Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta is a family favorite Italian pasta recipe! This easy pasta dish is full of savory sausage and a delicious, creamy, parmesan sauce and ready in 20 minutes!
With back to school in full force and busy nights ahead of us, I am finding myself reaching for new quick and easy dinner inspiration. I happen to love Italian sausage because it's so flavorful and delicious, I can use it to make a simple meal that is flavor packed in no time. There's nothing better than having a restaurant quality pasta dish on the table in 20 minutes! Plus, everyone in my house loves a good creamy pasta dish any night of the week!
How to Make Italian Sausage Pasta:
- For this Italian Sausage Pasta, you will start by cooking your penne pasta in a large pot of salted, boiling water according to package directions.
- As soon as you add your pasta to the boiling water, you will heat some olive oil in a large skillet. Then, add in your Italian sausage, minced onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Once your sausage is cooked through, you can drain any excess grease from the pan if necessary. Then, return the meat mixture to the skillet.
- Then, you will turn your heat down to low. Add the cream to the pan and bring to a simmer, and put all of the spinach in the pan. It will take about 3-5 minutes for the spinach to wilt.
- Next, drain your pasta. Add your shredded parmesan (fresh is best!) and pasta and give everything a good stir to coat.
You guys have spoken and seem to be loving these easy 20-30 minute weeknight meals as much as we do! I'm happy to say this Italian sausage pasta is one of my personal faves! If you're looking for more simple dinners, don't miss my Creamy Parmesan One Pot Chicken and Rice or my One Pot Homemade Hamburger Helper!
Enjoy!
~Nichole
Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 Pound Ground Italian Sausage
- 1 Pound Penne Pasta
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- ½ Yellow Onion Minced
- 2 Cloves Garlic Minced
- ½ Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Cups Heavy Cream
- 5 Ounces Baby Spinach
- 1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
- Cook the penne pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water according to package directions.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
- Cook the Italian sausage along with the onion, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt until the sausage is no longer pink.
- Drain excess fat from the skillet if necessary and return the meat mixture to the pan.
- Turn the heat to low and add the cream to the skillet. Bring to a simmer and add in the spinach.
- Cook, stirring for about 3 minutes until the spinach is wilted.
- Stir in the parmesan cheese until melted. Stir the pasta into the sauce.
- Serve immediately.
I make this once a week now! So easy, so good!
This was easy and delicious. I added red pepper for an extra boost of vitamin a and c, but otherwise prepared it as written.
This is hands down one of my favorite recipes! My kids love peas so we add peas to it instead of the spinach and it’s perfect every time.
Can I use grated Parmesan cheese? I ran out of the shredded and I didn’t realize it!
Absolutely love and have forwarded to some friends and family! This is my #1 in rotation right now.
I've made this several times; it is now one of my favorite recipes. I've even taken to making extra so that I have some for lunch the next day; there are rarely any leftovers if I don't 🙂 I didn't have spinach the first time I made it so I used sautéed zucchini & yellow squash. I've continued to use that because I almost always have it on hand and would have to remember to buy spinach lol
I am glad that you suggested zucchini because I have quite a bit of that and zero spinach today.
Happy to help 😀
Excellent! I made this when we didn't have ingredients for our scheduled dinner. I think this would be really good with peas or asparagus or even red peppers as well. My family enjoyed it very much and asked for this to be put into regular rotation. Thanks!
I've made this recipe twice in the past two weeks, it was so good. The second time, I reduced the pasta to three cups of dry penne because it was overflowing my biggest pan. I also added a 14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes for added nutritional benefit to the meat once I had drained off the melted fat. Either way, it was once of the best Italian dinners I have ever had.
Delicious! We’ll be making this again, I added can of diced tomatoes and used bow tie pasta. otherwise followed the recipe as is. Came together quickly with enough leftover for both my and hubby’’s lunch! Yum
I needed an easy recipe dinner tonight with ground sausage. This recipe was a nice and easy quick dinner for my family of 6. I didn't have spinach on hand so I added babu Bella mushrooms instead. Came out perfect. I just needed to add a little less pasta. The pound of pasta was a bit too much. Very tasty though.
Made this for dinner last night. Followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. Very flavorful and filling. My husband loved it so will be added to my rotation.
So good!!! And so easy!! A real keeper!
So Delish and love it that the ingredients are so easy to find. My family loves and its. This recipes is surely to keep.
Fantastic!
This was such an easy and tasty recipe! Will definitely make this again. Has a grown up mac n cheesy vibe. Yum! Thank you!
I made this dish this evening and it was wonderful! I used Gianelli
hot Italian Sausage and I added just a touch more cheese. I didn't have spinach, so i used Broccoli, which I steabefore adding to the dish period A huge hit! Thank you!
I have made this a couple times now. It is easy and consistently awesome. Wonderfully creamy and cheesy with just a hint of spice.. It is creamy but not overly heqvy.