is crazy-delicious!! I can’t wait for it to be the star of our dinner table. I am absolutely in love with this dish!
my mouth is watering out of control. love this!
Crazy pasta sounds pretty much perfect to me. I can almost taste the sweet and salty combo in my mouth, just begging for more!
Love the sweet twist with those tangy cranberries!! Lovely fall pasta 🙂
That’s such a long, but delicious pasta. Yumm!
I absolutely love the sound of this! Must try soon!
So many yummy ingredients in this dish!
Just tried kale with pasta recently, so good! Love all the stars here, sounds fresh and delicious.
there is nothing better than a “crazy” good dish.
I love pasta with kalamata olives! This dish is a must make for me 🙂
My mouth is watering already! Cannot wait to head to town to pick up the ingredients! Awesome recipe, Maria!
Ohhhhhhh deeeee-lish Maria! The salty olives to the sweet cranberries…..must taste like heaven!
This doesn’t sound crazy at all to me… I love all the flavors you included!
I’m pretty sure my mouth immediately started watering when I read the title of this post 🙂 Kalamata olives are hard to go wrong with, but throw in feta, kale, garlic and pasta? I’m so there! Dried cranberries are unexpected, but I’m trusting that the sweetness will be a nice addition 🙂
awesome. My husband will love this with the feta and kalamatas! (i love the cranberry addition!)
i love how healthy and flavorful this pasta dish is! i’m a huge fan of pasta and adding all these ingredients just sounds so so good right now!
I just finished dinner a little bit ago but I want to eat like 3 plates of this. I love everything about it!
Your pasta dish looks so delicious. And I am so hungry right now, I’ll eat anything!
I think I could definitely be hooked on this crazy spaghetti!
You had me at kale, but all the other ingredients sound great too!
Omgsh Maria! This looks amazing. I can just imagine the kale, cranberries, and feta melding together perfectly. I’m going to try it with a whole grain pasta like you suggested. Thanks!
I’m thinking this is DEFINITELY called crazy pasta because it’s crazy delicious! I love all of its components.
I think you may have created the perfect fall pasta dish. Can’t wait to try it! I may add some roasted butternut squash since I can’t get enough of that in the fall!
So many of my favorites flavors wrapped in one dish!
I want this right now!!! This looks awesome.
Just added this to our Craving – Must Make! Pinterest board! Love the flavor combo.
Loventhis flavor combo. I always have these ingredients on hand which is even better!
I’m obsessed with kale. Looks like a nice, hearty dish.
oh wow – i’ve never tried a combo like this. but i love everything you put in here! will have to try it!
I love the flavor combination in this pasta Maria – I think I could eat this every day too!
This was great! I swapped the cranberries for sun-dried tomatoes and it was still awesome! Also, great tip on setting aside the cup of pasta water…that really added a nice additional salty (but not overbearingly so) flavor.
Oh, I can totally imagine how delicious this would be. Thanks for sharing!
This pasta was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! I made this for my brother and sister-in-law. Not only did she want the recipe immediately, but I had to make a second batch to have in the house for myself during the week. Thanks for sharing!
This was seriously the best pasta ever. I made a seperate dish for the hubby who does NOT like fruit in his food and he actually said he would eat it with fruit in it next time! Thanks for the great combinations mixed with inexpensive ingredients!
Pinned this a long time ago and finally tried it for the first time tonight. It was an automatic hit and instantly earned a place on our regular roster. What a great combo!
We loved this dish! SO GOOD! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Yummy! The garlic chips make this dish sings and the dried cranberries sweeten it just right. Thank you for sharing. I added butter beans for more protein. This will be a staple for our family!
Wow! We had this last night and I have already sent 4 people the recipe link because I loved it that much. I am with you. I could eat it every night too. Thanks for a great recipe!
Well, I appreciate your efforts in creating this post however I believe you should take the time and elaborate 🙂 Great blog indeed.
It was tasy, but needed some zest. Perhaps a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.