Frankfurter Pasta

This Frankfurter Pasta (also known as Hot Dog Pasta or Sausage Pasta) is a one-pot wonder that whips up in just 30 minutes!  The creamy, flavorful sauce will have your family begging for seconds. It's the perfect weeknight meal that's quick, easy, and guaranteed to be a crowd-pleaser.

Reasons To Love Love This Hot Dog Pasta Recipe

• Incredible Flavors: Creamy pasta with a base of rich tomato paste and pizza sauce, bursting with herbs, spices, and seasonings that elevate the taste to a whole new level.

• One-Pot Wonder: Ditch the extra large pot! This recipe combines everything in a single large skillet – pasta, sauce, and all – for a hassle-free cleanup. Just make sure your skillet is big enough to comfortably hold both the pasta and the sauce.

• Pasta Flexibility: Feel free to use any type of pasta you like! I've included some suggestions below, but any shape will work perfectly.

• Sausage Versatility: This recipe is all about options! You can use frankfurters, Vienna sausages, hot dog sausages – they all work just as well.

• Convenient: Here's the beauty of this recipe: Besides frying the onion, most ingredients can be added almost simultaneously, perfect for busy weeknight. The only reason we add the water in two parts is for easier control. This way, you can ensure the pasta cooks perfectly al dente without ending up with a watery sauce.

Hot Dog Pasta Recipe Ingredient List

Here are the few key everyday ingredients you will need. 

• Dried Pasta:  I used Creste di Gallo pasta because I especially love the ruffles on the edge and the way it holds the sauce and the frankfurter. However, any pasta works. Some others that I use when making this recipe are orecchiette, macaroni, short pasta or any small type penne pasta. Mini penne shapes too. 

• Olive oil:  Enough to cover the base of the pan, add olive oil for flavor. We use this one.

• Onion:  Regular diced yellow onion. I use my mini food processor to dice the onion. There are many gadgets on the market for dicing onions, at affordable prices and sometimes it's the only way to go 🙂

• Seasoning and spice:  To taste!  

• Garlic:  Roughly 2 to 3 fresh garlic cloves, minced.

• Frankfurter:  Bockwurst and hot dogs, you can use any.

• Pizza Sauce: Thick pizza sauce is a wonderful change from canned tomatoes with a quicker cooking time! You can use any pizza sauce, but if it is store-bought, good quality counts.

• Tomato Paste:  Tomato paste and together with the pizza sauce, is the beginning of a real good food. 

• Peas: Frozen peas simply because we love peas with pasta on and any day.

• Cream:  Cooking cream helps cut any acidity in the tomato and it's delicious!

• Parmesan Cheese:  Freshly grated. The reason I add it into the dish while cooking is to help thicken it quicker without having to use any slurry. It also makes a cheesy pasta!

How To Make This Creamy Sausage Pasta. 

Find the full recipe in the recipe card below. 

Step 1 - Cook The Flavor Base

On medium heat, use a large skillet to heat the oil and cook the onions until soft and cooked through, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and paprika spice and mix it into the onions.

Next we add the minced garlic, tomato paste, pizza sauce and mix everything together. Simmer on medium-high heat. While the sauce simmers gently, add vegetable spice or Italian seasoning, stir/mix. 

Step 2 - Add The Key Ingredients

Add the sliced frankfurters, a drizzle of olive oil over, add the uncooked pasta and use a wooden spoon to make sure that everything is properly combined. 

Step 3 - Add Liquid & Simmer

As the pasta cooks, add the first part of the hot water and as you add, stop and mix. Here's what to remember:  The water is hot either from a pot of boiling water or a kettle of boiled water, either way, hot water helps not drop the heat level in the middle of cooking. Leave it to cook uncovered, the water will evaporte and you will add the remaining hot water in parts so that it doesnt overflow. 

The 2nd image is what it looks like after 10 minutes of adding the first part of water, so pasta absorbs water and quickly! If you think it's too much water, it's not. See the image below this post to see what it looks like after cooking. The focus is to not overcook the pasta.

Adjust the heat to medium high heat which is a confident simmer with bubbles but not fast bubbling splattering everywhere, no. Not too low because you don't want to overcook the pasta, but also not water spilling out the pot! Confident medium high simmering bubbles is what we want. 

Step 5 - Add The Peas

With pasta water evidently much less, but still there, add the peas. Mix and test one of the pastas by pressing it against the insde of the pot with a spoon and half it. If it halves easily dont add water, it's close to being al dente. If it's still hard, add half cup of hot water. Remember that adding the water slowly helps us determine how much we need or don't. Taste for salt and add if needed, not too much, we have cheese comings with it's own salt levels. 

Step 6 - Creamy Parmesan Cheese

Add cream and gently fold mix it into the sauce. Add freshly grated parmesan cheese and gently fold it into the sauce. Leave to cook a few more minutes and then remove from the heat.

Step 7 - Serve And Enjoy!

Serve this frankfurter pasta warm and enjoy, it doesnt need anything else! Pasta cooked to perfection and oh so delicious!

Tips and Variations

Here are some suggestions to keep in mind when you are making the best sausage pasta recipe. You will love how simple this recipe is and adding everything to the same pot with very little clean up. 

• Meat Types:  Feel free to use other sausage types like beef, pork, chorizo or even spicy Italian sausage, just remember that you would sear them first which will change the cooking time. We love adding homemade fennel sausage (uses fennel seeds), but that too, is seared first for added flavor. 

• Vegetables:  This recipe is great with baby spinach which you can add after the cream because it cooks so quick. Bell peppers are my favorite veg for pasta or steak type recipes. 

• Tomato sauce:  If you really don't want to use pizza sauce and tomato paste, then you can go with a marinara sauce, store bought or homemade, you will get a different taste, but it's still a creamy tomato sauce. And red pepper flakes for a little pop of heat. 

• Water:  Use hot water, as in kettle boiled water or pot boiled water and it's best to use it just as it boils. This helps keep the temperature of our cooking the same without dropping it below zero in the middle of cooking with cold water. Do not add all the water at once. You don't know how much you will need. 

• Stir and Mix:  Although this is a one-pot recipe it's not a dump and leave recipe. You need to check on it intermittently to mix it making sure it's not burning underneath (hence the non-stick pan). 

• Protein:  This recipe is just as delicious with chicken, but to keep it quick and easy, I add rotisserie chicken. You can air fry it for a crispier finish before adding. 

Storing Sausage Pasta (Leftovers)

I recommend serving this warm and enjoying, but you can store any leftovers for lunch or dinner the next time you wish for it.  Let it cool down completely before using an airtight container to store it in the fridge. It will last a good 3 to 4 days in the fridge and any longer, consider freezing it. 

For another restaurant quality pasta dish, try this creamy bacon pasta or this Penne Arrabbiata (Spicy Pasta)

More Delicious Pasta Recipes To Love!

Need more Italian recipes that are quick, easy and delicious? We definitely have something incredibly tasty for that you can make for dinner tonight or any other night! Here are some favorite options that we certainly make on repeat! 

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