Last Updated on August 31, 2026 by Carrie Korem, FNTP
Fusilli with Chard, Bacon and Red Onions is a great weeknight meal that is loaded with lots of good flavor and nutrients!
It’s a combination of brown rice pasta, swiss chard, red onion, bacon, cream and sea salt. It utilizes several pantry staples so you only needed to buy a few ingredients to make a quick, delicious, and nourishing meal for your family.
What is the best gluten-free pasta to buy?
I personally only buy Jovial brown rice gluten free pasta.
Here’s why I love it so much:
- It tastes just like “white” pasta. You truly can’t tell the difference.
- They soak the brown rice for 48 hours before making the pasta. The soaking reduces the phytic acid (phytic acid robs your body of minerals when it digests) and also make it easier on your digestive system. I don’t know of another company that does this.
- To make things even better, they use bronze dies to shape the dough. Most companies use plastic dies to press their pasta which leaches endocrine disruptors into the pasta. Jovial makes their pasta the traditional way using bronze.
I always serve gluten-free pasta no matter who is coming over for dinner and no one ever knows it’s gluten-free!
Ingredients Needed for Fusilli with Chard, Bacon and Red Onions
- Gluten-Free fusilli pasta (I purchase at Whole Foods, Thrive Market or Amazon)
- Organic, pastured bacon – I purchase all of my meat from 1915 farms. To find good pastured bacon in your area, check out Eat Wild.
- Red Onion
- Swiss Chard
- Heavy cream – I use raw or Kalona brand
- Celtic sea salt
Print
Fusilli with Chard, Bacon, and Red Onions
You can use other types of pasta in this dish such as spaghetti, macaroni, farfalle, etc.
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Main Dish
- Method: Boiling, Sautéing
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
Units
For the Pasta:
- 16 ounces gluten-free Fusilli pasta
- 8 pieces bacon, cut into small pieces (nitrate-free and pastured preferred)
- 1 large red onion, diced
- 1 bunch swiss chard, washed, chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain. Set aside. Meanwhile, cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy. Using a slotted spoon, remove bacon from skillet and place it in a bowl. Add the onion to the skillet and cook until caramelized, about 8 minutes. Add chard and stir until limp. Add pasta, cream, salt, and cooked bacon. Toss and adjust salt to taste. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Serves 6?
I love raiding my pantry – it is just so satisfying! Love the addition of bacon-I think it makes this dish.
This pasta looks wonderful 🙂
YUM! I don’t have the swiss chard but I have plenty of fresh spinach, I know what we’re having for dinner tonight. Thanks!
This looks so fresh and fulfilling. Also, I didn’t know about Herbamare. Thanks for the pantry staple suggestions!
Ahh, this post has me drooling! Gorgeous pasta 🙂
WONDERFUL staples. Very inspiring. Also, I love chard ; )
I love that you consider cream a pantry staple – thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about the stealing of content – such a bore when people don’t respect you
So sorry you have had to deal with people being dishonest. 🙁 This looks totally yummy though! I think I am going to add a bit of tomato as well since they are coming in from my garden.
So yummy looking. Awesome.
Love the pantry list. What a great list to have handy! Gotta print that out and make sure I’m stocked up and ready to go for any occasion. You’re the best!
Looks great! I think you need to write another cookbook titled “Organic on a Budget!!” Love these recipes. Thank you.
I made this last night, phenomenal! I used the spinach I had on hand and added shredded chicken to make it a complete meal. Hubby and son wanted more, yea! Carrie…your recipes rock our kitchen!
Made this on Saturday w/ a different kind of pasta and my cream had soured so I subbed in a whole milk and sour cream combo. It was AWESOME!!! My family and I absolutely loved it! I am really excited about a new way to cook all the greens coming from our CSA! Thank you!!
Made this tonight – myself and my 4 boys loved it. Excellent recipe, thank you.
This is a people-pleaser for sure! I’ve bookmarked this for a coming dinner party. Yum!
This is on our dinner menu for tonight-can’t wait to try it!
Made this and my husband & I both loved it! Switching over to organic has been so easy thanks to you 🙂
Thanks for letting me know. 😉
Your recipes look good and I look froward to trying them. It’s too bad about your situation with some users lifting your content. I keep all my recipes on Souchef, but it requires copying and importing a recipe. Unfortunately, I could not import your recipes to my Souchef files and I don’t use “print” option, because I prefer to keep it on my computer files and I don’t want to waste paper and ink.
Best of luck with your grain-free challenge. Eggplant involtini will be my first choice to go for. I already make my own ricotta and quark, so that’s a natural.
Thanks
I made this for dinner yesterday, it was amazing! One of the most delicious pasta dishes I’ve ever had. Used Brown Rice Penne from Trader Joe’s, and Applegate Farms organic bacon.
I made this dish tonight for dinner and LOVED it! The only thing I did differently was added 3 fresh cloves of garlic in with the onions during the last 3 minutes of them cooking. (Yum! I love garlic!) My kids (10 & under) thought it was wonderful as well! Thank you SO much for the recipe. I will definitely make again & again!
This sounds so amazing. I love that you include gluten-free options for your recipes. Thank you!!
This was a great recipe! I tweaked it a bit for my love of strong flavors by adding shallots and crushed red pepper and it was a big hit! Thanks!
I had a question pertaining to the staples. Can I substitute sunflower oil for the coconut oil, and amber and light agave nectar for honey and sugar?
You can if you’d like, but those ingredients aren’t ones I recommend if one is wanting to eat unprocessed foods (I also haven’t tested my recipes with these ingredients, so I can’t promise the recipes will turn out as intended). The sunflower oil commonly found at the grocery store is a highly processed oil full of omega-6 fatty acids. They use high heat, hexane, and deodorizers to clean the oil, so it’s not a very healthy oil. If you want to use sunflower oil, you could use one that isn’t quite as processed, although it is more expensive (http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/product/FLORA-ORGANIC-SUNFLOWER-OIL/healthy-fats-oils/) Agave nectar is a highly processed sweetener, so I don’t recommend it. Here is an article about agave: http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/agave-nectar-worse-than-we-thought Here is one about vegetable oils: http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/skinny-on-fats
it sounds yummy! I am always having trouble avoiding fast food because I have 3 kiddos under 4 and often on my hubbys days off we end up running errends till late, or I just loose track of time until I should have been making dinner a half hour or more ago. we just went gluten free and cane sugar/hfcs free. also trying to loose baby weight so going more protein, less carbs . do you have any suggestions of what veggies I could add to this so I could take out some of the pasta?