Creamy Tomato Pasta with Italian Sausage

This 30-minute Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta is an easy dinner recipe perfect for busy weeknights! Chewy rigatoni pasta with Italian sausage tossed in velvety, garlicky creamy tomato sauce along with spinach. Topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.

If you want love a hearty pasta dish with sausage and creamy tomato sauce, this Italian Sausage Pasta for you!

If you love this Italian Sausage Pasta recipe, also check these out! Cherry Tomato Pasta with Chicken, Cheesy Tomato Chicken Spaghetti, and Tomato Basil Gnocchi.

Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta

Here’s why you need to make this creamy Italian sausage pasta recipe!

• Easy to make – ready under 30 minutes with minimal ingredients. In fact, you probably have most of the items in your pantry already!
• One-bowl meal – easy to eat and minimal cleanup.
• A balance meal – you have your carbs, your protein and your veggie all in one bowl!
• Great for make ahead and reheating – creamy Italian sausage pasta keeps and reheats incredibly well. It actually tastes the same the day after!
• Perfect for meal prep
• YUMMY – obviously, it is VERY delicious. If not you won’t see it on this food blog!

This Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta recipe is one of my husband’s favorite meals, and it shows up on our dinner table regularly. We have eaten this so many times and never seem to get tired of it!

Italian sausage is a bold-flavored and delicious crumble meat usually made with seasoned ground pork that has so much amazing flavors. And the best part is, it brings its beautiful flavors into our creamy tomato sauce.

Pro tip: if you want flavor and you want it quick in your dishes, using Italian sausage is a great way to go about it!

In addition to Italian sausage, the sauce in this creamy Italian sausage pasta is made with canned tomatoes and heavy cream, seasoned with Italian inspired seasonings, and tossed with some spinach to add additional texture and much needed veggies into out diet.

With spinach being kinda hidden, even picky veggies eaters will even eat it! It’s a fantastic way to sneak those veggies into their diet!

All that to say, creamy Italian sausage pasta dish is always a win in our household…and I know it will be in yours too!

Ingredients

To make Italian Sausage Pasta, here are notes for some of the key ingredients you will need:

• Pasta – use any pasta but I like using shorter pasta for this creamy Italian sausage pasta recipe. Other options include penne, ziti, rotini, macaroni etc. I find the shorter pasta holds on to more of the creamy sauce.
• Italian sausage – these usually come raw and minced, kinda like ground pork but already seasoned. They come in different flavors too, such as spicy Italian sausage. Whatever works – use your favorite!
• Spinach – fresh or frozen works! If using frozen, bring to a complete defrost and pat dry with paper towel to soak up access moisture. P/S: it’s much easier/quicker to use fresh spinach!
• Crushed tomatoes – I use canned crushed tomatoes. You can substitute with canned whole tomatoes but make sure to break them up into smaller pieces and cook them down until they are crushed.
• Sweet onions – yellow or white onions work as well
• Garlic – fresh garlic makes for the best tasting sauce. Avoid substituting with garlic powder, it just doesn’t taste the same!
• Heavy cream – sometimes called heavy whipping cream, this is a dairy product with a high fat contain, containing about 36-40% of fat. It can be substituted with milk or half and half, but tomato sauce will be less creamy.
• Dried basil – fresh basil works even better! But it’s not necessary
• Dried oregano – similarly, if you can find fresh use them, they always taste the best! But it is not necessary and much easier to use dried herbs if you want to make something quick and pantry-friendly.

How to make Italian Sausage Pasta

Let me show you how easy it is to make this delicious creamy Italian sausage pasta…ready under 30 minutes!

First up: Boil pasta in water in a pot, then use a colander to drain access water.

I like using rigatoni for this because it catches just enough the creamy sauce in its ridges. Not too much, not too little. Just the right amount.

It is a personal choice. So feel free to substitute with penne, ziti, rotini, macaroni, or any of your favorite pasta!

Next. While pasta is boiling, go ahead and start making the sauce for our creamy Italian sausage pasta on a separate skillet.

Because Italian sausage is packed with lots of herbs and spices, it brings so much great flavor to the creamy red sauce.

We will also be able cream, herbs and spices to the sauce to bring alive this thick velvety sauce.

Bonus: if you let the sauce sit for a day or more, it becomes even more flavorful as the spices from the Italian sausage permeate even more into the sauce. Yum….

One thing is for sure – there’s no lacking in the flavor department when it comes to this Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta!

Lastly. When the sauce and pasta are respectively done, combine everything!

I also like to add spinach to incorporate veggies into this meal. Makes it more well-rounded, healthy, and even if you don’t like spinach, the sauce and Italian sausage have such prominent flavors you can barely taste the spinach.

A great way to hide veggies for picky eaters.

Other veggies you can add to this: kale, shredded carrots, bell peppers etc.

And hold up, we are not done yet!

Garnish creamy Italian pasta with fresh parmesan cheese and chopped parsley. Fresh parmesan cheese brings incredible flavor to the sauce and gives it that extra hint of saltiness.

Parmesan is non-negotiable in our household, but I won’t hold you to that standard.😉 Just passionately recommend it ❤️.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to serve it

Highly recommend pairing Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta with some of my favorite side dishes such as:

• Cheesy Garlic Rolls
• Caesar Salad
• Bruschetta with Tomatoes and Fresh Basil
• Garlic Sautéed Spinach
• Strawberry Bacon Spinach Salad

Every now and then we even fancy it up by pouring a glass of wine, make a cheese platter as the antipasto, as the Italians would call it, and turn this into fun romantic date night at home.

Creamy Italian sausage pasta is a lovely pasta dish that we have enjoyed thoroughly. And have eaten way more often than we probably should. 😉

This is one for the indulgence, my friends! Enjoy!

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More Pasta Recipes

• The Best Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
• Classic Lasagna with Béchamel Sauce
• Creamy Lemon Chicken Pasta
• Caesar Pasta Salad
• Lemon Garlic Parmesan Pasta
• Bruschetta Pasta Salad
• Cheesy Tomato Chicken Spaghetti
• Creamy Boursin Pasta (by my friend Alicia from The Dizzy Cook!)