Italian Sausage Pasta

This Italian Sausage Pasta has the most flavorful tomato sauce with Parmesan and mozzarella cheese. It's easy to make with hot, mild, or sweet Italian sausage and your choice of pasta!

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Total Time45

Course: Main Course, Pasta

Cuisine: American, Italian

Servings: people

Calories: 652kcal

Author: Stephanie

Ingredients

1 lb. ground Italian sausage hot, mild, or sweet
½ cup dry white wine can sub chicken broth
1 small yellow onion diced
3 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic minced
2 tablespoon flour
1 (15 oz.) can undrained diced tomatoes Rotel is also good in this.
½ cup parmesan cheese grated
1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese
½ lb. cavatappi pasta can sub penne

Sauce

15 oz. tomato sauce
¾ cup beef broth
¼ cup half and half
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon hot sauce I use Frank’s hot sauce
½ beef bouillon cube see notes
¾ teaspoon EACH: dried oregano, basil, parsley, mustard powder

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pro Tip: If you prefer to use the oven to melt the mozzarella on top (in the last step), preheat oven to 350°.
Combine sauce ingredients in a large measuring cup with a spout and set aside. Measure remaining ingredients before beginning.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the sausage. Cook and crumble for 3 minutes, then add the onions. Stir occasionally until the onions are softened and the sausage is cooked through, 5-6 minutes. Drain grease and set aside on a plate. Turn the heat off.
Begin boiling a pot of water for the pasta. Add ½ tablespoon salt once a boil is reached.
Add the wine to the same skillet used to cook the sausage and set the heat to medium. Let it bubble gently and reduce by half, about 4 minutes. Use a silicone spatula to “clean” the brown bits from the pot and work it into the wine, this will give the sauce more flavor.
Add the butter, garlic, and flour and stir to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the sauce mixture (from step 2) in small splashes, stirring continuously. Do this slowly to ensure the roux doesn’t break and that the sauce remains thick.
Add the diced tomatoes along with the juice from the can. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the sausage/onions back and stir to combine.
Simmer, partially covered, while you boil the pasta to al dente, stirring occasionally as it cooks. Drain once cooked.
Reduce heat to low. Gradually sprinkle the Parmesan into the sauce, stirring continuously. Sprinkle in 1/3 of the mozzarella, saving the rest for the top.
Stir in the cooked pasta.
Top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Close the lid and allow the cheese to melt. (Or transfer to a 350° F oven for 3-5 minutes or so.) Serve!

Notes

Pro Tips

Tomato Sauce: I use Hunt’s tomato sauce in this recipe, tomato passata can also be used.
Pasta:
- Aside from cavatappi, penne, ziti, and rigatoni are also great choices.
Cheese: Shred/grate the cheese from a block to ensure it melts well and tastes the best.
- Parmesan: I use Belgioioso Parmesan.
- Mozzarella: Use whole milk, low moisture mozzarella for this recipe. I use Galbani or Dragone.
- Melting the Mozzarella: Work quickly when you stir in the cooked pasta and top with mozzarella so that the heat from the hot pasta melts the cheese. You can also melt it in a 350° oven for a few minutes.
Wine: Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, and Sauvignon Blanc are my go-to dry white wines for this recipe.
Bouillon 1/2 bouillon cube is optional, it gives the sauce more depth of flavor.
Serve this with Garlic Bread with Cheese!

Storage:

Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftovers freeze/reheat well. Thaw and microwave for easy lunches/dinners.

The nutritional information provided is an estimate and is per serving. There are 6 servings in this recipe.

Nutrition

Recipe Source: TheCozyCook.com - For pro tips, step-by-step photos, storage information, and to save it to your account, visit https://framework-keystone.live/italian-sausage-pasta/%3C/strong%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cscript%3Ewindow.wprm_recipes = {"recipe-53896":{"type":"food","name":"Italian Sausage Pasta","slug":"wprm-italian-sausage-pasta","image_url":"https:\/\/thecozycook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Italian-Sausage-Pasta-f.jpg","rating":{"count":10,"total":50,"average":5,"type":{"comment":10,"no_comment":0,"user":0},"user":0},"ingredients":[{"uid":0,"amount":"1","unit":"lb.","name":"ground Italian sausage","notes":"hot, mild, or 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