Weeknight Sausage and Pepper Pasta
This easy Sausage and Pepper Pasta meal is a delicious pasta spin on sausage and peppers, prepared thoughtfully using better ingredients. Pair with a side salad for a weeknight dinner you can feel very good about. With lunch leftovers the next day that will rock.
Sooo, yes. Here I am in mid-ish-December – in the midst of cookies and Christmas spirit, dropping off a little pasta dish to the world. To you.
Because you are busy as hell. As am I. So I thought it more useful to help you out and give you a new weeknight number. And this recipe was so easy …like, really easy folks, to drum up as dinner for my family. And it was so loved.
Italian sausage and peppers, either in a sub or alone, is an outstanding traditional Italian-American dish. Just another reason why I wish I was Italian. This super simple rotini variation with healthier chicken sausage, easy canned tomatoes, and always awesome fresh bell pepper was totally delicious.
And there is just not much else to say about it 🙂
So here it is kids! The holidays and all the shopping and wrapping that goes with… we got this. Here is a healthy Sausage and Pepper Pasta dinner to help get us there and free us up to enjoy the season.
Weeknight Sausage and Pepper Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 tsp extra virgin olive oil divided
- 1 8 oz pkg sliced mushrooms
- 1 12 oz pkg organic chicken sausage (I used Aidells spinach and feta)
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
- ½ yellow onion diced
- kosher salt
- fresh cracked pepper
- ¼ cup red wine
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 6 oz tri-color rotini pasta
- garnish: fresh chopped Italian flat-leaf parsley optional
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente.
- While pasta is cooking, heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in a large, nonstick saucepan over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until well browned. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and set aside.
- In the same pan, heat the remaining teaspoon olive oil. Add the sausage, green bell pepper, and onion, along with a good pinch salt and pepper. Cook until the veggies just start to soften and the sausage is browned.
- Add the wine to the pan to deglaze. Cook for a minute to reduce. Add the tomatoes with their juice and simmer a couple minutes. Add the pasta, toss, and allow the pasta to finish cooking in the sauce. Serve topped with fresh parsley. Yields 4 servings.