Creamy Chicken Sausage & Kale Cavatappi
with Garlic, Lemon & Parmesan
- Milk
- Wheat
A bowl of pasta never fails to satisfy—it’s quick, carby, comforting, and a terrific weeknight go-to. When you add sweet Italian chicken sausage, tender bites of garlicky kale, and Parmesan to the equation, you’ve reached another level of deliciousness entirely. Ready to enjoy bite after bite of twisty cavatappi pasta cloaked in a lemony, buttery cream sauce? We thought so.
Ingredients
1.5 tablespoon
Sour Cream
(Contains: Milk)
¼ cup
Parmesan Cheese
9 ounce
Italian Chicken Sausage Mix
1 unit
Onion
6 ounce
Cavatappi Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
4 ounce
Kale
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
4 ounce
Cream Sauce Base
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Lemon
2 clove
Garlic
Not included in your delivery
2 teaspoon (tsp)
Cooking Oil
2 tablespoon (tbsp)
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
teaspoon (tsp)
Salt
teaspoon (tsp)
Black Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Wash and dry produce. • Halve, peel, and finely chop onion. Remove and discard any large stems from kale; chop into bite-size pieces if necessary. Peel and thinly slice garlic. Quarter lemon.
• Once water is boiling, add cavatappi to pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Reserve 3⁄4 cup pasta cooking water (1 1⁄2 cups for 4 servings), then drain.
• Heat a large drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage* and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until sausage is mostly cooked through and onion is softened, 3-5 minutes. • Stir in kale and garlic; cook until sausage is cooked through and kale is wilted, 3-5 minutes. TIP: Add kale in batches if necessary.
• Reduce heat to medium. Stir in cream sauce base, sour cream, stock concentrate, 1⁄4 cup reserved pasta cooking water (1⁄3 cup for 4 servings), and a big squeeze of lemon juice. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
• Reduce heat to low. Stir in drained cavatappi, half the Parmesan (use the rest for serving), 2 TBSP butter (4 TBSP for 4 servings), and a squeeze of lemon juice. TIP: If needed, stir in more reserved cooking water a splash at a time until pasta is coated in a creamy sauce.
• Divide pasta between bowls; top with remaining Parmesan. Serve with remaining lemon wedges on the side.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Feb 2026- Flavor: Many loved the creamy, lemony sauce and flavorful chicken sausage; some found it a bit bland or overpowering.
- Ease of prep: Quick and easy to make, with simple instructions and minimal hands-on time.
- Suggestions: Consider adding extra garlic, Parmesan, or red pepper flakes for more flavor; cook kale longer for better texture.
- Portions: Generous servings that often provide leftovers; some found it enough for 3-4 people.
- Kale: Mixed opinions – some loved the texture, others found it tough or bitter; consider offering spinach as an alternative.
Reviews from our home cooks
This dish was very satisfying. Hello Fresh sent young, tender kale leaves, which added to the recipe's fresh taste. The spice in the chicken sausage blended very well with the fresh taste of the kale, which allowed my palate to identify both ingredients. What a mindblower! I didn't expect such flavor from a "goulash". Absolutely superb!!!!
The Chicken Sausage and Kale Cavatappi is a delicious dish! We love the chicken sausage and the creamy sauce with a hint of lemon. The kale adds a nice textural touch to the dish. A comforting but fresh tasting family favorite!
Delicious! Easy, and fresh take on pasta dishes I love. The kale and ground chicken sausage was a great pair with the creamy sauce.
Picked this out for a teenager who loves pasta dishes. I also prefer chicken sausage over pork sausage. All ingredients combined together make one very tasty cavatappi noodles dish. I was a little worried about the typical bitter taste that you get when you eat Kale. I didn't taste that one bit in this dish.
Kale is not a favorite of ours, but this recipe does an excellent job of making it actually taste good without having to make it disappear. It even makes the texture work. I feel like every time we order this one, we're a little surprised that we like it, but we consistently do. The blend of flavors with the sausage just works very well.
LOVED this meal! I was actually very surprised we all loved the chicken sausage... might like it even better than regular Italian sausage! Flavors were perfect/balanced - sometimes cream based sauces are too rich, but this was light & lemony, soooo good with the kale + onion + garlic!! The portions in this one were very hearty, so even though we all loved it, we still have enough left overs for dinner for 3 tonight too!
I liked this pasta dish, but I didn't love it. It was a nice way to eat kale, and I really like the texture of the cavatappi noodles. However, the chicken sausage was just okay. It didn't get crispy like I expected and the texture was a little bit rubbery. I also didn't like how high in sodium this meal is, so I didn't add any salt other than to the pasta water.
This was a big batch meal even though it was labeled only as 4 serving, but I am not complaining. I appreciated the left over. Cavatappi is always a good choice and Kale gave the dish good texture. Another successful meal
This could have been too rich/heavy with the sausage and the cream sauce, but the lemon and kale added some nice sharpness that lightened it up while remaining very satisfying. Sometimes I think you guys overdo the lemon, but this time it was exactly right. Yum!
Used Dash unsalted southwest spice and reduced Italian chicken sausage mix portion by 1/2 for a reduced sodium meal. Note that Cavatappi meals are sufficiently large enough for me to spilt into 3 servings (further reducing the sodium content).
