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Home Main Dish
4.5 /5
30 30 Minutes or Less

One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta

Jump to Recipe
By: Danielle3 Comments Posted: 07/01/2020 Updated: 08/09/2022

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This One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta is a weeknight dinner dream! Made with sun-dried tomatoes, baby spinach, garlic, and Italian sausage, this family friendly dinner comes together in less than 30 minutes!

one pot italian sausage pasta in a white bowl with parmesan cheese on top.

Dirty dishes seem to be never-ending, especially lately, since we’re cooking so much more at home. This is why I thought it was imperative to get some more one-pot meals in my rotation. 

This dish has a little of everything (noodles, veggies, meat, cheese!) with a not too heavy sauce that will shock you because it’s basically just pasta water and cheese 🤷‍♀️ Can’t argue with that!

Recipe Overview

Total Time: 25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Method: Stovetop
Prep: Make-Ahead Friendly

What’s in this One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta?

  • spaghetti – This is the pasta of choice for this dish. I like using spaghetti for things other than spaghetti, cause why not?
  • Italian sausage – If you can find the kind with the mozzarella cheese inside, those are perfect. The cheese melts out when everything is cooking but since we don’t drain the pasta, the cheese stays, all soaked into the pasta and sauce.
  • sun-dried tomatoes – If you can find the kind in a bag that are just dried and not soaked in oil, that’s the way to go in my opinion. Less mess, less oil, and easy to chop.
  • garlic – Mince it, and don’t skip it! I love garlic. Use as much as you want.
  • olive oil – Helps keep the noodles from sticking together 🍝 
  • sea salt – To season!
  • water – To cook everything. The amount is specific and important!
  • baby spinach – Addin’ some veggies cause they’re important too.
  • parmesan cheese – Parmesan cheese helps form the final sauce in the dish. You need this!
  • black pepper – Fresh ground black pepper is one of my favorite basic flavors and it helps give this dish some backbone!
  • red chili pepper flakes – How about just a little spice? Add as much as you want for a little kick. 
ingredients on a cutting board for the one pot italian sausage pasta
cooking the pasta, noodles, garlic and sundried tomatoes in a big pot with water

How do you make pasta all in one dish?

The best thing about this meal is it’s made all in one dish. But how do you do that with pasta? Normally you need one pot just to boil the water!

The trick is to use just the right amount of water for cooking the pasta and everything else. The water will do three main things:

  • evaporate during cooking
  • soak into the pasta and other ingredients
  • remain and become sauce at the end

How do you make this One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta?

Start by combining the first round of ingredients in a giant pot over high heat: the noodles, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, and water. Let that cook for 11-12 minutes while you stir occasionally to keep the pasta from sticking to itself.

Reader Tip

Thank you to Mary who let me know it works to substitute a can of diced tomatoes (strained, rinsed and mased) for the sun-dried tomatoes. Be sure to use a little less water (around 4 cups) to make up for the excess tomato liquid.

After the first 11-12 minutes of cooking, the water in the pot should be reduced by about half. Next, add the spinach, and continue cooking.

The spinach should be completely wilted in about 3-4 minutes. At this point, almost all of the water should be reduced from the pot.

Remove the pot from heat and add the parmesan cheese, black pepper and chili pepper flakes. Stir until the cheese is melted and a thin sauce has formed from the remaining pasta water. Serve with additional parm and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!

mixing cheese into the pasta
one pot italian sausage pasta just cooked in a big pot

What kind of sausage is best to use?

Any 10-12 ounce package of Italian sausage that you can easily slice will work for this recipe.

However, I specifically like the ones with the mozzarella cheese inside the sausages. The cheese will melt and look like it has disappeared during cooking. 

BUT, the cheese is still in the pot. And since we don’t drain any liquid off in this recipe, the cheese remains and helps flavor the pasta.

one pot italian sausage pasta plated with a fork

What are the benefits of one pot pasta?

One pot pasta dishes have some benefits that other pasta dishes just do not have! These include less dishes to clean, and less pots to watch on the stove.

Normally when I make pasta, I use one pot just for cooking the pasta, then everything gets mixed together in another pot. Not this time!

More easy dinners:

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Is this recipe freezer friendly?

I have not tested this meal after being in the freezer because we always eat it too fast!

I’m unsure if it would thaw well due to the lack of sauce in the meal. The texture may change when it’s thawed, but it might still be worth a try. Let me know how it goes if you freeze this dish.

How to store One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta:

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

How to reheat One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta:

You can reheat this recipe, or enjoy cold. This meal is especially good straight from the fridge. Cold pasta is a quick an easy leftovers meal!

You can also reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave with a couple tablespoons of water so the pasta doesn’t dry out. Microwave in 30 seconds intervals until steaming and hot throughout.

Did you make this? I want to see how it turned out! Tag me in your social media post @projectmealplan and use #projectmealplan when you share!

Recipe
one pot italian sausage pasta just cooked in a big pot
4.5 from 2 reviews

One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta

Yield: 4 servings 1x
Print Save Rate it
Prep: 5 minutesCook: 20 minutesTotal: 25 minutes

This One Pot Italian Sausage Pasta is a weeknight dinner dream! Made with sun-dried tomatoes, baby spinach, garlic, and Italian sausage, this family friendly dinner comes together in less than 30 minutes!

Scale:

Ingredients

  • 10 ounces dry spaghetti noodles
  • 10 ounces Italian sausage, sliced
  • 2 ounces sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (dry, not packed in oil)
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 4 + 1/2 cups water
  • 3 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
  • 1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried red chili pepper flakes (more to taste)

Instructions

  1. Cook sausage & pasta: In a large pot over high heat, add spaghetti, sausage, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt and water. Stir and bring to a boil uncovered, then reduce heat to medium high and cook for 10-11 minutes, stirring occasionally so the pasta doesn’t stick.
  2. Add veggies & cheese: Add spinach to the pot and continue to cook for about 3-4 minutes while stirring, until the spinach is completely wilted and almost all of the water has reduced from the pot. Remove from heat and add the parmesan cheese, ground black pepper and red pepper flakes, then mix. A thin sauce will form from the remaining pasta water and cheese. Serve with additional parm and red pepper flakes. Enjoy!

Equipment

Lodge 6 qt Cast Iron Dutch Oven

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oxo 9 inch tongs with silicone ends.

OXO 9-Inch Silicone Head Tongs

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Notes

Leftovers are really good as cold pasta salad or reheated on the stove top or microwave with a couple tablespoons of water. Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal.

Nutrition Information

  • Serving Size: 1/4 of dish
  • Calories: 520
  • Fat: 24g
  • Carbohydrates: 57g
  • Protein: 21g
© Author: Danielle
Cuisine: Italian-inspired Method: Stovetop
one pot italian sausage pasta just cooked in a big pot

Did You Make This?

I love seeing what you made! Leave a review below, and be sure to tag me at @ProjectMealPlan when you share a photo!

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About Danielle

Hi, I’m Danielle! My passion for meal planning was born from a desire to save money and reduce food waste, and I want to share it with you! Besides cooking and photography, I absolutely love my cats & dog, growing food in my yard, and cheesy sandwiches! Read More...

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  1. Mary says

    Posted on 8/8/22 at 11:28 pm

    It was 8:30 at night, I had two hangry boys ready to tear into each other as they opened the fridge then freezer then pantry and back again saying “moooooommmm I’m starving!” I just walked in the door after working late, realized the dishes never got done and knew I needed to figure something out quickly before one or both kids had a melt down. I googled Italian sausage, noodles, spinach, one pot and this was one of the first recipes listed. I didnt even think about it but started throwing it all in the pot. I didn’t have sundried tomatoes but I did have a can of diced tomatos. I ran them through a strainer quickly and mashed them with a pastry thing used for pie crust and threw them in. I only put in 4 or so cups of water since the tomatos still had some liquid in them. After 12 or so minutes I threw in the spinach and it was ready and on their plates less than 5 minutes later. I was skeptical and thought the limited amount ingredients, easy no hassle instructions and overall simplicity of the recipe would be lacking in flavor or something wouldn’t work, honestly it seemed too good to be true. But this dish is absolutely delicious, wonderfully quick, simple and my kids loved it. It is everything I could have hoped for and more.






    Reply
    • Danielle says

      Posted on 8/9/22 at 9:32 am

      Hi Mary – I absolutely loved this review! Your idea for using some strained mashed tomatoes in place of sun-dried is so smart, I may add that to the notes for others. Thank you SO much for sharing your experience and results with this recipe. I appreciate it more than you know!! I also love knowing how you found the recipe – so interesting to me!! Thank you thank you! -Danielle

      Reply
  2. Marie says

    Posted on 1/11/23 at 4:38 pm

    The picture on here is super gorgeous
    In reality the meat is boiled, not Fried as it looks like in the picture
    So meat is Gray, but besides all that I actually think it was delicious






    Reply

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