Smoked sausage in a light tomato cream sauce with perfectly cooked penne pasta. This flavorful Skillet Sausage Pasta is an easy one-pot meal that is ready from start to finish in 30 minutes.
This Skillet Sausage Pasta was the very first one-pot pasta recipe I ever cooked . . . and, cooked, and cooked! It is so fast and easy and my family loves it so much that I’ve made it more times than I can count. Just throw uncooked dry pasta in a pot with other ingredients and it cooks up perfectly al dente and you have just one skillet to clean. These recipes are truly a revelation.
This one-pot method was inspired by a recipe I found over at Kevin and Amanda’s ages ago. It includes easy to stock ingredients which makes it one of those last minute, throw it together, busy weeknight meals that I can’t get enough of.
Ingredient Notes
- Olive oil
- Sausage – Fully cooked smoked sausage (regular, chicken, or turkey) in your flavor of choice. I usually use a chicken sausage like Aidell’s Bacon, Mushroom, & Swiss Cheese Smoked Chicken Sausage to save on fat and calories.
- Onion – Diced yellow onion.
- Garlic
- Low-sodium chicken broth
- Canned diced tomatoes – An undrained can of regular or fire roasted diced tomatoes.
- Penne – I like this recipe best with penne but you could substitute another short pasta like farfalle, fusilli, campanelle, or ziti.
- Crushed red pepper – The amount called for adds a nice kick and a touch of heat. If I was feeding little ones, I’d cut the amount in half or leave it out altogether.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Cream – Either half and half or heavy cream will do the trick.
- Monterey Jack cheese
- Green onions
How to Make Skillet Sausage Pasta
- Add olive oil to a deep skillet and cook the sausage and onions over medium heat until lightly browned, about 4 or 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
- Add the broth, undrained tomatoes, uncooked pasta, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until the pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in half and half or heavy cream and simmer for another minute or two until warmed through. Remove skillet from heat, add cheese and stir until melted. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.
Serving Suggestions
While the pasta is simmering, quickly cook a vegetable side or throw together a salad and you have a family pleasing dinner on the table in about 30 minutes. Here are some of my favorite sides to go with this meal.
- Pesto Green Beans
- A simple garden salad with Homemade Italian Dressing
- Balsamic Grilled Zucchini
- Butter Lettuce Salad with Grapes and Gorgonzola
More Easy One Pot Pasta Recipes
- Skillet Lasagna
- Chicken Parmesan Pasta
- Philly Cheesesteak Pasta
- Chicken and Spinach Skillet Pasta
- Meaty Tortellini Skillet
Skillet Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound fully cooked smoked sausage in your flavor of choice
- 1 cup diced onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces dry, uncooked penne pasta , (approximately 2½ cups)
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper, each
- ½ cup half and half or heavy cream
- 1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
- ⅓ cup thinly sliced green onions
Instructions
- Add olive oil to a deep skillet and place over MEDIUM-HIGH heat. Add the sausage and onions and cook until lightly browned, about 4 or 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two until fragrant.
- Add the broth, tomatoes, pasta, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, cover the skillet, and reduce heat to MEDIUM-LOW. Simmer until the pasta is tender, about 15 minutes.
- Stir in the half and half or heavy cream and simmer for another minute or two until warmed through.
- Remove the skillet from the heat, add the cheese and stir until melted. Sprinkle with the green onions and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, and is an estimate not a guarantee. For more accurate results, please refer to the labels on your ingredients at home.
Adapted from Kevin and Amanda
This post was originally published on August 26, 2013. It has been updated with new text and images.
Pastalicious!
Made this for dinner last night and everyone loved it!!! Delicious and SOOOOOO easy and quick!!!
I had no red pepper flakes so I added a can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, the perfect amount of heat.
I also shredded some Asiago cheese and added it because I love it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.
Hi,
Do you have any suggestions for substituting the pepper flakes? I have a very sensitive palate and cannot eat anything remotely spicy. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Kristy. Just leave them out altogether. It will still be delish!
This was EXCELLENT! I followed the exact directions and it came out so good. This will definitely be a staple and the best part, besides the yummy dish… clean up was a breeze, one pot!
Recipe is delicious! But would also like to point out that the built-in calculator works great on all ingredients EXCEPT the tomatoes. When you change it to 6-servings it increases from 1 (14.5-oz) can to 1.5 (21.75-oz) can and with 8-servings it changes to 2 (29-oz) cans. It’s doubling not only the quantity but also the size of can.
Again this recipe is delicious and will be one I make regularly. Thank you for a great recipe!!
One of my go to recipes, love it!
I used roasted red pepper & Asiago smoked chicken sausage, whole wheat penne and fat free half and half, and my family loved it, even the super picky 9 year old. This will definitely go into the favorites, thank you! Maybe next time I’ll sneak in some spinach. 😉
Amazing recipe !!! Loved it !!
recipe looks great, and I’m going to try it, but having a dog picture in the middle of food is utterly un-appetizing! skip the mutt-mug next time.
Forgot my stars……FIVE of them.
We loved this…….one to be saved! Thank you.
This really was so easy and so good!! I had low expectations because the ingredients list is so small and easy but wow!! This is on our favorites list now. I added zucchini and spinach and used mozzarella because that’s what I had. I skipped the crushed red pepper but added Tonys on my plate it was fabulous. The best thing is usually we have all of the ingredients in the pantry. Make it you will be so glad you did.
I love the addition of the veggies. So glad you loved it, Stephanie!
Made it w/o spring onions because I did not have them but it still was very good. The beauty of this receipe is that most of the ingredients came right out of the pantry. In fact, I had the sausage in the freezer. If I had fresh jalopena I would have sliced that up and included that but all was good.