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30-Minute Spicy Italian Sausage and Peppers Pasta
This Spicy Italian Sausage and Peppers Pasta recipe is one of my personal all-time favorite PWWB recipes. With a goal of recreating the rich, simmered-all-day-long flavor of one of my favorite pasta dishes here in the Twin Cities (the Rigatoni con Salsicce a la Broder's Pasta Bar!), I've tweaked & perfected this recipe over the years, ensuring it boasts amazing rich flavor but it's quick & easy enough to make any night of the week. The secret? Using a smart line-up of ingredients. Rich & flavorful spicy Italian sausage infuses the sauce with luscious texture & aromatic flavor, while a few flavor-forward additions like tomato paste & dry white wine help to build a tremendous amount of flavor in a short amount of time. Feel free to toss the sauce into whatever pasta you love. Pictured is rigatoni (a nod to the restaurant dish this recipe is inspired by!), but fusilli, linguine, & bucatini are all great options too. Be sure to let the sauce & pasta simmer together for a couple of minutes before serving – it's the secret to serving a restaurant-worthy pasta at home. ♡ Buon appetito!
Prep
10 min
Cook
20 min
Total
30 min
Serves
4
Instructions
- 01
Generously season a large pot of water and bring to a boil. Add the rigatoni and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is 2-3 minutes under al dente (“al dente” cooking time is typically included in package directions). Drain the pasta – do not rinse! – and set aside. (Learn more ⇢ How to Cook Pasta Perfectly Every Single Time!)
- 02
Add the olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the sausage, bell pepper, and onion, seasoning with 1 teaspoon kosher salt and ground black pepper as desired. Using a wooden spoon to break the sausage into fine, bite-sized crumbles as it renders, cook until the sausage is rendered and the veggies are fragrant, 5-7 minutes. The sausage should brown nicely and the veggies should soften – if anything starts to brown too quickly, reduce the heat to medium or medium-low. Add in the garlic and crushed red pepper flake, cooking until just fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute longer.
- 03
Stir the tomato paste into the skillet, stirring to coat the sausage and veggies. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until deeply red. Deglaze the pan by slowly pouring in the white wine, using a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits that may have formed on the bottom of the pan. Once the wine is almost completely cooked off, stir in the crushed tomatoes and parmesan. Bring the mixture up to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low. Let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, to thicken slightly and build flavor. Taste and adjust seasoning accordingly.
- 04
Once the sausage and peppers have simmered in the tomato sauce, add the pasta to the skillet and toss to coat. Adjust as needed so the sausage and peppers sauce evenly coats the pasta – if the mixture is too thick, toss in a little reserved pasta water; if the mixture is too loose, turn up the heat or toss in an extra handful of parmesan cheese, etc. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, allowing the pasta to meld with and absorb some of the tomato sauce. Remove from the heat.
- 05
immediately, topped with additional grated parmesan, chopped basil or parsley, and/or a sprinkling of crushed red pepper, as desired. Enjoy!
Nutrition
per serving
- Calories
- 671
- Protein
- 29.7g
- Carbs
- 62.8g
- Fat
- 30.7g
- Fiber
- 6.2g
- Sugar
- 13.2g
- Sat. fat
- 9.8g
- Sodium
- 1213.4mg
- Cholesterol
- 67.2mg
Variations & swaps
Easy Sausage and Peppers Pasta Variations
- Not a fan of spicy? ⇢ The balance between spicy sausage & sweet bell peppers is one of the best parts of this sausage peppers pasta sauce, but you can easily use mild or sweet Italian sausage instead of spicy &/or omit the red pepper flakes to dial down the heat to your liking.
- Not a fan of pork? ⇢ Feel free to use chicken or turkey sausage instead. It’s admittedly not our favorite option since the goal of this sausage and peppers pasta recipe is building lots of rich flavor in a short amount of time – the natural richness of the pork sausage is a crucial element. If you want to use chicken or turkey sausage, be sure to add more olive oil to help compensate for that r…
- Make it vegetarian! ⇢ Go meatless & swap Italian sausage for tons of finely chopped mushrooms like baby bellas or shiitakes. Mushrooms are a satisfying & hearty option that we love with other pasta dishes like ragu or brown buttered noodles. You’ll need to make up for the fat & flavor of the pork sausage by adding in some extra olive oil & seasonings (try dried oregano or an Italian herb blend!).
- Make it creamy! ⇢ Add a splash of heavy cream or unsweetened plant milk to instantly give the tomato sauce a gorgeous velvety texture.
- Use what you have! ⇢ Sausage and peppers pasta is the perfect clean-out-your-fridge kind of meal for any extra veggies you have hanging around. Try wilted greens (spinach, arugula), shredded kale, broccoli florets, diced tomatoes, or zucchini.
- Along with being SUPER easy to make, this sausage and peppers pasta recipe is also incredibly versatile. A couple of quick tweaks allow you to customize the dish to your liking. Or feel free to mix things up if you love to make it often. A few ideas to get you started…
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