A hearty bowl of pasta is always a winning meal during the last days of winter. When it’s not cold enough to bundle up, but not warm enough to quite turn on the heat. My Sausage Spinach and Mushroom Pasta is the perfect stick to your ribs dish for those chilly nights. A combination of sweet sausage, earthy mushrooms, and spinach tossed with pasta is the quick meal you need. Add in tons of fresh Parmigiano Reggiano and you may think you stepped into Olive Garden, but better.
Ingredients for Sausage Spinach and Mushroom Pasta
- Italian Sausage – I used bulk sweet Italian sausage for this dish. If you like it spicy you can use hot Italian. Turkey or chicken Italian sausage would work well here too.
- Mushrooms- I used white button mushrooms in the recipe. They’re easy to find and mesh well with flavors of the dish. For more depth of flavor I recommend cremini or portabella mushrooms.
- Spinach – This is a one dish meal, and fresh spinach makes sure you get some veggies in.
- Parmigiano Reggiano – Look for a block of fresh Parmigiano at your cheese counter. You want the good stuff. Proper Parmigiano will have the name printed on the rind, and should say the country of origin. With the good stuff a little goes a long way.
How To Make Sausage Spinach and Mushroom Pasta
Gather your ingredients
Heat a large pot of water over medium heat. Heat a large skillet and add olive oil. Add sausage and cook until browned and almost cooked through.
Add your mushrooms to the pan with the browned sausage
Salt your pasta water and add rigatoni. Give it a good stir and cook till al dente.
Add onions and garlic to pan. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good stir.
Add spinach to your pan and cook until wilted.
Add drained pasta to pan, along with starchy pasta water.
Grate in your cheese. Give it a good stir until sauce forms.
Serve immediately with the reserved cheese on top!
Sausage Spinach and Mushroom Pasta
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 10 oz rigatoni
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage
- 4 oz mushrooms cleaned, stemmed and chopped.
- 6 oz spinach
- 3/4 cup Parmigiano reggiano freshly grated
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1 cup reserved starchy pasta water
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper freshly cracked
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over medium high heat.
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Add olive oil to skillet then add sausage. Use a wooden spoon to break up sausage into pieces. Cook stirring occasionally until sausage is browned and almost cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.
- Add mushrooms to skillet and cook until mushrooms start to brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add onions and garlic to skillet and cook until onions start to get translucent about 2-3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add your pasta to boiling water and cook until al dente, about 2 minutes shy of package directions.
- While pasta is boiling, add spinach to sausage, mushroom, onion mixture.
- Sauté spinach until wilted and cooked through. Continue to stir mixture.
- Drain pasta, reserving one cup of starchy water. Add pasta to sausage mixture.
- Season with salt and pepper. Add 1/2 cup of grated cheese, and slowly pour in pasta water until a thin sauce forms. You may not need all of the water depending on quickly this happens.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Top with remaining grated cheese. Serbe immediately.
Notes
- Chicken or Turkey sausage would be an excellent substitute if you don’t eat pork.
- I used white button mushrooms, but cremini or portabella would go well here.
- The type of pasta doesn’t matter, just make sure its a tubular shape, preferably with ridges.
- I don’t recommend substituting another green for the spinach. Kale and escarole take much longer to cook unless you par blanch it.
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