Orecchiette has one big thing going for it that other pastas do not: its cup shape makes it the perfect vehicle to hold special pasta sauces. The creamy tomato sausage pasta sauce featured in this recipe is orecchiette worthy!
Decadent? Yes. Have salad tomorrow!
Orecchiette Sausage Pasta
Don’t you hate it when you twirl an enormous mound of spaghetti on your fork, only to find that you’ve just got pasta and no toppings??
Even more annoying is when you bring it up to your mouth and loose strands slap around your mouth, causing pasta sauce to splatter all over your face – and your white top.
Such are the challenges of our pasta lovin’ life.
Thankfully, the Italians came up with a solution – little cup shaped pastas called “orecchiette” which act as little scoops to hold pasta sauce. How clever is that?! 🙌🏻
Truth be told, I do not know if orecchiette pasta was invented to solve the pasta-slapping/sauce splattering/toppingless spaghetti problem.
I just know that it’s wildly practical – and we should all use it more often!! 😂
(PS And you can, in fact, use it for virtually any pasta recipe. Orecchiette Bolognese, anyone??)
Today, I’m sharing a flavour loaded, decadent creamy tomato sausage pasta sauce that I deem to be orecchiette worthy. The little bits of sausage nestled in those little cups, blanketed in that creamy sauce … mmmm! It’s so good it should be illegal!
“Orecchiette” means “ear” in Italian which refers to the ear-like shape of this type of pasta.
What you need for Orecchiette Sausage Pasta
Here’s what you need:
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Italian sausages – the better the sausage, the better the sauce! Here in Australia, Italian sausages only come in link form (as pictured above), but squeezing the meat out is cinch to do. In fact, anyone with a lifetime of cooking sausages knows full well the meat wants to come out of the casings!
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Kale – to break up the richness of the sauce. Spinach works great here too;
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Tomato Passata or puree – this thickens the sauce as well as providing lovely tomato flavour to cut through the richness of the cream and sausage. Tomato Passata, called tomato puree in the US, is just pure, plain tomato that’s pureed and strained – nowadays found in everyday supermarkets in Australia. But don’t fret if you can’t find it – crushed tomato or even tomato paste can be used in a cinch (quantities in recipe);
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Parmesan – for a flavour boost!
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Cream and milk – cream provides the richness, milk thins out the sauce more whilst still keeping the sauce that lovely pink colour!
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Garlic – because very few of my recipes don’t have garlic;
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Italian herbs – staying on theme with the sausages. Just use a store bought premix. Not the end of the world if you don’t use dried herbs in this, we get loads of flavour from the sausages; and
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Red pepper flakes (chilli flakes) – for a hint of warmth. Optional!
How to make Orecchiette Sausage Pasta
Nothing unique about the making part! The sausage pasta sauce comes together in the same time the orecchiette pasta takes to cook (12 minutes), making this a great quick dinner recipe.
KEY TIP: Avoid the cheap sausages that are a uniform pink colour – they are loaded with fillers. Look for sausages with specks of meat and white fat, as pictured above.
On the side
I’d love to be able to tell you that this is a complete meal…but it’s a wee bit light on the greens! 😂 So add a fresh salad on the side to round it out – here are a few suggestions:
You know something? I just realised that I forgot to mention another very important characteristic of orecchiette pasta:
YOU CAN EAT IT WITH A SPOON
Which means it falls into a very important category of food I call Couch Food, being food you can eat with a spoon without taking your eyes off the TV.
Or trashy novel. Or a rag-mag.
Just something that requires minimal brainpower so you can concentrate on really savouring Every. Single. Bite! – Nagi x
PS I suppose one could eat this while reading something a little more intellectual, but I just think my brain would implode with all that delicious going on in my mouth as well as having to think while reading? My brain just doesn’t have the bandwidth for that.😇
Watch how to make it
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Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 400g / 14oz orecchiette pasta (or other pasta)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves , minced
- 500g / 1lb Italian pork sausages , meat squeezed out of their casings (see video, Note 1)
- 1/4 cup white wine , anything not too sweet (sub water)
- 1 cup tomato passata (called "tomato puree" in US, Note 2)
- 3/4 cup cream , heavy/thickened
- 3/4 cup milk (any fat %)
- 1/3 cup parmesan , finely grated
- 1 tsp Italian herbs (Note 3)
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (chilli flakes)
- 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
- 3 cups (packed) kale leaves , torn into bite size pieces (or baby spinach, swiss chard, Tuscan kale etc)
- Parmesan , for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook pasta according to packet directions MINUS 1 minute. Just before draining, scoop out 1 cup of pasta cooking water and set aside. (Note 4)
- Heat oil in a very large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and cook for 15 seconds.
- Add sausage meat and cook, breaking it up as you go, until there are some little golden bits - about 4 minutes.
- Add wine and cook, scraping the bottom of the skillet to remove the golden bits, and allow wine to evaporate - the winey smell will disappear.
- Add remaining ingredients except kale. Stir well, bring to simmer then turn stove down to low and simmer gently for 2 minutes to bring all the flavours together.
- Add pasta and kale. Toss well for 1 minute to coat pasta well with the sauce - it will thicken. If the sauce gets too thick, use the reserved pasta cooking water to loosen it up (Note 4).
- Serve immediately, garnished with freshly grated parmesan
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
More creamy pasta recipes
For all those days when nothing but a creamy pasta will do….
Life of Dozer
Tip run today – boot was full of rubbish. (Yes Dozer, I’m referring to YOU! 😂)
Rachael says
A family favorite!
Thank you for sharing such a delicious and quick family recipe.
Lynda says
Was given some kale and headed straight to recipetineats to look for recipes. Found this one and thought oh yeah, I’ll try this as it looks quick to make.
Cooked this tonight using sausages from the local butcher.
WOW! Big flavour for not a lot of effort.
Will grab more sausages next time I’m at the butcher to keep in the freezer as this is another awesome recipe using everyday ingredients. Thank you Nagi.
Lisa says
Love this recipe, it’s such a staple in our house. I always make sure I have Italian sausages from my favourite butcher in the freezer, just so I can make this whenever we fancy…which is often. Yum!
Geoff says
Hope all is well with you……and the Dozer boy? Just wanted to know if the orecchiette sausage pasta is freezable?
Lynn Lozer says
I love your recipes, made this one tonight, it was fabulous.
But you need to stop advertising Barilla pasta. They are anti LGBT and I won’t support the company.
BTW, I’m a heterosexual woman
Michele T says
Absolutely delicious Nagi! Perfect for a cool autumn evening 🥰
AMF says
This was even better than it sounded. It was delicious and came together really fast once I measured/prepped the ingredients. I left out the kale since my son and husband won’t eat it–still yummy. Perfect for a weeknight!
The Sudden Cook says
Excited to try this out for the kids! I would also use small shell pasta.
Nagi says
You could definitely use any pasta of choice here 🙂 N x
Char says
This went like mad in my house! Absolutely delicious! Didn’t have orecchiette pasta, so I used small shell pasta. My guys who don’t think they like kale devoured the whole thing 😉 This another keeper recipe! Thanks Nagi!
Bella S says
“Best pasta I have ever eaten” – fussy Husband.
Another winner!
Chris says
We’ve made this for our family and gotten similar remarks from our children! haha
Nikki says
I made this tonight BUT I didn’t have any sausages so I used the beef and veal meatballs from woolies and OMG 😳 it… was… AMAZING!! I also added hidden veggies, using the veggie rice from birds eye, because I have a fussy boy and he demolished this. Thank you Nagi.
Stephanie Flood says
I’ve made this so many times and it’s delish. Want to make it today but I don’t have cream so I’m going to substitute with mascarpone. Fingers crossed 🤞
Malissa says
Any suggestions on how to make this dairy free?
Maggie says
In the US, carnation evaporated milk sells a “almond cooking milk” cream usually by the evaporated milk section at Walmart. I use a 11oz carton of this plus dairy free parm cheese and it turns out fantastic!
Michael Callahan says
For the leftover sausage, we are going to make sausage, onion and mushroom pizza (2-ingredient dough) with calabrian chili oil. A local pizza joint makes a heavenly pie and we are trying to duplicate. Not sure what dinner # 3 will be (we only used 2 sausages out of a package of 6 for the pasta. Any suggestions?
Nagi says
Roll them in some puff pastry and pop in the oven for super quick sausage rolls Michael! N x
Michael Callahan says
Winner winner sausage and pasta dinner! Made this using the serving slider set to 2 servings and it came out perfect! Thanks so much! It is so hard to cook for 2!
Michael Callahan says
I just cant keep up. Gonna make this after your moussaka. Love your technique.
Yana says
Any recommendations what can be used instead of cream? Unfortunately, can not find lactose free cream here. Maybe more Parmesan and milk?
Phill says
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but i think you’ll find that milk and cheese are also dairy :0
Tony Petruzalek says
What a smashing meal. So easy to make, and so yum!!!! Nagi another one to add to the list for future meals!
Rebecca says
This was so delicious. Had to use caramelised onion sausages, which I worried might be too strong but was delicious! We doubled the chilli as we like a bit more heat. Will be going on our regular menu.
Daniel Bolton says
Very delicious, and easy to make. Also love Dozer’s cameos at the end of each recipe 🙂