Here’s to quick & delicious dinners! This Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta is another dish that can be whipped up in practically the same amount of time that it takes to boil the pasta. You gotta love that!
I wanted to buy some spicy Italian sausage for this recipe, by my local grocery store only had sweet Italian sausage. Guess what? It was still delicious! And, if you’re adventurous, you could even try some smoked sausage. Yes ma’am!
I also bought some fancy-schmancy smoked gouda to go on the pasta because I thought the creamy, smokey cheese would be a nice contrast to the spicy red pepper… and it was! Because the cheese was so expensive, I decided to mix it with a less expensive blend of generic “Italian blend shredded cheese.” In the end, I didn’t end up needing much cheese at all, so I could have used straight gouda and still not broken the bank. If you don’t want to spring for the fancy smoked gouda, just the shredded Italian blend or some parmesan would have been great on here. You don’t need a lot, just a light sprinkle to balance the flavors and textures.
I chose to use frozen broccoli florets because they’re already blanched prior to freezing. This makes the cooking processes much faster. Plus, you can buy it and stash it in the freezer until you’re ready to use it without worry that it will get wilty and moldy like it does in the bottom of your refrigerator!
Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta
Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta
Servings 8Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.24)
- 4 cloves garlic ($0.28)
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper ($0.03)
- 1/2 lb. Italian sausage ($2.75)
- 1 lb. frozen broccoli florets ($1.63)
- 1 lb. bow tie pasta ($1.29)
- 2 oz. 1/2 cup smoked gouda ($1.47)
- 2 oz. 1/2 cup shredded Italian cheese ($0.63)
- to taste salt & pepper ($0.05)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes or until al dente). Drain in a colander.
- While the pasta is cooking, begin the rest of the dish. Mince the garlic. Heat 2 Tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute more.
- Squeeze the Italian sausage out of the casing into the skillet. Break it up with a spatula as it cooks. Saute until cooked through. Add the broccoli (thaw before hand) to the skillet and saute for 3-5 minutes or just until the broccoli is tender. Turn off the burner to prevent the broccoli from over cooking (it will begin to turn an olive green color if it overcooks).
- When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it to the skillet with the sausage and broccoli. Stir to coat it in the garlic and red pepper infused oil. Sprinkle with salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Sprinkle with shredded cheese, stir, and serve warm!
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Nutrition
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Step By Step Photos
Begin by boiling the water to cook the pasta. By the time the water reaches a boil and the pasta is cooked, you’ll probably have the rest of the dish ready and waiting for the pasta to be stirred in! I like bowties for this recipe because the shape adds great texture to the dish.
While you’re waiting for the water to boil and the pasta to cook, mince the garlic. Add it to a large skillet with the olive oil. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes.
Add the crushed red pepper flakes and cook for about a minute more. Be careful not to burn the red pepper flakes. If they begin to brown, turn the heat down a touch. The olive oil is now getting infused with the flavors of the red pepper and garlic – yum!
This is the sausage that I used. Like I said, you could use hot Italian sausage, or even smoked sausage if you like. I only used half of this one pound package and froze the rest for another recipe later.
Squeeze the sausage out of the casing into the skillet (or slice it – your choice) and cook until done all the way through. The seasoning in the sausage will add further flavor to the oil in the pan, which ultimately acts as a sauce on the pasta and broccoli.
Add the broccoli to the skillet. The broccoli should be at least half way thawed or else it will add to your cooking time. I also ended up cutting the pieces a bit smaller. Cook the broccoli just until it is fork tender and then turn the burner off.
By this time the pasta is probably cooked and drained. Add it to the skillet.
Stir to coat the pasta in the flavor infused oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
These are the two cheese that I used. One inexpensive, one expensive. I originally mixed up one cup of each, but ended up only using about half of it for this dish (or one cup total). You could use just one of these cheeses and the dish would still be great.
I just shredded the gouda and mixed it into the less expensive cheese.
Sprinkle the cheese over top. I only used about one cup of cheese total. Because the dish uses oil as a sauce, too much cheese would make this dish really heavy.
Stir everything together.
…and enjoy every bite of this amazing Spicy Sausage and Broccoli Pasta!
I was actually really disappointed with this recipe. It was so so so bland! I used hot Italian sausage because that’s what I had and I doubled the amount of cheese because who doesn’t love cheese but it was still very bland. If needs something and I can’t put my finger on it.
I was flavorful to me did you use minced garlic and sausage that had flavor! I used italian mild sausage and it help make it flavorful
I have made this recipe several times over the past few years, I’m surprised I didn’t write a review yet because your recipe is the first time I heard of this and the one I always use, with a few minor changes. I use fresh broccoli crowns and boil them with the pasta for the last few minutes instead of sauteing frozen crowns with the sausage; and after browning the sausage, I add some butter and white wine and simmer for a few minutes to make some sauce, then combine it all together with the pasta and broccoli and shred way too much parmesan over it LOL. I omit the Gouda because I rarely have it on hand and I doubt it’s ‘ruining’ this for me. It’s an easy, dirt cheap, and absolutely delicious meal. I ate it tonight with some fresh baked garlic bread sticks. Thank you so much. This is one of my top ten favorite quick, easy, affordable and delicious dinners.
Do not heat the garlic on medium or even medium low heat. It must be low or you will have burned garlic. Read the recipe through several times as I did not understand that I needed to set the oil aside so I prepared the sausage in the oil. Not to worry. It still turned out pretty good.
Found some Cajun sausage in the freezer and needed to find something to make it with. I had already had some bowtie pasta in the pantry and also frozen broccoli bits. It was as if I was meant to make this recipe!
The husband loved it, great mix of flavors and the flavor infused oil was perfect. I did definitely add more than 4 cloves of garlic, as a garlic fanatic though.
I used breakfast sausage as we had a hog butchered and the order got messed up. I have oodles of breakfast sausage to use.
I was looking for something cheap to make so I used the BudgetBytes app and filtered by my cost of serving size that I wanted to stay within and saw this recipe. This was the first of 3 I chose and yum yum! I loved the garlic crushed red pepper infused oil. I knew there’d be a lot of flavor just from that. Hubby loves crushed red peppers too so I knew this fish would be a hit for him. Lots of leftovers too since it’s just him and I.
Oh and we just used the shredded Italian cheese without the smoked Gouda.
One day I found myself with extra pork sausage and didn’t know what to do with it. Looked up some recipes, saw this and and tried it and it is fantastic. This is a meal I regularly make now and it is always a favorite and requested. I use bulk spicy pork sausage and grate a piece of Asiago cheese as a slight variation from the recipe. Also, if you have Chanterelle mushrooms, they’re excellent in this. Saute them in with the garlic early on. Fantastic!
So easy & so delicious!!! Love it!!
My most favorite dish to make when I’m around family. Otherwise, if I have it all to myself, I have to do 20 extra minutes of cardio. Well worth it as its a hearty meal.
This was yummy! We were pressed for time and had sausages thawed so I gave it a shot. So delicious :) I have also toned it down for the kids by adding cream of mushroom soup.
This is a really good pasta dish, my only issue is that i believe it needs a nice white sauce to go with it. The garlic and oil are not enough to really keep the dish hydrated.
My fiance and i tried the dish with a white sauce and we feel it made the dish way better for us.
This was delicious!! I had an extra bunch of parsley to use up so I made your Parsley Pesto first with fussilli pasta and then combined it with this recipie! Followed the rest of this recipe accordingly (adding the pesto pasta and omitting the cheese at the end since the pesto pasta needed no additional richness/ cheese). Delish! Thank you for not one but two delicious recipes that made for a very yummy dinner :)
Also forgot to say that I used frozen green beans instead of broccoli cause that’s all I had on hand and it worked out great.
By far one of my many favorite recipes on this site! I made this lastingly for the first time and my boyfriend loved it! He decided we needed to make it a few times a month! I used mozzarella and Parmesan instead of Gouda and Italian cheese as it was all I had. And used fresh broccoli. So good!! Thank you for this website. I love it!
Hi Beth! Just wanted to let you know that I’ve made this recipe a couple of times, and last night my boyfriend declared that this recipe is officially his favourite pasta recipe. We love to make and enjoy this one together, so thank you so much for sharing it, and for all the great work you do with Budget Bytes. Cheers!
This is one of my favorite recipes ever – we make it almost weekly in my house. It’s so delicious leftover that I’m thinking I’ll double it next time. I use spicy Italian sausage and whatever cheese I have on hand, always turns out good.
This recipe turned out delicious tonight! As I am a lazy cook, I first cooked the pasta in my skillet, adding in the fresh broccoli the last few minutes of cooking, then drained both into a bowl, wiped the pan dry, then started the instructions for the recipe. So, one pan to cook and only one pan to clean! Thanks once again for a delicious recipe!
I made it once on the whim after looking for a decent sausage recipe. When I came across the blog and this recipe in particular, I gave it a shot, and since that day, this dish has become a favorite of mine.
Another winner!! I had some whole wheat mini she’ll noodles, some discounted precooked italian sausage I wanted to cook instead of freeze this time and figured a sausage noodle dish would be good.. Happened to have 2 slices of pre-cut smoked Gouda you’d normally put on a sandwich.. Shredded it up and added a lil motzarella and a lil parm..main change was cuz I didn’t have crushed red pepper so I used 2 spices I got in bulk at winco- red pepper-garlic and this smokey favored mix that has some red pepper flakes, so it really completed the small amount of smoked Gouda I had.. Hubby and I really liked it though for us I couldda made it more spicy, and I had to tell the 9 year old to slow down and she still had seconds! lol thanks for another awesome recipe I need to add to the usual rotation!
Love it, as usual! Great way to use 2 leftover Italian sausage links I froze when I made something else (i used spicy, bc life’s too short not to make food as spicy as possible!). My boyfriend was skeptical about the smoked gouda, but I used it anyway, and wow, it really made the dish! He agreed.
First off, I cook alot but seldom make pasta. I never found it to be very exciting or special. That opinion changed completely when I tried Beth’s Italian Wonderpot. Awesome.
That success caused me to try this recipe, even though I hardly ever buy or eat sausage. Oh my goodness, my husband and I fell in love with the simplicity and deliciousness of this recipe. It will definitely become a regular in our household.
Thank you!
Made this last night and it was a success! BF said it was like I “was really cooking from scratch!” We both appreciated that it felt healthy and was filling.
Only modification I did was to add a couple spoonfuls of the pasta water to the sausage/broccoli/pasta combo to give it a tiny bit of a saucy feel.
Super yummo! I added mushrooms and red onion (needed to use it up) this will be made again, hubby loved it! Thank you so much!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made it tonight and my family loved it. I made it minus the red pepper flakes since my husband can’t take the heat, and minus the gouda since I didn’t have any. I also added a little chicken broth during the last few minutes since we like our pasta a little saucy. It was delicious!
Easy to make, but bland and very dry. Needs some kind of sauce to blend flavors together. Will try some chicken stock and a few tablespoons of light sour cream.
made for dinner tonight…love the simple goodness…easy to put together & full of flavor…my family loved! Thank you for sharing!
I made this tonight and thought the flavor was great! I used spicy italian sausage and 3/4 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup parm, and it was the right amount of gooey.
The only change I’d make is add more sausage… there just wasn’t enough protein here for it to be filling without eating way too much of the pasta (which ends up being a lot of calories). I got a store brand package that had 7 links in it for $2.50 (I used 3 of the links, 8.5oz total) so if you buy store brand, it’ll be cheaper than what you have listed above. Also usually buying bulk sausage (not in the casings) from the butcher counter tends to be cheaper.
I’ll definitely make this again, it’s super easy, cheap, and great for a weeknight! I also like that this would lend itself to using a wide variety of different meats and veggies.
Mmm, yes, kale and sausage go great together! :D Add some parmesan and you’ve got a great trio.
I made this last night with feta instead of gouda and it was yummO! I thought of doing this with kale instead of broccoli, but I’ve never tasted kale before, so I don’t know if it would be good?
I have made a few of your recipes, and have 3 more on this weeks menu to come! Thanks so much. They have all been phenomenal so far!
I love your site and have made at least 7 of your recipes. Thanks so much!
Loved this! I went on a sausage binge when it was on sale and it was perfect for this recipe. Instead of gouda, I just sprinkled some parmesan cheese and 1/2 cup pasta water to make a creamy sauce. The broccoli made it so much heartier!
I had this for dinner tonight and it was amazing! I used asiago cheese instead of the gouda (I do love gouda, but I already had the asiago) and it was delicious. It was super easy, and it made me feel like I’d done something really special and fancy. Thanks so much for another winner! :)
Just made this tonight and it was a super, everyone loved it. Thank you for sharing.
Hubby had this for lunch today and loved it! This recipe is a keeper!!!
Beth – you did it again! This was the best recipe I’ve tried in a long time. I always know I can find something absolutely delicious and cheap from Budget Bytes! Thanks so much.
Eating this for dinner as I type this comment. Delicious! I’ve made something similar in the past with wilted down spinach instead of broccoli, but I’m really enjoying this version. Definitely going in the rotation.
This was delicious. I used wheat pasta and turkey sausage and it was good! My husband requested it be added to my rotation :)
This was fantastic! I used a pint of cherry tomatoes as suggested and I couldn’t be more pleased.
yay – dinner tonight is done. If you have fresh broccoli, just cut it up and add it to the final 3 minutes of cooking the pasta.
Yummmm looks fantastic (and of course, affordable)! Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Yumm this looks great! I’ve been trying to find a sausage pasta that wasn’t with tomatoes. I’ll have to try this one.
Hey, fun seeing you featured in Everyday Food! Way to go!
This is one of my favorite dishes – except I use broccoli rabe. LOVE the idea of adding the smoked gouda. I think I just figured out what i’m having for dinner tonight. =)
I make this all the time, except I roast the broccoli and a pint of cherry tomatoes!
yep, i make this all the time with broccoli rabe. i sometimes add either toasted pignoli or sliced almonds, or cottage cheese. it’s so versatile and delicious!
You could not defrost the broccoli and just toss it in the pasta water
looks great – like something my kids would eat!! thank you!
Bow-tie pasta! I totally forget bow-tie pasta exists, but boy, it’s such a joy to eat. What a great reminder, and an awesome-sounding weeknight quickie.
(PS: Congrats on the “Everyday Food” appearance! I spied you in there today when my new issue came. Wicked cool.)
Yum! This reminds me of a pasta dish I make with sausage and broccoli rabe… I love the idea of adding gouda. (Though I also recommend trying chevre if you like it!)
OMG- I can not wait to try this out!