Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

The granddaughter of an Italian immigrant, my mother made pasta with sausage and spinach every week during my childhood. The aroma of the sausage cooking, the beautiful pillows of cream and pasta…us kids never got sick of my mom’s recipe.

If you’re looking for more sausage recipes, you’ll find a sumptuous variety, including sausage and peppers, kielbasa cabbage stew, or chorizo and grits.

Ingredients for Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

• Italian sausage: This is a fresh pork sausage, famous for being seasoned with fennel or anise. That said, it’s far from the only option, so if you’d prefer, go with another variety of fresh sausage. There are literally hundreds of varieties of sausage, so have fun experimenting and finding out which you like best.
• Onion: We recommend using either sweet or yellow onions, but shallots would work wonderfully too.
• Garlic: While raw garlic is intense, just a few minutes on the stovetop curbs a lot of its bite. If you’d like to roast a head of garlic and use it in this Italian sausage with spinach and pasta recipe, be our guest.
• Olive oil: We like the flavor and aroma that extra virgin olive oil adds to this dish, but if you find it overpowering, feel free to go with a refined olive oil.
• Chicken broth: This recipe is a one-pot meal, so the chicken broth acts as the boiling liquid for the pasta, infusing it with savory goodness.
• Angel hair pasta: This is the most delicate of the pasta shapes, so it’s perfect for brothy dishes or thin sauces.
• Spinach: This green easily wilts with heat, so be careful not to overcook it. If you’d like, you can substitute chopped kale or even arugla for the spinach.
• All-purpose flour: Because all-purpose flour contains gluten, it will help both thicken and bind the sauce together.
• Pepper: Freshly cracked pepper provides a punch of flavor to cut through the richness in this dish.
• Heavy whipping cream: Just a touch of heavy cream brings a whole lot of flavor, richness and silkiness to the Italian sausage with spinach and pasta.

Directions

Step 1: Brown the sausage

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

Using a Dutch oven or similar pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute the sausage, onion and garlic. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink; drain.

Step 2: Cook the pasta

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

Pour the broth into the pot and bring to a boil. Toss in the pasta and cook for three minutes, stirring frequently.

Step 3: Add the spinach and sauce

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

Gradually add the spinach. Cook and stir until the pasta is tender and the spinach is wilted, two to three minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the flour, pepper and cream until smooth. Gradually stir it into the pasta mixture. Bring it to a boil, then cook and stir until thickened, one to two minutes.

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

Pasta with Sausage and Spinach Variations

• Try a different pasta shape: If you choose a vastly different type of pasta shape like farfalle or penne, you’ll likely need to cook it separately from the sausage. This is because shorter, stubbier varieties don’t carry brothy liquids as well as angel hair does.
• Cook with wine: If you love cooking with wine, this dish is a perfect opportunity to do so. Simply reduce the amount of chicken broth and use as much wine to replace it. For Italian sausage with spinach and pasta, we recommend using a dry white wine.

How to Store Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

First, allow the dish to cool to room temperature, for no more than two hours. Next, transfer any leftovers to an airtight container and store them in the fridge for up to four days. To reheat this dish, place it in a thick-bottomed pot, stirring frequently over medium heat.

Can I freeze pasta with sausage and spinach?

Because angel hair pasta is so delicate, it’s likely to dry out in the freezer. To reduce or prevent this, swirl the pasta into nests once the dish is transferred to its container. Make sure the pasta is well coated in sauce and place it in the freezer for up to three months.

Pasta with Sausage and Spinach Tips

Melissa Patterson for Taste of Home

What is the best way to cook sausage?

Feel free to cook the sausage in the oven or on the stovetop, but always use low to medium heat. As a ground meat, sausage is pretty delicate, so cooking it on high heat can actually cause it to burn.

How do you cook angel hair pasta perfectly?

Once your water or broth is boiling, swirl in the angel hair pasta and diligently watch the pot. As it softens, coax the pasta farther into the pot to cook for just a few minutes. For more tips and tricks, check out our guide on how to cook pasta.

What are the different types of Italian sausages?

This answer could go on for ages, so instead we’ll cover the two basic categories of Italian sausage: fresh and cured. The former is simply ground meat (often pork) stuffed into a casing, while the latter takes the process a step further by drying the meat. Drying the meat makes the sausage shelf stable, so you don’t have to eat it as quickly as you do fresh sausage.