This Cheesy Sausage Pasta is the dish that made me fall in love with one-pot pastas all those years ago. It’s fast, easy, SUPER flavorful, and because everything cooks in one pot, there’s barely anything to clean up after dinner. WIN. The flavorful combination of smoky sausage, spicy diced tomatoes with green chiles, and creamy Monterey Jack is simple but irresistible, and it cooks in about 30 minutes. That’s a winner in my book!
What’s in Cheesy Sausage Pasta?
This recipe was inspired by an absolutely mouth-watering photo I saw on Pinterest, which was this Spicy Sausage Pasta from KevinandAmanda.com. But, of course, I made some changes to fit the ingredients I had on hand. I nixed the heavy cream in the original recipe because I figured that between the cheese and sausage, there’d be plenty of fatty goodness going on. My version ended up being rich, but not so much so that you’ll feel super weighed down. I also added fresh spinach because I have a HUGE bag in my fridge just waiting to be used up. Plus, I felt that the recipe needed a little green.
What Else Can I Add?
Some other vegetable options for this recipe are bell peppers or broccoli, both of which go great with smoked sausage. If you want to add bell peppers, dice them up and saute them with the onions in the beginning. If you want to add broccoli, cut it into very small florets and add it with the pasta so that the broccoli can simmer a little bit and soften. There are so many different ways you can take this recipe… I’m excited to hear what you come up with!
What Type of Pasta to Use
This recipe works great with any short pasta shape (bowties, penne, rotini, etc.). I originally used campanelle (my favorite frilly flower shaped pasta), but I couldn’t find any this time around so I decided to go with wide egg noodles. One note: If you are using regular pasta (not egg noodles, which are a little more delicate), you may need slightly more broth.
Can I Use a Different Cheese?
I particularly love Monterey Jack cheese for this recipe because it melts into a super creamy texture that kind of mixes into the sauce for a super creamy finish…without adding any cream. Other cheeses will also taste great, but they probably won’t have the same creamy finish. You can try cheddar, mozzarella (aim for whole milk mozzarella instead of part-skim), or even a sprinkle of crumbled feta. And remember, pre-shredded cheese won’t melt nearly as well as cheese you shred yourself! ;)
Cheesy Sausage Pasta
Servings 4Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.38)
- 7 oz. smoked sausage ($1.75)
- 1 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 1 10oz. can diced tomatoes with green chiles (Rotel) ($1.00)
- 8 oz. wide egg noodles* ($1.40)
- 1.5 cups chicken broth ($0.20)
- 3 cups fresh spinach ($0.85)
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack ($1.25)
- 1 green onion, sliced ($0.20)
Instructions
- Dice the onion and slice the sausage into rounds.
- Add the cooking oil and sausage to a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the sausage is well browned. If there is excess fat in the skillet, drain it off before moving to the next step.
- Add the onions to the skillet with the sausage and continue to sauté until the onions have softened. Allow the moisture from the onions to dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
- Add the diced tomatoes with green chiles (with juices), uncooked pasta, and chicken broth. Stir until everything is evenly combined. It's okay if the broth does not fully cover the pasta.
- Place a lid on the skillet and allow the broth to come up to a boil. When it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low and let the pasta simmer for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Stir the pasta occasionally, replacing the lid each time.
- Once the pasta is cooked and only a small amount of saucy liquid remains, it's time to add the spinach to the skillet. Gently stir the fresh spinach into the pasta, allowing the residual heat to wilt the spinach.
- Once the spinach has wilted, top the pasta with Monterey Jack cheese. Place the lid back on the skillet and let the pasta heat over low until the cheese is melted and creamy.
- Sprinkle the sliced green onions over top just before serving.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Cheesy Sausage Pasta – Step By Step Photos
Dice one yellow onion and slice about 7oz. smoked sausage (half of a 14oz. link—you can freeze the rest!) into medallions.
Add the sausage and 1 Tbsp cooking oil to a large skillet and cook over medium heat until the sausage is well browned. If there’s a lot of excess fat in the skillet, drain it off before proceeding to the next step.
Add the onions to the skillet with the sausage and continue to sauté until the onions have softened. Allow the moisture from the onions to dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet.
Add one 10oz. can of diced tomatoes with green chiles (like Rotel), 8 oz. pasta, and 1.5 cups chicken broth. If you’re using regular pasta (not egg noodles), increase to 2 cups broth.
Stir everything together until well combined. Place a lid on the skillet and allow the broth to come up to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and let the pasta simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally (replacing the lid each time). Make sure the broth maintains a simmer.
While the pasta is cooking, shred about 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese and slice one green onion. When the pasta is tender and only a small amount of saucy liquid remains in the skillet, it’s time to add the spinach.
Add about three packed cups of fresh spinach to the skillet and carefully stir until the hot pasta wilts the spinach.
Add one cup of shredded Monterey Jack cheese on top of the pasta. Place the lid on the skillet and let it heat over low for a few minutes, or just until the cheese is melted and creamy.
Top the finished pasta with the sliced green onions and serve hot!
Soooo cheeessyyyy. 🤤
Solid four and a half to five star meal. I had to do some improvising with frozen spinach, weird pasta, wrong cheese, not enough sausage etc, but it still came out spicy/novel flavoured and wonderfully filling! Not a weekend showstopper type meal, but a really luxurious weekday meal and variant on pasta that only takes one pot! (Worth more than any other review points on a dark January Wednesday!)
Made it with chicken! Delicious!
Happy to hear it Shaun!
I made this last night and it was so delicious! We are vegetarian, so we actually used Veggie Sausages (Fields Roast Italian style) and Vegetable broth and it was sooo good. At first I was unsure about the Monterey Jack cheese – I thought it would make it too “cheesy” but nope, it made it creamy instead of too heavy and gooey. I used Farfalle pasta and cooked it on the side Al Dente and then added it into the other mixture. Overall, this is a super easy and delicious dish. Be sure to make enough for leftovers ! Thanks for the recipe!
Hooray! Thanks Kyra!
Made it last night with Ro Tel tomato and chili peppers, really spicy and really yummy. I really thought there would leftovers…
Ha bummer! Next time double it!
Making this for the 3rd or 4th time tonight!
More spinach!
You Rock!
Repeats are GOOD!
Delicious and easy. We’ll be eating this one again.
Happy to hear it!
I have been making this recipe for a few years now, and it is still a favorite. Tonight I was out of diced tomatoes so I used salsa instead. Turned out great!
Solid one pot recipe. I added 3 cloves of garlic and more green onions. I also subbed turkey sausage. I feel like you could add beans or corn too. Oh an I have a red pepper flake problem so I sprinkled a generous amount at the end.
This was FANTASTIC!! It has become a regular in our house. I used two bratwurst and took the meat out of the casing and just browned the sausage that way. It was soooo yummy
Made this recipe last night. I also used Farfalle, and used Mexican blend Cheese and some grated Cojita cheese i had on hand. and i used Little smokies sausages. based on that a Serving of this dish is 492 calories. But it was very good. I might play around a bit with it and try turkey sausage next time to cut down on the fat calories.
Seriously delicious. Followed the recipe exactly! I did use farfalle pasta though, which required a couple extra minutes of cooking time. The Monterey Jack cheese makes all the difference. It’s a cheesy dish without feeling heavy. Love it and this website!!!
I tried this recipe with twice the meat, two bell peppers, a cup of extra chicken broth, and rice instead of pasta. I also topped with feta, and it was amazing! This is going to feed me for the next week!
I didnt even make this correctly and it was still delicious!!!!! It was one of those nights before the grocery trip when there is weird stuff left, started cooking kielbasa, spinach and noodles separately and I said to myself, “girl, we can do better.” Quick pinterest search and found this. YUM. Thank you!!!
I was really pleasantly surprised at just how great this turned out! I halved the recipe to enforce portion control and it was still more than enough food. I usually try to make a recipe by the book the first time, but I used some subs I had around, namely Fire Roasted RoTel, egg noodles, low sodium chicken broth and harissa olive oil. I really don’t know if I’ll do anything differently next time but there will definitely be a next time!
This was awesome! I added more of each ingredient to the recipe to make enough for multiple meal-prepped lunches for me. Also added broccoli to the recipe. The only thing I did different was added garlic and I stirred the cheese in to really thicken the sauce! I will make this many, many times again!