Skip to Content

One Pot Sausage Pasta Recipe

Sausage, rigatoni pasta, kale, and tomatoes in a bowl with the words "One Pot Sausage Pasta" digitally written on top.

This time of year, you need something to be a little bit easier. Between work and home life and holiday planning and holiday parties, every day is busy. It makes you want to order take out just to simplify life. But instead, just make easier (but still delicious) dinners, like this One Pot Sausage Pasta recipe.

This pasta recipe is easy enough that you can make it during the week, but tasty enough that your family won’t accuse you of slacking.

The entire meal is cooked in one pot. Yes, that even includes the pasta. That means you only have one pot to clean when it’s done, and that’s awesome.

We use our Dutch oven for this because I love our Dutch oven and love any excuse to use it. I do think it cooks things a little more evenly because of the way the Dutch oven retains heat. But if you only have a sauce pan to cook this in, that works too.

A package of ground sausage on a table with the words "10+ Budget-Friendly Sausage Recipes" digitally written on top.

If you like sausage, you’re in luck. This One Pot Sausage Pasta recipe is not our only sausage recipe. Be sure to check out our full list of 10+ Budget-Friendly Sausage Recipes.

One Pot Sausage Pasta Recipe

One Pot Sausage Pasta Ingredients:

How To Make One Pot Sausage Pasta:

Diced onion in a Dutch oven.

Cut the onion into small pieces. Add it and the olive oil to a Dutch oven or large sauce pan. Sauté for about ten minutes until the onion starts to get translucent.

Diced onion and garlic in a Dutch oven.

Cut the garlic cloves and add them to the pan. Sauté for about two minutes.

Ground sausage and onion n a Dutch oven.

Add the ground sausage and salt. Break the sausage apart and cook until the sausage is cooked through, about five minutes.

Ground sausage and tomato n a Dutch oven.

Cut the grape tomatoes in half and add them to the pan.

Kale, tomato, and ground sausage in a Dutch oven.

Add the frozen kale. Cook about three minutes.

Beef broth, kale, tomato, and ground sausage in a Dutch oven.

Add the beef broth and rigatoni pasta.

Rigatoni pasta in a Dutch oven.

Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the water is gone and pasta is tender (about eight to ten minutes).

If you want, you can sprinkle this with some Parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil before serving.

Personally, we don’t serve this with any sauce, but you could serve it with marinara sauce on top if you need a sauce on your pasta.

We definitely suggest serving this with a side salad and a good crunchy garlic bread.

Sausage pasta with kale and tomatoes in a bowl.

One Pot Sausage Pasta: Frequently Asked Questions

Do you have to use frozen kale?

I use frozen kale in this recipe because the frozen kale adds a little more liquid to the Dutch oven while it cooks. That gives the pasta a little more liquid to cook it, which helps overall.

If you can’t find frozen kale, or just happen to have fresh kale handy, you can use that instead.

If you use fresh kale, add an extra 1/4 cup of beef broth (or just plain water) and a 1/8 teaspoon salt when you add the beef broth.

And, if you don’t like kale or can’t find frozen kale in your grocery store, you can use frozen spinach instead.

Can you use sausage links instead of ground sausage?

Sausage crumbles are perfect in this sausage pasta recipe because they add a different texture to the recipe. But, if you’re looking for something to do with sausage links, you can use them in this recipe too.

Slice the sausage links into 1/4 inch slices and then cut those slices down the center. You can leave them whole, rather than cutting them in half, but they’ll just be a little big and will be a huge mouthful when you’re trying to get a bite of sausage, rigatoni, and all the vegetables at once.

So cut your sausage, then cook it in a pan with the onion and garlic. The sausage links will take longer to cook through that ground sausage, so just adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Follow the rest of the recipe as written.

Does the pasta actually cook through?

I don’t understand the magic (or science) behind how the pasta cooks in the Dutch oven and absorbs all the liquid but this doesn’t happen when you cook pasta in a pot of water.

So, because of the fact that I just can’t wrap my brain around that at all, I didn’t understand how this recipe really worked when my friend originally gave it to me.

But, believe it or not, the pasta absorbs all the broth and cooks through.

Keep in mind that different types of pasta have different cooking times. So this recipe does say cook the pasta for eight to ten minutes, but you may need to cook it a little longer depending on the type of pasta you use (for example, a whole wheat pasta will take longer to cook).

How do you store leftover One Pot Sausage Pasta?

Store leftover One Pot Sausage Pasta in an airtight container in the fridge. Cooked sausage should be eaten within four days of cooking.

If you aren’t going to eat the leftovers within four days, you can freeze leftovers in a freezer safe container. Be sure to eat it within three months of freezing.

Before eating frozen sausage pasta, let it defrost overnight before cooking.

How do you reheat this pasta?

Put a serving of pasta in a bowl and drizzle it with olive oil. Microwave on high for 30 seconds.

Alternatively, you can heat it up in a sauce pan on the stove, but that will take a lot longer than microwaving leftovers will.

This easy Barbecue Chicken Flatbread recipe uses 2 Ingredient Dough flatbread, although you could make it using store-bought too.

More Weeknight Dinner Recipes:

The best part about this recipe is that it’s so easy to make for a weeknight dinner. It’s minimal effort, on the table in about 30 minutes, and you only have to clean one pot when it’s done.

If you’re looking for some more easy weeknight dinners, we have a few you’ll love.

Yield: 6 Servings

One Pot Sausage Pasta

One Pot Sausage Pasta is the perfect weeknight dinner -- because you only have to clean one pot after dinner's done.

Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 16 oz. ground sausage
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 pint grape tomatoes
  • 12 oz. frozen kale
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 16 oz. rigatoni pasta

Instructions

    1. Cut the onion into small pieces. Add it and the olive oil to a Dutch oven. Sauté for about ten minutes until the onion starts to get translucent.
    2. Cut the garlic cloves and add them to the pan. Sauté for about two minutes.
    3. Add the ground sausage and salt. Break the sausage apart and cook until the sausage is cooked through, about five minutes.
    4. Cut the grape tomatoes in half and add them to the pan.
    5. Add the frozen kale. Cook about three minutes.
    6. Add the beef broth and rigatoni pasta.
    7. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer uncovered until the water is gone and pasta is tender (about eight to ten minutes).

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1

Amount Per Serving Calories 433Total Fat 24gSaturated Fat 7gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 13gCholesterol 46mgSodium 1288mgCarbohydrates 37gFiber 4gSugar 4gProtein 18g

Have you tried this One Pot Sausage Pasta recipe yet? Let us know what you thought in the comments.

Miz Helen

Wednesday 6th of May 2015

I love this dish, it looks awesome! Hope you are having a great week and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday. Come Back Soon! Miz Helen

Laci Carlson

Tuesday 5th of May 2015

Love this and how easy def would work for my family.

Corinne

Tuesday 5th of May 2015

I make a similar dish using tortellini. I love that it's so fast and my family loves it because it's pasta. Thanks so much for linking up your version at This Is How We Roll Thursday!

Jessica

Saturday 2nd of May 2015

Wow, that is easy! I LOVE one pot recipes. This one looks fabulous and makes me believe it's possible to still make dinner even if I really really really don't feel like it! Visiting you from the Mini Linky Party!

Rosie

Sunday 29th of March 2015

This recipe is perfect, it is hard to believe you can just toss it all in a pan and voila it comes out as good as having a huge kitchen full of pots and pans, I need to try this asap and find out!!!!

Skip to Recipe