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
Video
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.
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!
This one goes in the family favorite recipe book. They loved it! And my troops are very top line eaters.
First time trying to cook penne in sauce. Sure is taking far more than the 15 minutes. Had I known I would have more boiled the noodles prior to making. Here’s hoping added tomato sauce and water he!ps cook the pasta.
Hi Kathryn. The 2 cups of broth and the liquid from the can of diced tomatoes is plenty to cook the amount of pasta called for in this recipe. I would not recommend adding tomato sauce or water for the best result. If your pasta is not tender after 15 minutes and there is still liquid left, just let it cook a bit longer. If the liquid has all been absorbed, it would be okay to add a little additional broth.
This recipe is wonderful!!! I used deer sausage that was in my freezer for over a year, the sausage had a slight flavor of pineapple. It was great way for me to use the sausage up!! Thanks for this recipe!!!!
My mother just made this, and it’s SO GOOD! Genuinely cannot recommend this recipe enough 🙂
My husband loved this! Will definitely make again
Fantastic! Thanks, Carrie. 🙂
This was so good! I don’t usually have whipping cream but I did, so I used that and I added spinach at the end. I had 10 ounces of chicken sausage so I supplemented that with leftover rotisserie chicken from the freezer. Loved that it was a one pan recipe and it came together pretty quickly on a busy week night.
This recipe is really delicious and superb and easy
Thanks for sharing and caring your recipes
Are Always awesome your time make pasta
Perfect savory dish
👍👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️😎
Needed a quick idea for dinner. I didn’t expect my husband and son to love it so much! Raved more over this dinner than most I labor hours over. Thank you for sharing.
Can I freeze this if I make it ahead of time? I have made this for selveral years. Love it just wanted to know ificould freeze for hunting? I try to make selveral casseroles before season to help out after the hunt!!
Typically cream sauces aren’t the best candidates for freezing but there isn’t a big amount of cream in this recipe so I think it would freeze well. If you wanted to be certain it would be perfect you could stop short of adding the cream and instead, add the cream and finish it with the cheese when you thaw and warm the pasta. Hope it works great for you!