Sausage Pasta Recipe

What to make with sausage for dinner? Add tomatoes and pasta to make this sausage pasta recipe that's super quick and comes together in 20 to 30 minutes! This recipe starts off browning the sausage, aromatics, red wine or other liquid choice to deglaze and a low simmer for a rich sauce. Pull it all together with Parmesan cheese and serve!

This tomato based pasta with sausage is one of our favorite pasta dishes that doesn't compromise on flavor and that everyone loves!

Browning the sausage is a very important step to building flavor so don't skip it. The rest of the ingredients all follow into the same pan. The pasta is cooked and also tossed into the sauce.

At the end of the sauce and sausage cooking, I always add a sprinkle of dried oregano as the heat melts down and the stove is off.

The best sausage for this dish is a rich Italian sausage, pork or beef sausage, chicken, turkey or the best that money can buy!

Here's Why We Love This Recipe!

• Incredible Flavors:  Sometimes, words do not give justice the taste of food because it's almost like I need you to make it and taste it for yourself to understand the phenominal flavors. With these 10 key ingredients, that pull on every morsel of flavor, in under 30 miniutes, is an example of Italian cusine at it's absolute best!

• Easy & Quick- There is no fussing around in this sausage and pasta with tomatoes. It's good food, made effortlessy. 

• Versatile & Family Friendly - You can use any pasta, from fusilli and spaghetti to penne pasta. The sauce does all the work for you as it simmers away on a medium-high heat.  You can add tomato puree (passata) to give more depth to the canned tomatoes.  Change up the sausage types from local beef and pork to hot italian sausage. 

• This Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe is one that you can definitely add to your great recipes, it ticks all the boxes and will undoubetedly be a big hit!  

An Italian Feast - A Simple Meal - With Extraordinary Flavors - Pasta And Sausage

A few ingredients with flavors that are synonomous to Italian cuisine like olive oil, tomato paste, fresh basil, tomato sauce, parmesan cheese,and pasta water are all included in this recipe.

We often make this sausage and pasta sauce recipe with either mild Italian sausage (just add a sprinkle of calabrese or red pepper flakes for heat) or we find spicy sausage but it's a firm favorite!

Some of our favorite Italian recipes are Pasta cream and tomato (Zio Michele), Tuna Spaghetti Anchovy and Vegetable Lasagna. There are too many to list here, like Creamy Bacon Pasta!

Pasta Sausage - Quick Family Recipes

We start by browning the sausage, in goes the aromatics and then the tomatoes. Put your pasta water on to boil and done! Enjoy!

What's missing in the image below? Salt, pepper, red wine, pasta and cheese. We'll update this image as soon as we can. Meanwhile, enjoy 🙂

Ingredients You Will Need 

Pasta - Any type of pasta that you have in the pantry. Here we are using fusilli but often make it with spaghetti or Mezzi Rigatoni which the smaller, shorter version of the classic tube shaped rigatoni. 

Sausage - You can use any quality sausage with Italian sausage being your first choice if you can find it. The spicy Italian sausage also has a slightly sweet element to it and it's full of flavor. In this recipe I went with Wagyu free range beef.

Aromatics:  Olive oil, Onion, garlic cloves, Italian seasoning, calabrese (or crushed red chili flakes) salt, pepper and tomato paste. I finish with dried oregano for this recipe.

Tomato Sauce:  Canned crushed tomatoes or passata both work. It goes without saying that this tomato-based recipe requires the best quality tomatoes that you can find.

Red wine:  In this recipe I use red wine to deglaze but you can use water, chicken broth, or white wine!

Parmesan cheese - I use only a little grated parmesan to serve but sometimes also add into the pasta dish and mix.

To finish, sprinkle freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh black pepper. 

Looking for a pork sausage pasta dish? Make my Easy Lasagna Rigatoni Pasta

How To Make Pasta With Sausage And Tomatoes

Trust me when I tell you that dish is so rewarding with great flavor all in 30 minutes or less!

Boil the pasta water - Bring a large pot of water, to a boil. Once boiling, add salt and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions, al dente pasta. Reserve 1 to 2 cups of the pasta water before draining!

Cook the sausage -  First, on a board, cut the sausage into bite sized pieces. Then, in a large skillet, Dutch oven or any other non-stick pan, on medium heat add the oil, wait for it to heat and brown the sausage pieces.

Aromatics And Sausage Sauce -  Add the chopped onion and cook until it's soft and shimmering. Add the garlic, Italian seasoning and tomato paste. Mix it in and stir. (We add a a half a teaspoon of fennel, but that's completely optional and not in the recipe card below).

Side Note: If you want to use fennel, crush it in a mortar and pestle, or use a rollling pin or use a skillet to crush.

Deglaze With Wine -  By now you probably need to deglaze the browned bits at the bottom of the pan, so use a wooden spoon to scrape the bits. This is when I add the red wine. If not using wine, use some of the pasta water. Feel free to deglaze with white wine too!

Tomato Sauce Profile -  Notice that we added the tomato paste earlier with the aromatics? 

Why? Because that's the beginning of your flavor base and tomato paste is concentrated and instead of it getting lost in the canned tomatoes and liquid, we are using it to it's maximum flavor potential.  

With the aromatics! Now, add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and a little more herb seasoning. 

Simmer -   Let the sausage, wine and tomato sauce all simmer for 10 minutes. Add a dash of reserved pasta water or top up with a quarter cup of red wine, sprinkle dried oregano on the sauce and leave it to simmer. If it needs 5 more minutes to thicken, let it.

Add The Pasta - Add the pasta, remaining pasta water and combine the pasta into the sauce. The pasta was cooked al dente so we don't want to add it during the simmer, we want the sauce to simmer first on it's own and then we add the cooked pasta. Folding it in and giving it time to meld into the sauce makes a huge difference as opposed to piling it on the pasta!

Serve -  Garnish with fresh parsley and add parmesan cheese. 

​Want to add vegetables to this recipe? Fresh spinach and bell peppers are always a good idea and will go in before the pasta to simply wilt with the sauce.

Leftovers

Yes, we all love freshly made pasta but who is with me for those next day pasta leftovers? Because this recipe is fantastic reheated.

How Long Can Cooked Pasta Stay In The Fridge?

If you Google this, you'll probably see 3 to 4 days, but the quality is not the greatest after this time period. If there's any leftovers of any pasta recipe, the next day, is splendid and after that, not so much. We honestly do not like freezing pasta so weigh your pasta and use the recommended amounts.

How Much Pasta Per Person?

Below is the approxiamate pasta weights and as you can see, the 80 grams is the only obvious difference. The difference between the 100g and the 125g is not much until the pasta is cooked! Pasta almost doubles in size once it's cooked plus consider the meat and sauce filling.

More One Pot Meals

• One Pot Meatballs In Tomato Sauce
• Pasta Tuna and Lemon (Pasta con Tonno e Limone)
• Salmon And Rice
• Pan-Fried Yellowtail Recipe

Serving Suggestions

Garlic bread is always wonderful as a side dish when serving this 30 minute pasta and sausage recipe! Other sides that go well with pasta bakes are tomato cucumber salad, Raw Carrot Salad, Roasted Vegetables, Brussel Sprouts and this Italian Antipasti is a fabulous nibble on the table!

Storing Tips - Pasta Sausage Tomato

And this is where I started with this recipe, talking about the leftovers because they are just so good! Store this sausage and pasta for up to 3-4 days in a sealed Airtight container. (Again, preferably just one day and then freeze if you must or weigh before cooking!). 

For freezing pasta and sausage, let it first cool down completely and then store in a freezer container. Remember to take it out the night before when you want to use so it can thaw. Reheat it in the microwave or the stove-top with a tiny splash of water. 

Weeknight Family Friendly Pasta Recipes

• Pasta Tuna and Lemon (Pasta con Tonno e Limone)
• Salmon Pasta Recipe Without Cream
• Creamy Bacon Pasta
• Mushroom Pasta
• Chicken Pasta Bake

Star Rating

If you do make this recipe, do leave me a comment with five star rating below in the recipe card! If you take photo's do tag @anosmickitchen so that we can see your fantastic creations!

Hope that you enjoyed this recipe!  Till next time, happy cooking! ​