I’m really digging these one pot pastas lately. It’s so nice to just cook everything in one pot and have less to wash (especially when you don’t have a dishwasher, like me!). Not to mention they’re super quick and cooking the pasta in the sauce/broth just adds so much flavor.
This one pot pasta is just slightly more involved than my “wonderpots” because I’ve added the step of browning the sausage before throwing all of the ingredients together in the pot. The few extra minutes needed to brown the sausage translates into a lot more flavor. This is a fairly basic “pasta with red sauce” recipe, but it’s definitely quick and easy, which is perfect for people with a small kitchen or just not a lot of time on their hands. If you want to make it a little more special, you can try adding in some other fun ingredients like: black olives, artichoke hearts, spinach, roasted red peppers, or a splash of cream to turn it into a creamy red sauce. The sky’s the limit, so have fun!
One Pot Sausage & Mushroom Pasta
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One Pot Sausage & Mushroom Pasta
Servings 8Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.32)
- 2-3 links Italian sausage ($1.99)
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 1 yellow onion ($0.52)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.99)
- 1 28oz. can crushed tomatoes ($1.00)
- 1 tsp dried basil ($0.10)
- 1 tsp dried oregano ($0.10)
- 4 cups vegetable broth ($0.52*)
- 1 lb. rigatoni ($1.89)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan ($0.41)
- 1 handful fresh parsley (optional) ($0.23)
Instructions
- Add the olive oil and sausage links to a large pot and cook over medium heat until they are browned on the outside and firm enough to slice into rounds. Remove the sausage from the pot with tongs, slice into rounds, then return them to the pot and cook for a few minutes more, or until fully browned.
- While the sausage is cooking, slice or mince the garlic and slice or dice the onion (depending on how big you want your pieces). Slice the mushrooms.
- Once the sausage is browned, add the crushed tomatoes, onion, garlic, mushrooms, basil, and oregano to the pot. Stir to combine and to dissolve any browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Add the vegetable broth and pasta, then stir to combine. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and bring it to a rapid boil. As soon as it reaches a full boil, give it a stir, replace the lid, turn the heat down to low. Let the pot simmer on low for 15 minutes. Stir it every five minutes or so while it’s simmering. Make sure it’s simmering (bubbling) the whole time. If it is not, turn the heat up slightly.
- After 15 minutes of simmering, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid should be absorbed. If there is still too much liquid, let it simmer without a lid for a couple more minutes. Stir in the parmesan and top with fresh chopped parsley, if desired.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Step by Step Photos
I had some leftover Italian sausage in my freezer that needed to get used up, so that was the basis for this recipe. I had used half of this 19 oz. package previously and had the remaining 2.5 links left. You can use 2 links, you can use 3 links, or you can just use the whole package (5 links). It’s up to you!
First you need to cook the sausage a bit to make it firm enough to slice into rounds. Just put it in a big pot with 2 Tbsp of olive oil and cook over medium until it’s nice and brown on the outside (about 5 minutes).
Then remove it to a cutting board and slice it into rounds. It’s not completely cooked through yet, but that’s okay because it’s going right back into the pot…
Cook it a little more or until the sausage has browned and there is a nice golden coating on the bottom of the pot (that’s where the flavor is at!).
While the sausage is cooking, slice your vegetables (1 small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, 8 oz. mushrooms). You can slice or dice the onion and slice or mince the garlic, depending on how big you want the pieces to be in the finished dish. They both cook down considerably, so I left them in slices.
Once the sausage has browned, add one 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes, the sliced onion, mushrooms, and garlic. Also add 1 tsp dried oregano and 1 tsp dried basil. Give this mixture a good stir to dissolve the browned bits off the bottom of the pot.
Finally, add 4 cups of vegetable broth and one pound of rigatoni. Stir to combine.
Cover the pot and turn the heat up to high. Let the pot come to a full, rapid boil. Once it reaches a full boil, give it a stir to loosen any pasta that might be sticking, replace the lid, and turn the heat down to low. Let the pot simmer on low for 15 minutes, giving it a stir every five minutes or so.
After 15 minutes, the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid should be absorbed. If it’s still too liquidy for you, just let it simmer for a minute or two without the lid.
Stir in 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan to add a little body to the sauce, then top with some fresh chopped parsley (optional).
Super easy! And who doesn’t love pasta with red sauce? WHO? (I know, now I’ll get someone who says otherwise in the comments… ;) )
I loved this so much. So flavorful, cheap and easy. I didn’t have the exact ingredients but it still turned out amazing. Thank you!
Very good and easy. I removed the sausage from the casings and just broke it up as it cooked, eliminating the need to cut it into rounds. I also sauteed the onions and mushrooms a bit before adding everything to the pan. I was afraid they wouldn’t be cooked enough for my husband.
Another delicious recipe. Now what I did hear was change the broth from vegetable to chicken only because I bought the wrong kind, but even so it still tasted delicious. I recommend this for pasta lovers that need a bit of meat in their diet.
Just made this for dinner, and it was absolutely fantastic. Super easy and fast for making after work, but still very flavorful. I screwed up while removing the casings from the sausage and ended up with ground meat instead of slices, but that was fine. Thanks, Beth, this is one of my very favorite blogs for dinner recipes.
Well, I just realized something related to this post. Do you only have to remove the casings if you plan to crumble the sausage? I guess I’ve only crumbled Italian sausage before, and just assumed the casing wasn’t good to eat. Thanks!
You can definitely eat the casing. It’s just there to hold it together in a link, so if you want it crumbled like ground meat you just squeeze it out of the casing and into the pot. If you want it in solid rounds, you need to cook it a little IN the casing first to firm it up, then you can slice it into rounds, leaving the casing on. :)
This is the first “one pot” pasta dish I’ve liked. I think it’s because the others I’ve tried didn’t create a tomato sauce, and that’s just what I want on my pasta. This one fit the bill. While this isn’t my favorite way to make pasta, the ease of this recipe makes it a keeper for weeknight meals. Thanks for creating a more traditional one pot pasta recipe Beth!
Hi,
This dish looks delicious but we try to cook with gluten free pasta. We usually use the less starchy corn/quinoa pasta but it’s still considerably starchier than the regular wheat based pasta. Do you know if it might work and how we should adjust it?
Thank you.
Also good luck doing the snap challenge.
Miriam
Hmm, I’m really not sure because I’ve never cooked with that type of pasta before.
When I made it, it came out kinda grey. What did you use in addition to the crushed tomatoes to get it looking like a sauce?
Hmm, I didn’t use anything other than the crushed tomatoes. Maybe it depends on what type of broth you use? I used Better Than Bouillon.
Made this and everyone absolutely loved it. I used sweet Italian turkey sausage. The darned big can of crushed tomatoes I was sure we had, had disappeared, so I used two smaller 14 oz. cans – one of tomato sauce and one of diced tomatoes. Buying the cookbook on Amazon today. Thanks so much!
I made this today and accidentally only added about 12oz of pasta instead of 16oz. So a lot of my sauce didn’t absorb. But it still tastes great and was pretty easy. Thanks for another great recipe.
I’ve made this before with sausage and it’s delicious! However, I have some squash and eggplant that need to be eaten. Do you think I could use those instead of sausage? Will I need more oil?
Yes, you may need a skidge more oil because eggplant tends to soak it up like a sponge. I might add a few extra herbs and spices (oregano, red pepper, basil, etc.) to make up for the loss of flavor from the sausage. Other than that, I think it should work well!
Could we substitute Italian sausage for another kind of sausage, such as a chicken sausage? My wife and I buy sausage all the time and we like to vary the kinds of sausages we buy and we recently bought some amazing chicken sausage and I’m considering this for an experiment.
Yes, definitely! Play with it and have fun experimenting with different flavors. :)
I have made this dish a few times and love it! I just got kale in my CSA and have never cooked with it before. Do you think I could throw it in to the pot after most of the liquid has been absorbed like with spinach?
Kale is much more hearty than spinach, so I think I’d add it in the beginning so that it has time to soften and tenderize.
OMG! I love this one pot pasta!!!!!!!!!! So good. I used pasta sauce and increased the amount of broth per your recommendation. I used an Italian cheese blend as well. It is delicious, a great way to decrease the amount of meat I usually eat while still getting my protein from the mushrooms!
Could you substitute spaghetti sauce instead of crushed tomatoes?
Yes, but you’ll need to add a little extra broth because the crushed tomatoes have a lot of juice. Maybe a half cup or so.
I made this tonight and wanted to let you know that it was delicious! I loved the flavors. We subbed turkey Italian sausage for pork and I was actually able to cut the olive oil to 1T with no negative consequence. It was absolutely delicious and will go into our regular rotation!
Amazing recipe. Made it today with Chorizo, Morcilla (spanish blood sausage), and streaky bacon which I found as a combo. Next time I’ll use less broth though to not let the pasta get too soft