Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato and Italian Sausage Pasta

Satisfying and saucy, this perfect-for-a-weeknight pasta dish features Italian sausage (you can use chicken OR pork) and baby spinach in a creamy pink tomato sauce, with chopped sun-dried tomatoes for a tangy kick.

The showstopping sauce is surprisingly creamy, especially considering there’s only 1/2 cup of cream in it. The secret is to use mostly chicken broth and white wine and thicken it with flour, and then add just a little bit of cream added at the end—resulting in a luscious, creamy sauce that’s not overly rich or heavy. A few tablespoons of tomato paste make for a pretty pink hue and an extra layer of complex, umami flavor.

This creamy, comforting pasta has become our new go-to weeknight dinner, using our tried-and-true method for making creamy, saucy pasta dishes with surprisingly little cream.

The secret to the sauce? A white-wine-and-chicken-broth base thickened with flour, and a mere half cup of cream at the end to finish it off. This variation has a few tablespoons of tomato paste added, which provides acidity and depth of flavor as well as a pretty pink hue to the sauce.

It’s not quite a one-pot meal (you still cook the pasta in a separate pot—don’t forget to set aside a bit of pasta water!) but it’s darn close and still a very quick and simple dish to throw together with minimal mess. That is my kind of comfort food!

You know how the Italians are always so particular about which pasta shapes go with which sauces? There’s a good reason for that, as the shape of the pasta is ultimately what conveys the other stuff in the dish—sauce, sausage, and spinach in this case—from the bowl to your fork to your mouth. Having the right shape makes for the perfect bite every time.

I think these shellbows, sometimes called pipe rigate or lumaconi, might just be my new favorite pasta shape, combining the best characteristics of both a classic rigatoni or penne (with ridged edges for the sauce to stick to) as well as the cup shape of something like orecchiette (which, despite its practical shape, is not my favorite pasta to cook—the little ears too often like to spoon together in stacks of two, three, four or more, resulting in unevenly cooked pasta).

But the shellbows are truly perfect, with maximum sauce-cradling capabilities, ridged exteriors and large openings that capture and hold the bits of sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and spinach so each and every bite is a perfect one.

We used a spicy Italian chicken sausage, but you can also use pork if you prefer. If using chicken sausage, you’ll need slightly more oil in the pan (since chicken sausage has less fat), compared to pork sausage which only needs a bare splash of olive oil.

You can use either spicy or mild Italian sausage here, just adjust the additional red pepper flakes accordingly (we used about 1/2 teaspoon with mild sausage for a pleasant heat, if using spicy sausage you can reduce or even omit the added pepper flakes).

Take note that this recipe calls for raw sausage, not pre or partially cooked. Raw sausage can be cooked and crumbled like ground meat, basically. If you can find bulk sausage (without casings) that’s ideal, otherwise you’ll need to remove the casings first.

In a saucepan over medium heat, cook sausage (removed from casings) in a splash of olive oil, breaking it up into small pieces.Push mostly-cooked sausage to the edges of the saucepan, leaving the center empty.Cook onion, stirring it a bit as needed, until softened and translucent.Add spices and tomato paste and stir until everything is evenly coated.Sprinkle flour evenly over top of everything in the skillet and stir until evenly coated.Add white wine and stir until mostly evaporated.Pour in chicken broth and stir until it comes to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until it thickens slightly (about 5 minutes).Add cream and return to a simmer; season to taste with salt and pepper (you may need more or less depending on your sausage and if you used regular or low-sodium broth).Stir in chopped sun-dried tomatoes.If you froze your bag of spinach, crush it between your hands to break up the leaves into bite-sized pieces; otherwise, coarsely chop it.Add chopped or crushed spinach to saucepan and stir until evenly distributed and spinach is just wilted.Add pasta (cooked to al-dente) to saucepan and stir until pasta is evenly coated with sauce. If necessary, add a splash or two of reserved pasta water to loosen it up a bit.

With the added protein and roughage, half a box of pasta makes a satisfying four servings, with the perfect pasta-to-sauce-and-stuff ratio. Don’t be tempted to cook a whole box of pasta without increasing the sauce ingredients accordingly or there won’t be enough sauce to adequately coat it all.

If you opt do double the recipe, be sure to double everything (including the broth) to preserve the ideal ratio (and be sure your pot is big enough to hold it all, a Dutch-oven may be the best option in this case).

Pro tip: pop your bag of fresh baby spinach in the freezer as soon as you get home from the store. Spinach keeps beautifully in the freezer (no need to worry about it getting weird and slimy). And as an added bonus, instead of chopping the spinach, just crunch the bag with your hands and the frozen leaves will break into smaller pieces, then you can dump it straight into the saucepan.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

Italian chicken sausage: use raw sausage (not cooked sausage links like you’d eat in a bun). You can use chicken or pork, spicy or mild. If you can find bulk sausage you’ll save yourself a step, otherwise you’ll need to remove the casings before cooking.

Italian sausage has more spices and seasonings than regular sausage (like breakfast sausage for example), they really aren’t interchangeable. If you can’t find Italian sausage, your best option is to use ground pork or chicken and add your own seasonings (a generous amount of Italian herb seasonings along with some ground fennel should get you pretty close).

Pasta: I used shellbows (also called pipe rigate). Regular shells, orecchiette or rigatoni would probably be my second choice. Take note that the recipe only calls for 8oz of dried pasta, or half a package. Don’t use a full box unless you increase the other ingredients accordingly or your pasta will end up dry and lacking sufficient sauce.

Sun-dried tomatoes: I used sun-dried tomatoes in oil, which I drained and then coarsely chopped. If using regular sun-dried tomatoes that aren’t in oil, it’ll be more like 40 grams by weight. About 1/2 cup either way (this is one situation where a volume measurement is probably going to be more accurate than weight!)

In lieu of sun-dried tomatoes, you could roast some cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered and tossed with a bit of oil, then roasted at 400ºF for 20 minutes or so). Sun-dried tomatoes have such an intensely concentrated flavor, however, so as much as roasting concentrates the flavors of fresh tomatoes, it’s still not going to pack quite the same punch.

Spinach: I like to freeze a bag of fresh baby spinach, then, instead of chopping, just crunch the bag with your hands to break the leaves into bite-sized pieces and dump straight into the pan. If using a block of frozen spinach, let it thaw first so you’re not adding a huge brick of ice to your pan; coarsely chop if necessary so the pieces are more manageable in size rather than full leaves.

You can also substitute other greens here too, like arugula or Swiss chard. If using a more sturdy green like kale, you may want to blanch it for 30-60 seconds in boiling water to remove any excess bitterness. Other veg like peas, broccoli, or chopped asparagus would work as well!