Mid-week often means simple and easy pasta for dinnertime! This one is a goody! My husband, Scott, proclaimed that this meal was “really good.”

I told him my hierarchy of what his food descriptions mean to me. It goes as follows:

• Bad = Bad
• Fine = Bad
• Okay = Bad
• Good = Okay (this is where I would put “really good”)
• Great = Good
• Wonderful (or similar words) = Great
• And then it gets better from there especially if you can describe what he likes (or not so likes) about it.

I can’t be the only one that thinks like this, right?

As you can see, I thoroughly dislike it when he calls it just “good” even though I know that he actually enjoys it a lot.

Believe me, he is a picky eater especially when it comes to certain ingredients (e.g. peas and corn) and textures so when he goes for seconds, I know that this recipe is a keeper.

I’m happy to say that my persistent, yet loving, reminders to him to actually describe the food instead of just saying it tastes “fine” and then proceeding to wolf it down in 10.8 seconds is working!

He promptly, changed his adjective to “fabulous” and said he liked the shape of the pasta and how it sucked up all the creamy cheese sauce.

He also raved about the toasted panko and added more of the bread crumbs from a bowl I had on the side. Finally, he enjoyed the use of Swiss Chard as it was a fun departure from the spinach he brings in his lunch each day.

Thanks Honey. I appreciate it. That way, it easier for me to write up blog posts too.

Let’s get to the recipe! I hope you enjoy this recipe for Creamy Gruyere and Swiss Chard Pasta with Toasted Panko Breadcrumbs!

All the ingredients to make this delectable pasta dish!

(Ingredient amounts and complete instructions listed in the recipe card below)

Helpful Tip: Measure out ingredients prior to cooking, especially the cheese sauce. Time goes quickly once you start cooking so it is highly recommended to prepare (measure and chop) all the ingredients first.

It takes a couple of minutes for the Swiss chard to sauté in a pan with a little olive oil and minced garlic.

The pasta and Swiss chard is added into the pan full of scratch-made creamy white sauce with Gruyere cheese.

In all, this Scrumptious Gruyere and Swiss Chard Pasta:

• Is delicious, filling, and so savoury: Pasta is just so tasty! It’s mild flavour is well suited to take on whatever flavours you add to it.
  • Creamy and smooth white cheese sauce featuring gruyere cheese. This cheese is lightly sweet (a hint of fruity tangy), nutty and salty when young and becomes more stronger in cheesiness, earthier, and complex flavour as the cheese ages.
    • I used an younger cheese that was sharp, but also nutty, sweet, and had a nice level of salinity.
  • Full of Swiss chard (also known as chard or silverbeet). The leaf stalks can be red, green, or yellow. I used the red (ruby) variety.
    • The leaves are tender and are said to have a taste close to spinach or beet greens. It can be bitter, especially raw, but cooking it diminishes its bitterness to reveal a more pronounced sweet and earthy flavour.
  • Toasted Panko breadcrumbs tastes wonderfully salty and buttery and adds a lovely crunch. I like to mix the breadcrumbs into the pasta so each bite is crunchy and tender.

• Has different textures: Crunchy Panko, creamy gruyere cheese sauce, tender Swiss chard, and al dente pasta (it will get a little more tender with the heat of the sauce as it sits) gives this meal a delightful mix of textures.

• Is quick and easy to make: This entree takes about 25 minutes to make and uses a lot of ingredients that I bet you have handy in your kitchen pantry and refrigerator right now.
  • Perfect for a quick weeknight dinner or to make on a lazy day.

Is easy to adapt:

• Use a melty cheese or two that you have on hand such as sharp white cheddar, fortina, emmentaler, or monterey jack cheese or a mixture of cheeses to make the cheese sauce. Can you tell that I love cheese?
  • If you are vegetarian, make sure that the gruyere or other cheese is made without animal rennet; look at the cheeses’ ingredient list for vegetable rennet or microbial enzymes instead to ensure that it is vegetarian.
• Switch out Swiss chard with spinach, arugula (rocket), or kale. They have an earthy and slight bitter flavour profile that will mellow out with the stronger cheesy and savoury flavours in this dish.
• Experiment with different pastas. I loved using cavatappi for it’s double spiral tube shape.
  • Did you know that cavatappi pasta is also called “scoobi doo” pasta? That name is so cute to me and of course, it reminds me of the cartoon dog of a very similar name.
  • I recommend macaroni (elbows), rigatoni, or a pasta that has crevices or ridges for the sauce and panko to cling too.

If you make this recipe, please let me know by commenting and rating this post below or by tagging me on any of my social media! I’m @yay_for_food on Instagram. Please share a photo!

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