Macheesmo

Just go ahead and bookmark this Easy Pesto Pasta with sausage recipe. It’s part of my ever-growing list of delicious pasta dishes that don’t use tomato sauce.

I love a good tomato sauce as much as the next Italian dude, but they can get a bit boring. But, of course, the main reason people use tomato sauce is because it makes for a really fast meal. That’s why I love to work on fast pastas like this recipe that don’t involve tomato sauce.

It’s like a breath of fresh air in the tomato sauce-filled pasta world.

Easy Pesto Pasta with Italian Sauce

This pasta dish is perfect comfort food. Simple flavors with sweet Italian sausage, arugula, and grape tomatoes, tossed with pasta and pesto.

3.30 from 24 votes

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 35 mins

Course Main Dishes

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ¾ pound tubular pasta cooked
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¾ pound sweet Italian sausage
• ¼ cup pesto
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• Fresh arugula
• Salt and pepper
• Pumpkin seeds garnish (opt.)

Instructions

 

• Cook pasta according to instructions. When pasta is al dente, drain pasta and toss pasta with pesto.
• Make small freeform meatballs out of the sweet Italian sausage. Add a drizzle of olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Place sausage in the skillet and cook, turning occasionally, until sausage is cooked through, about 10 minutes.
• Drain off any extra fat in the skillet, leaving about 2 tablespoons. Add pesto pasta to the skillet. If it seems dry, add about 1/4 cup of water to the skillet.
• Add in tomatoes and arugula and toss to combine. Season pasta with salt and pepper to taste. Feel free to add an extra spoonful of pesto if you want more pesto flavor.
• Serve pasta immediately while warm garnished with pumpkin seeds.

Nutrition

Serving: 1plateCalories: 707kcalCarbohydrates: 67gProtein: 24gFat: 37gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 66mgSodium: 774mgPotassium: 493mgFiber: 3gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 623IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 62mgIron: 2mg

Keyword Homemade Pesto, Italian Sausage, Pesto Recipes

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Easy Pesto Pasta with Sausage

I like to use sweet Italian sausage for this recipe, but spicy would work just fine as well if you want to add some zing to the recipe.

I just break up the sausage into kind of free-form meatballs and start them in a skillet with a little oil.

Cook the sausage over medium heat until it’s browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Drain off any excessive fat after the sausage is cooked. Some fat is good, but you don’t want more than a few tablespoons in the skillet.

Obviously while the sausage cooks, it’s a good idea to cook your pasta! I like to use a tubular pasta for this. Penne or something works great.

When the pasta is done, drain it and add the pesto straight to the hot pasta and toss it to combine.

Then toss the pasta into the skillet with the sausage. At this point, it’s kind of a feel game. If it seems too dry, add a little water to the skillet to loosen the sauce.

Then add the tomatoes (halved) and fold in the a few handfuls of arugula. That should be the last thing you do. The arugula will wilt a bit, but you don’t want to overcook it.

Now it’s a taste and go dish. Season with a little salt and pepper. Add a little more pesto if you want. You can make it your own!

Serve it up immediately while everything is nice and warm. I like to garnish mine with some pumpkin seeds for a little crunch. Obviously Parmesan cheese would be a good addition as well.

This Easy Pesto Pasta with sausage is such a nice dish and easy to make even on a weeknight!