Easy Italian Sausage Pasta

Simple but with big flavor

This Italian sausage pasta surprises me with its big flavor considering how simple it is. There’s no creamy or heavy sauce – just lots of juicy, colorful Mediterranean-style vegetables, and plenty of olive oil and parmesan cheese. I see it as both comforting and light – making it the perfect between-seasons (or anytime-of-year) midweek dinner.

I like to use a nice quality Italian pork sausage from our local butcher for this pasta. You can either go with a mild sausage or a spicier one, and either just slice it or squeeze it out of the skins into the pan.

I like to use mushrooms, juicy tomatoes (essential!), jarred artichokes, snow peas or sugar snap peas, and spinach for a range of color, flavors and textures. It’s so easy to tweak the veggie choices, however, depending on what you like or what season it is!

Last but not least, the leftovers make really good lunch leftovers, enjoyed either hot or cold!

About the ingredients

You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.

• Italian sausage: You can use sweet or hot. I like pork sausage for the very savory flavor. Local butchers are a great place to find good quality sausages – you’ll only need 2 to 3. You can either slice them into small rounds, or squeeze the meat out and break it up in the pan. Bought a big pack of sausages? Try this sausage and fennel pasta as well!
• Mushrooms: I usually use simple white mushrooms, but you can use any kind. Ready-sliced are great for convenience.
• Garlic: 3 cloves for plenty of garlic-y flavor.
• Snap peas (or similar snow peas): I like to add these for green color and subtle crunch. If they’re out of season or otherwise unavailable where you live, just replace with another green vegetable such as frozen green beans, small broccoli florets, or even frozen baby peas.
• Marinated artichokes: I usually buy these from the supermarket in a jar with oil and herbs. They might be available fresh from a deli counter, too. Drain and chop them into bite-sized pieces if necessary.
• Cherry tomatoes: Or other small tomatoes. I’ve even used chopped regular tomatoes before. Just don’t skip them. The juice they release in the pan contributes to the light pasta ‘sauce’.
• Mixed Italian herbs: Any will work, but I usually go for a blend containing basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley and thyme.
• White wine: This adds a surprising amount of flavor to this simple pasta – also brightness and a little sweetness. You can however easily skip it if you prefer. You can add a squeeze or two of lemon juice instead, if you like.
• Pasta: I like to use casarecce pasta (see photos!) for this dish, but you can use any pasta you have or like. Fusilli (spirals), conchiglie (shells), or penne (tubes) would work particularly well.
• Parmesan cheese: Another ‘don’t skip’ ingredient! I like to stir a generous amount into the pasta and vegetables, then sprinkle even more over to serve.
• Spinach: This is one of the final ingredients I add, since it wilts really easily when stirred through the hot dish. I use ready-washed baby spinach for convenience.
• Olive oil: I use this to cook the vegetables – a generous amount since it contributes to the flavor. Also, when combined with pasta cooking water, it creates a simple, glossy sauce that clings to the pasta. I also sometimes drizzle a little more over each dish at the end.

How to make Italian sausage pasta

This pasta with Italian sausage is an ‘almost’ one-pan dinner. Everything is cooked in the one pan (in stages), apart from the pasta. The pasta is added straight from the water into the pan with everything else – no need to drain it first.

Note: Cook the pasta in a big pan of water while you’re cooking everything else.

Firstly, cook the sausage. There are two ways to do this. Either slice the sausages and pan-fry, or squeeze the sausage meat out of the skins and break it up in the pan (like ground meat).

Once cooked, take it out of the pan while you cook the vegetables.

Next, cook the mushrooms in a generous amount of olive oil for a minute or two. Scrape the mushrooms to the side, and stir-fry the snow/snap peas until lightly cooked.

Stir the garlic into the mushrooms and snow/snap peas. Then add the rest of the vegetables to the pan, apart from the spinach.

Stir in the cooked sausage, then wilt the spinach into the pan, too. Pour in the wine (if using) and let it sizzle for a few seconds.

Now spoon the pasta straight from the cooking water into the pan. Sprinkle the parmesan over the pasta and stir well.

Sprinkle over more parmesan to serve.