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Home Pasta Recipes

Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in creamy tomato sauce

By:Nagi
Published:1 Jun '20Updated:7 Apr '21
154 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

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!

Close up of Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce in skillet, ready to be served

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?! 🙌🏻

Orecchiette pasta

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.

Overhead photo of Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce in bowl, ready to be eaten

What you need for Orecchiette Sausage Pasta

Here’s what you need:

What goes in Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

  • 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!

  • Kale – to break up the richness of the sauce. Spinach works great here too;

  • 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);

  • Parmesan – for a flavour boost!

  • Cream and milk – cream provides the richness, milk thins out the sauce more whilst still keeping the sauce that lovely pink colour!

  • Garlic – because very few of my recipes don’t have garlic;

  • 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

  • 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.

How to make Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce in skillet, fresh off the stove

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.

Close up of spoon scooping up Orecchiette Sausage Pasta in Creamy Tomato Sauce

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:

Close up of a refreshing Cucumber Salad with a tasty Herb & Garlic Dressing
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Close up of juicy Tomato Salad with Basil, ready to be served
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Everyday Salad Dressing
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Broccoli Salad with Lighter Creamy Dressing
Balsamic Vinegar Dressing - A classic everyone should know: 1 part vinegar, 3 parts oil. Keep for 3 weeks+. www.recipetineats.com
Balsamic Vinegar Dressing
Italian Dressing - the one dressing everyone should ALWAYS have in the fridge! Keeps for 2 weeks. www.recipetineats.com
Italian Dressing Recipe

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

Author: Nagi
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 15 minutes mins
Mains
Italian-esque, Western
4.99 from 73 votes
Servings5 - 5 people
Tap or hover to scale
Print
Recipe video above. 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!

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:

1. Sausage - the better the sausage, the better the pasta! Avoid the very cheap sausages used for backyard BBQ's that are a uniform pink colour (pink = fillers = no good for cooking like this). Look for sausages where you can see chunks of meat and fat, like you see in the recipe video and photos.
If using link sausages (in Australia, we only get Italian sausage meat in sausage form), squeeze the meat from the casings (it's easy, demo in video).
2. Tomato passata -  pureed, strained pure tomatoes, sometimes labelled Tomato Puree in the US (here's a photo of Mutti Tomato Passata sold at Walmart). Readily available in Australian supermarkets nowadays, alongside pasta sauces. If you can't find it, use crushed canned tomatoes and simmer rapidly for 5 minutes to reduce it more. 
3. Italian Herbs - just use a store bought pre mix. Otherwise, make up your own with equal amounts of thyme, basil, oregano, parsley and a pinch of rosemary.
4. Pasta cooking water - the starch in the water thickens the sauce when tossed with pasta. So if the sauce needs thinning, best to use the pasta cooking water instead of just normal water. Great traditional Italian pasta cooking technique to use in every pasta recipe!
5. Nutrition per serving. Never said it was diet. I said it was DELICIOUS! Shave off 80 calories by using light cream or half and half instead of full fat cream (sauce will still be nice and thick from the tomato).

Nutrition Information:

Calories: 817cal (41%)Carbohydrates: 71g (24%)Protein: 32g (64%)Fat: 44g (68%)Saturated Fat: 18g (113%)Cholesterol: 125mg (42%)Sodium: 949mg (41%)Potassium: 859mg (25%)Fiber: 4g (17%)Sugar: 6g (7%)Vitamin A: 4864IU (97%)Vitamin C: 54mg (65%)Calcium: 238mg (24%)Iron: 4mg (22%)
Keywords: orecchiette, orecchiette with sausage, Sausage Pasta
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

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154 Comments

  1. Fiona says

    June 10, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    I made this over the weekend, totally delicious! I used baby spinach instead of kale and it worked a treat. Great recipe, tasty and easy to make.

    Reply
  2. Chris says

    June 9, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    4 stars
    Can confirm this is also good made with Spanish style chorizio flavoured pork sausages and a bit of paprika because apparently European sausage is all the same when my husband does the grocery shopping. I used large shells (husband also had to Google orecchiette whilst in supermarket and got closest approximation of), baby spinach and a splash of Worcestershire because that is pretty how I roll with savoury dishes and it is currently being stuffed into his face after 90 minutes of karate training and he says DELICIOUS.

    Will try again with the Italian version! The only thing I found was that I had to simmer it longer (10 min+) for it to thicken up to my satisfaction. But very, very tasty!

    Reply
  3. Ainsley says

    June 8, 2020 at 10:54 am

    5 stars
    Absolutely delicious! Easy, quick, so tasty!

    Reply
  4. Roberta says

    June 8, 2020 at 7:27 am

    Made the Orecchiette Sausage pasta for dinner last night. Very nice! Family enjoyed it and we will add it to our pasta favourites. I only had a salad mix of arugula and young kale so I used that and it worked out although the arugula was a little stringy. Next time I will make sure I have Kale and/or spinach on hand to do the recipe full justice. Always been pleased with any of Nagi’s suggestions. And she is very responsive to comments and questions. Thank you again Nagi

    Reply
  5. Connie says

    June 7, 2020 at 11:01 am

    Hi Nagi, just wondering could I use a soft chorizo here, or would it be too over powering?

    Thanks and love your website

    Reply
  6. Robyn says

    June 6, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    Thanks Nagi excellent flavour
    And throughly enjoyed will definitely make again

    Reply
  7. Pat says

    June 6, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    5 stars
    One word, YUMMY.. So easy to make. I shared with two others. Thank you so much for being my go to recipe source.

    Reply
  8. J-Mom says

    June 6, 2020 at 9:42 am

    5 stars
    This is sooo unbelievably good!!!
    Thanks to you, I’m finding great ways to incorporate kale in my diet.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 6, 2020 at 3:19 pm

      That’s so great to hear – and it’s such a good green! N x

      Reply
  9. Belinda says

    June 5, 2020 at 6:06 pm

    5 stars
    Hi Nagi, I made this for tea tonight. It was delicious. I didn’t have any cream so I added some milk powder to the milk. It was packed full of flavour. Great idea with the sausages,I’d never thought of using them this way. All plates empty,I’d call that success. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 5, 2020 at 7:53 pm

      I’m so glad it worked Belinda, that’s great to hear! N x

      Reply
  10. Vera G says

    June 5, 2020 at 10:32 am

    No you are not referring to Dozer, you better not he is priceless . Meal is good and it does need bit more veggies but am not keen on side salad it’s freezing outside thus Am was only 4 C. I could have broccoli on side need lots of green yesterday had another Iron infusion and was told to keep eating spinach and more of beef and gas to be rare .
    ok, be good and safe.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 5, 2020 at 12:19 pm

      Oh no Vera – sounds like you need a decent steak! N x

      Reply
  11. Sofia says

    June 5, 2020 at 7:39 am

    I have made most of your recipes. And are enjoyed by all Thank you

    Reply
  12. Cathy says

    June 3, 2020 at 10:51 pm

    5 stars
    Fabulous! Cooked this tonight and it was a winner 😍
    Your recipes are becoming standard in our house Nagi. We love their simplicity and wonderful flavour. Thank you.

    Reply
  13. Kym says

    June 3, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely outstanding packed with flavour and I got Italian sausages marked down… thankyou Nagi for another 5 star dish

    Reply
  14. Nomes says

    June 3, 2020 at 9:27 am

    5 stars
    Delish! Added a little more garlic and chilli flakes to satisfy the hoard. We had to settle for ‚shells‘.

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 3, 2020 at 7:39 pm

      Shells are great too! I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x

      Reply
  15. Susi V says

    June 3, 2020 at 6:42 am

    5 stars
    Ticks all the boxes for ultimate comfort food! I didn’t have orechiette (I love them but they are hard to get hold of where I live) but I had some good quality fresh pasta and it was divine. Used swiss chard from the garden. This will be a weeknight favourite all winter!!!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 3, 2020 at 8:44 am

      Perfect Susi, I’m so glad you loved it! N x

      Reply
  16. Jill says

    June 2, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    5 stars
    Just made your sausage orecchiette pasta and once again, was not disappointed! I love love love your recipes! When I’m stuck for something to cook, I say to myself, “Self, this is a Nagi Night”. I can always find something new (and old) to whip up for dinner on your website! So good to have recipes from an “Aussie” – no need to try ask Google to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and no need to leave Australia to find ingredients! Keep cooking and inspiring us Nagi!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 2, 2020 at 6:55 pm

      That’s great to hear Jill, thanks so much!!! N x

      Reply
  17. Eha Carr says

    June 2, 2020 at 11:04 am

    5 stars
    Oh, I have always loved ‘little ears’ which is the translation of the word ! Often cook with such ! This is absolutely lovely to look forward to . . . actually not too many sins if one plays around with milk and cream proportions 🙂 ! Dozer . . . well he only sighted that other pup . . and that one . . . and that 🙂 !!

    Reply
  18. Dave says

    June 2, 2020 at 10:18 am

    Sorry to ask something so trivial, but in note #4, shouldn’t it read the opposite of what you have written. Meaning if you want to thin the sauce use plain water instead of the pasta cooking water?

    Reply
    • David says

      June 2, 2020 at 6:27 pm

      Using pasta water still thins the sauce, but not as extremely as plain water would. To me, the note seems correct as it stands

      Reply
  19. Rick Rezac says

    June 2, 2020 at 5:24 am

    In the dish, can the mexican chorizo be used, not the salami style chorizo but the casing style that is a bit mushy? Good sausage is hard to find here.
    Thanks

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      June 6, 2020 at 7:18 pm

      5 stars
      An absolute delight. It was completely devoured by my family. Will definitely be making again.

      Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 2, 2020 at 11:20 am

      Hi Rick, different flavour but yet you can definitely use that! N x

      Reply
  20. Robin says

    June 2, 2020 at 4:42 am

    I was lucky enough to be in Italy in 2019 and enjoyed orecchiette. The shape has something to do with the Pope’s ear, perhaps extended to the priest’s ears listening to confessionals! This looks like a great recipe! Thanks, Nagi!

    Reply
    • Nagi says

      June 2, 2020 at 11:21 am

      Interesting Robin!! N x

      Reply
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Hi, I'm Nagi!

I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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