One Pot Italian Pasta with Sausage & Spinach
When you’re pressed for time, but still want to eat healthy from scratch, this one pot Italian pasta and smoked sausage easy recipe is a perfect solution. Everything is cooked in one pot, the vegetables, the sausage – even the pasta! See more Quick Healthy Recipes.
Busy weeknights account for most of our cooking time, and I’m guessing I’m not alone in this, right? The leisurely cooking-show ideal rarely happens in our house (though wouldn’t it be nice to have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go by someone else?).
But I’m a firm believer that healthy, scratch cooking can be easy, quick, and delicious (check out our recipe index to see what I mean). And precooked smoked sausage is a great starting point for quick meals like this yummy one pot Italian pasta dinner. It’s mostly vegetables and meat with just a half pound of pasta so you can feel good about this being a true one-dish meal.
One Pot Italian Pasta with Sausage & Spinach
You know those pasta recipes that are mostly pasta? Yeah, that’s not happening here. I’ve filled this recipe with more vegetables, sauce, and smoked sausage than pasta – which is just the way I like it! It ups the flavor big time, as well as the nutrition.
You’re basically adding an entire salad to the pot, making it truly a one dish dinner. Though of course add a salad to the meal if you’d like – more vegetables is always a good thing.
This simple recipe starts with a precooked sausage and pasta that are cooked in one pot with tomatoes, tomato sauce, onions, other vegetables of your choice like mushrooms, red peppers, and olives, as well as garlic, and seasonings.
In the last minutes of cooking, you’ll add a bit of cream (you’ll be amazed how just a small amount makes the sauce almost decadent – but it is optional) and lots of fresh spinach.
I picked up most of these ingredients at the store, minus my home-canned tomato sauce and pantry ingredients like oil and seasonings, for just under $10 which easily feeds four with leftovers for lunches. (You won’t need two sausage packages for this recipe, like in the picture but I bought an extra one for the freezer for other busy nights.)
You can simply slice the smoked sausage, but I like to cut the links in half and then slice so there’s more to go around.
After a quick sauté of the onions, garlic, peppers and sausages, you add most of the other ingredients – including the uncooked pasta – and stir it all together before letting it cook.
That’s another nice thing with this recipe – you don’t have to be standing at the stove the whole time, so you can make a salad if you want, or set the table- or just relax!
When the pasta is tender, stir in the cream and spinach. Adding the spinach in the last minutes helps keep it green and fresh looking.
Top it with a bit of parmesan and you have a smoked sausage simple recipe that you can feel great about serving to your family.
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One Pot Italian Pasta with Sausage & Spinach
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 large clove garlic minced
- 1 pound smoked sausage* sliced
- 1 cup sliced mushroom and/or chopped red pepper optional
- 3 cups season tomato/pasta sauce homemade or a 26 oz. jar
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cups water
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes or more to taste, optional
- 1/2 cup sliced olives optional
- 1/2 pound small-shaped pasta farfalle, penne, rotini, etc.
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 4 cup spinach chopped
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a large 4-6 qt. pot over medium-high heat and then saute the onions, garlic, sausage, and any other vegetables until soft, about 2 minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, water, seasonings, and olives if using. Increase heat to high, bring to a boil, lower heat to medium-low (or needed to maintain a low boil) and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.
- Add pasta, stir well to make sure pasta is covered with sauce and cook, covered, another 10 minutes until pasta is tender (al dente). You may need to adjust heat up to maintain a low boil for the pasta.
- Uncover pot and stir in cream and spinach. Cook another 2-3 minutes until heated through.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Looking for other quick & healthy dinners?
Greek Salmon and Vegetable Frittata with Creamy Feta Sauce
Spiced Lemon Skillet Chicken with Kale & Beans
Roasted Sausages with Peppers and Onions {Sheet Pan Supper}
I tried out this recipe today with Andrew and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing, Jami! Looking forward to trying out more recipes 🙂
Yeah!! So awesome to hear you enjoyed it, Hanalei. 🙂
Yum! I made a bigger batch and measured nothing, and it was delicious. Thanks for posting. (And, you’re right–sausage was super cheap last week at Fred Meyers, which is Portland’s Kroger-owned store. Yay!)
Perfect, Corrie – I’m glad you enjoyed it!!