Need a quick and easy dinner recipe? This Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet recipe, sponsored by Dreamfields pasta, will only take about 30 minutes and full of good stuff for your family.
Is things busy in your neck of the woods? My November calendar has been filling up and that doesn’t even include the usual day to day tasks, plus the additional cooking, shopping, and decorating that comes with the holidays. It’s all part of what I love about the holidays – family, friends, fun, food — all the good stuff! But, if I’m not careful, the added festivities can start to create lots of stress.
Having easy dinners planned is one of the best ways I know to keep things as stress-free as possible. I tend to do lots of extra cooking during November and December, some of which can be complicated and take forever. But there is all sorts of weeknights throughout the months that we still need dinner on the table. By keeping most of our weeknight dinners easy, and as healthy as possible, it helps to balance out the busy schedules and the less-than-healthy eating that tends to happen during the holidays.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on a new weeknight dinner recipe that would be easy, plus perfect for Autumn. When I started thinking about this recipe, I was reminded of a recipe I created last year, my Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Quinoa and Kale. It was the first time cooked sweet potatoes and kale together and I instantly fell in love with the pairing.
I decided to create another delicious sweet potato and kale pairing, but this time, I wanted it cooked in about 30 minutes or less on my stovetop, plus I decided to include a family favorite: PASTA!
The delicious result is my Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet recipe. It’s quick and easy, only include a few ingredients, plus it’s something I feel good about feeding my family. To keep this recipe nutritious, I used Dreamfields pasta.
I was introduced to Dreamfields when they were a sponsor of the Mixed Food Conference I attended back in 2012 and I’ve enjoyed their pasta many times since then. I personally like that they are a more carb-friendly pasta option, plus one-cup cooked serving of Dreamfields pasta (2 oz. dry) provides 5 grams of fiber and 7 grams of protein. Pair all this with the benefits of kale and sweet potatoes and you have a nutritious Autumn dinner.
Preparing your own Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet only requires a few steps. First, peel and cut sweet potatoes into bite-sized pieces. For the kale remove the stems and ribs and give it a rough chop. The sweet potatoes are cooked first in the skillet, just until they are slightly tender (about 10-15 minutes). The kale is then added and cooked with the sweet potato until it is wilted.
While the sweet potato and the kale are cooking, the Dreamfields pasta is cooked according the package instructions. Before draining, scoop out about 1 cup of the cooking water. You’ll be using this to help thin out the ricotta cheese that is added a bit later.
Be sure that you don’t overcook your pasta. Since you’ll be tossing the pasta with the sweet potatoes and kale, you don’t want the pasta to be falling apart when everything is combined.
With the sweet potatoes, kale, and pasta cooked, everything is combined in the skillet. Ricotta cheese is also mixed in, as well as just enough of the pasta cooking water to help loosen everything up. Adding the water, with the ricotta, ends up creating a creaminess to the dish. I used bout 1/4 – 1/2 cup of water, but you may want to use more or less.
To finish off the pasta skillet, top it with a bit of grated Parmesan cheese and it’s ready to serve.
Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet Recipe
Here is my complete Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet Recipe, all ready for you to print.
If you aren’t ready for it yet, but want to save it for later, I recommend that you pin it to one of your Pinterest boards by clicking this Pin It button: 
Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet
Description
Need a quick and easy dinner recipe? This Sweet Potato & Kale Pasta Skillet recipe, sponsored by Dreamfields pasta, will only take about 30 minutes and full of good stuff for your family.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 pounds sweet potatoes (peeled and diced)
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces kale (stems and ribs removed and roughly chopped)
- Salt and Pepper (to taste)
- 13.25 ounces Dreamfields Pasta (I used Rotini)
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1/8 – 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (use according to your preference)
Instructions
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Cook sweet potatoes, stirring and turning pieces occasionally, until just barely tender (about 10-13 minutes).
- While sweet potatoes are cooking, begin cooking pasta, according to package instructions. Before draining, reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- When sweet potatoes are just barely tender, add garlic and red pepper flakes to them. Add kale to sweet potatoes and cook until bright green and wilted. Season mixture with salt and pepper.
- Gently combine drained pasta into sweet potatoes and kale. Add ricotta into mixture in multiple dollops. Fold ricotta into the mixture, taking care to not break up pasta or potatoes. Add just enough reserved pasta water to mixture to loosen ricotta and moisten pasta (I use between 1/4 – 1/3 cup). If needed, season with additional salt and pepper. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: American
Alli @ Tornadough Alli says
This looks so great! I have never had potato in with my pasta before. This would be a nice change of pace. Thank you so much for sharing with us at ThrowbackThursday we hope to see you again this week!
Maria Magdalena says
Wooohoooo… pasta! I like it! This is a must try recipe. I pinned at the Pinterest board. Thank you for your participation at Tasty Tuesday Creative K Kids.
Lisa @ Fun Money Mom says
This looks delicious…I’ll definitely have to make it soon! Thanks so much for sharing your great recipe at Share The Wealth Sunday!
xoxo
Lisa
Cheyanne says
YUM!!!
creativejewishmom/sara says
Looks delicious, and thanks for sharing on craft schooling Sunday! And anything you can do to promote the party and/or my blog would be greatly appreciated!
Thomas Murphy says
I want to try the BLT Pasta Salad
Annette says
The rotini pasta recipe I’d most like to make is the Chicken Caprese Salad.
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Emily Smith says
The Cobb & Rotini Pasta Salad sounds delicious.
HS says
I want to try creamy Carrot and Parm Pasta.
Laura J says
Oh I would love to try their Blackberry Ginger Pasta Salad! That looks so good!
Samantha says
Lots of delicious recipes on their website but I’d love to try Chicken Amalfi, it sounds yummy.
tammigirl says
Blackberry ginger pasta salad – 3 of my FAVORITE things!ta
Kelly D says
I would like to make the Rotini with Roasted Vegetable and Olives.
Peggy Johnson says
I would like to try the BLT pasta salad
Kristen says
I’d like to try the Blackberry Ginger Pasta Salad.
LaTanya says
BLT Pasta Salad
janetfaye says
I would like to make Chicken Amalfi recipe.
janetfaye (at) gmail (dot) com
Rosie says
I love the Italian pasta salad! Rotini is my favorite, I love it with pasta sauce, in salads, anything!
Amanda Sakovitz says
id love to try the BLT Pasta Salad
courtney says
I would love to try to make the Chicken Amafi!
Kay Z says
Chicken Caprese Salad
Jeffrey says
I like the Spicy Caprese Pasta Salad from the site but yours looks yummy too. I’ve made pizza with this combination, adding onions, on more than one occasion.
Sandy Headtke says
The Rotini Greek Salad would be great. I’m going to try your salad, the colors are wonderful and I am trying to work more kale into our diets.
Mary Happymommy says
I’d like to try the cobb and rotini pasta salad.
Lisa Brown says
I would like to make the Chicken Amalfi – http://www.dreamfieldsfoods.com/healthy-pasta-recipes/2014/04/chicken-amalfi.html