Make dinner time easy with this spicy Italian Sausage Pasta. This family-friendly pasta includes a chunky homemade sausage and tomato sauce tossed with chewy tubes of rigatoni and Parmesan cheese. It’s the ideal pasta recipe that comes together quickly on a busy weeknight.
If your regular pasta dinners are feeling a little blasé, then this is the Italian pasta recipe for you! This easy sausage rigatoni recipe is the perfect way to get a fantastic pasta meal on the table fast. Chock full of Italian goodness and flavour just like the hearty pasta dishes my Italian mother and Nonna always made.
Make Italian happen at your house soon with this irresistible homemade Italian spicy sausage and tomato sauce with rigatoni. Filled with Italian ingredients you’ll love like sausage, onions, garlic, red wine, fennel seeds, chili, tomatoes and rigatoni with Parmesan cheese garnish. It’s a delicious pasta meal that will surely wake up everyone’s taste buds!
Reasons to Love This Recipe
- Easy – This awesome sausage tomato pasta recipe is easy to make and comes together quickly for a fast weeknight dinner.
- One Skillet Meal – Convenient recipe with only one skillet, one pot and served right out of the skillet.
- Italian Ingredients – Italian sausages are naturally flavourful and the Italian tomatoes and seasonings make this a pasta meal that won’t disappoint.
- Family Favourite – An absolute favourite, everyone will love this Italian sausage pasta skillet meal that brings a taste of Italy into your home.
- Make Ahead - Sausage and tomato pasta can be made ahead and also freezes beautifully.
Ingredients & Tips for Italian Sausage Pasta
- Olive Oil – Extra virgin olive oil is recommended for the best flavour.
- Italian sausages – Use fresh Italian spicy pork sausages ideally with fennel to ensure every bite has an added kick of heat. Other choices would be chicken or turkey sausage or meatless vegetarian sausage. But of course if you don’t want it to be spicy use mild sausages.
- Onion and garlic – Use sweet onions or yellow cooking onions. Sautéing onions and garlic with the sausage meat adds another level of flavour to the sauce.
- Tomato paste – Helps thicken the sauce, adds richness and a bright red colour.
- Oregano, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper – Seasonings for the sausage tomato sauce. Fennel seeds pair beautifully with Italian sausages, but if you prefer you could skip it. Adjust the spice level by using less or more crushed red pepper to suit your family’s taste.
- Red wine – Deglazes the pan and adds richness and robustness to the sauce. Open a good bottle of Italian red, pour some in the sauce and enjoy the rest of it with dinner. If you prefer not to use wine substitute it with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.
- Canned diced tomatoes – For the most flavourful sauce use good quality imported Italian canned tomatoes, either diced, whole plum canned tomatoes or ground tomatoes for either a chunky tomato sauce or a smooth one.
- Rigatoni pasta – Rigatoni goes really well with this dish because the tubes are perfect for the sauce. But if you prefer, use any other type of thick cut pasta shape or small shells as long as it is authentic Italian pasta.
- Parmesan cheese and fresh parsley – Parmesan cheese is a must for this pasta dish. Be sure and purchase real Italian Parmesan cheese that comes grated or that you grate yourself and not the shelf stable type. For a finishing touch the parsley adds a nice freshness to the finished dish.
How to Cook Italian Sausage Pasta
To cook Italian sausage and rigatoni follow the easy steps below. Split open sausage casings and scrape out meat. The best way to cook ground Italian sausage is in a Dutch oven with hot oil until browned and crisped. Once it’s cooked add onion, garlic, oregano, fennel seed, crushed red pepper, tomato paste and wine and cook until tender. Stir in tomatoes, season and cook until reduced and thickened.
While the sauce simmers cook the rigatoni pasta and reserve some pasta water before draining it. Add rigatoni and Parmesan cheese to the sauce along with some reserved pasta water, toss to combine. Garnish the pasta with sausage with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Frequently Asked Questions
Generally there are 4 to 5 links in a pound of Italian sausage which is about 500g. This can vary depending on how long the links of each sausage are.
What makes Italian sausage different is that they come pre-seasoned with fennel and other spices which is great base for many recipes. However, depending on the butcher where you purchase your sausages from, some will have fennel and some will not. Ask about the ingredients that are used in the sausages you purchase and choose the ones you like. I like to use good quality fresh Italian pork sausages with fennel and hot spices because of the unique flavour it gives this dish.
There are many excellent authentic Italian pastas brands. When purchasing pasta, read the label to be sure it is an Italian imported pasta brand. For this spicy Italian sausage pasta recipe I used an Italian brand of rigatoni. The thick tubes are perfect for drawing in and holding the savoury sausage sauce and delicious zesty tomato sauce. You can also use any other shape of Italian pasta like bow tie, penne, small shells or rotini pasta, just be sure it’s Italian!
Al dente is the Italian phrase for “to the tooth” and refers to the firmness of cooked pasta. Pasta should have a slight bite with a small amount of resistance. When pasta is added to a sauce it continues to cook in the sauce so it’s best to cook it for less time than recommended. Use a timer when cooking pasta and follow package directions as a guide. Also be sure and save some of the starchy pasta water for the sauce – it’s the key to a successful pasta dish and helps the pasta bind to the sauce.
Make Ahead, Freezing and Storage Tips
- How to make ahead: Make the sauce up to 3 days ahead and store in the refrigerator. When needed, re-heat the sauce while you cook the pasta and toss it together as directed. Or, make the entire dish up to 2 - 3 days ahead, but undercook the pasta by 3 minutes as the texture of the pasta will soften when stored. Store in the refrigerator and re-heat when needed.
- How to freeze: This pasta dish freezes well. Make the entire dish but undercook the pasta by 3 minutes as the texture of the pasta will soften when frozen, thawed and reheated. Store it in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator overnight then heat when needed.
- How to store: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days and reheat when needed.
Variations
Do you love this sausage pasta recipe but need to adapt it to a different type of diet? Then enjoy it one of these ways.
- Vegetarian version - Use vegetarian plant-based sausages
- Gluten free version - Use gluten free sausages and gluten free pasta and/or polenta
- Dairy Free version - Eliminate the Parmesan cheese
Hungry for more Italian recipes? Try these:
Spaghetti Chicken Cacciatore
Eggplant Parmesan
Orecchiette Pasta with Sausage and Red Pepper
Pasta Fagioli Soup With Parmesan Crisps
Hidden Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce with Meat
Classic Marinara Sauce
Recipe
Italian Sausage Pasta
Italian Sausage Pasta is a family-friendly dish with rigatoni pasta coated in a chunky tomato and spicy Italian sausage sauce garnished with Parmesan cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 500 g mild or spicy Italian sausages with fennel about 1lb
- 1 large onion sliced
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds crushed in a mortar and pestle
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ½ cup red wine
- 796 ml tin diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 350 g rigatoni pasta
-
¼
cup
freshly grated parmesan cheese
plus more for garnish
Freshly chopped parsley, for garnish
Instructions
-
In a large 12” skillet or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Split open the sausage casings, scrape out the meat and add the meat to the skillet. Cook while breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until the sausage meat is browned, crisped and cooked through and the fat has rendered. Tip the pot and spoon out all but 2 tablespoons of the fat.
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Add onion, garlic, oregano, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper flakes and tomato paste and sauté until the onion is just tender, about 3 - 4 minutes. Add the wine and cook for 2 minutes while stirring to pick up any brown bits.
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Stir in tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Bring the sauce to a light boil and let bubble for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover and cook until the sauce is slightly thickened, while stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes.
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Meanwhile, bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat. Add rigatoni and cook to al dente, about for 2 minutes less than package directs. Reserve about ½ cup of the starchy pasta water. Drain rigatoni.
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Add drained rigatoni to the skillet with the sauce along with ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese. Stir to combine rigatoni and Parmesan with the sauce and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes, adding tablespoons of the starchy pasta water as necessary to loosen the pasta and to help the sauce stick.
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Spoon portions into pasta bowls and serve topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley.
Recipe Notes
1. Cook rigatoni just until al dente and save some starchy pasta water to add to the finished dish
2. If you prefer not to use wine substitute it with two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
3. For a less chunky tomato sauce use ground tomatoes
4. Use either mild or spicy Italian fennel sausage or if you prefer, chicken or turkey sausage
5. For a vegetarian version use vegetarian sausage meat
6. For a gluten free version use gluten free sausages and gluten free pasta or polenta
7. Use other types of Italian pasta shapes, such as bow tie, penne, small shells or rotini
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