Sausage. Cream. Pasta. These three words, when combined, might just be my favorite phrase ever. The tomato-based cream sauce provides a velvety backdrop to the sweet fennel sausage, and the pappardelle proves to be the perfect medium to deliver both right to your mouth. And the best part - this can be on your table (and in your mouth) in no time!
This is one of those ground sausage recipes that imparts so much flavor into a sauce. The flavor of the Italian sausage is so key in this hearty dish so buy the best sausage you can get!
Process
Shown are most of the ingredients.
First step is to roughly chop the onions and garlic. If you like the garlic or onion more finely chopped go for it.
Remove the sausage casing by making a slit.
Saute the onions and garlic in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil for 5 minutes on medium-low. The objective is to sweat them but not burn the onions.
The next step is to saute all of the ground Italian sausage. Turn the heat to medium and break up the sausage with the back of a wooden spoon.
After about 20 minutes of sauteing the sausage will be nice and brown. If you have any large clumps of sausage now is the time to break them up.
Crush one 28 oz can of whole plum tomatoes with your hands in a large bowl. Be careful to not splatter - I do this in my sink. Alternatively, a two second pulse in a blender is fine.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the sauteed sweet Italian sausage. Also add the full 6 ounces of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon of black pepper and a ½ teaspoon of dried oregano. Stir it all together - cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for 30 minutes on medium to medium-low.
While the sauce is cooking boil the pasta according to the package directions. Before draining the pasta reserve 3 cups of pasta water. This is very important!
After 30 mins of cooking remove the lid and add 1 cup of pasta water and stir all the sauce together. Let it cook for 5 minutes to blend well.
Finally turn the heat to low and add 1 cup of cream and stir it all together. Let it cook for 2 minutes to fully incorporate.
Add the pasta to a large bowl and spoon the sauce all over. Don't use all the sauce unless you need to. There might be leftovers depending on the pasta used. Mix the sauce and pasta together well.
If the sauce is a little too thick and the pasta is a little dry add a ½ cup of pasta water or more. This will help in getting the exact right consistency in the sauce/pasta ratio.
More Comforting Pasta Recipes
- Sausage and Peppers Rigatoni
- Pasta alla Boscaiola
- Sausage and Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Chicken Riggies with cherry peppers
- Pasta alla Norcina
- Authentic Bolognese With Pappardelle
- Sausage pasta fagioli
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Ingredients
- 1 pound pappardelle pasta
- 1.5-2 pounds sweet Italian sausage
- 8 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 medium chopped onion
- 28 oz whole plum tomatoes
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp crushed red pepper
- ½ tsp dried oregano
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups pasta water
- 1 cup grated Parmigiano or Pecorino
- ¼ cup fresh chopped basil
Instructions
- Chop onion and garlic roughly. Pulse plum tomatoes in blender or break about gently in large bowl with hands. Remove all the sausage from casings.
- Saute garlic and onions on medium-low heat for 5 minutes to soften.
- Add ground sausage to pan and turn heat to medium. Saute sausage for roughly 20 minutes. Break sausage apart with wooden spoon during the saute process.
- Add the salt, crushed pepper, oregano, crushed tomatoes, and tomato paste to the sausage and stir it all together. Cover and cook on medium to medium low for 30 minutes.
- Boil pasta according to package directions. Before draining pasta reserve 3 cups of pasta water.
- Remove lid from sauce at 30 minutes and add 1 cup of pasta water. Stir together and cook for 5 more minutes uncovered.
- Turn heat to low and add cream. Stir together well and cook for 2 more minutes. Taste sauce and adjust salt or pepper if necessary.
- Place cooked pasta in a large bowl and spoon the sausage sauce all over the pasta. Do not go overboard with the sauce as you might have extra.
- Mix the sauce and pasta together and if it is not creamy enough add a ½ cup of pasta water to loosen the sauce. Do this in small increments to get the perfect consistency.
- Finally add the chopped basil and serve in bowls with Italian bread, grated cheese, and (if any) the extra sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure to use heavy cream to avoid breaking the sauce.
Always love your process shots, James! That one with the sauce after you poured in the cream is swoon worthy! This recipe sounds so amazing - so rich and delicious! I can't wait to try it!
Thanks Haylie. My goal is to really step up the amount of process shots. It's definitely one of those hard to resist comfort dishes.
Oh my!!! This pasta looks so good!!! Yummy.
Thanks very much!
This is such a delicious comfort food dinner! The creamy sausage sauce sounds amazing!
Thanks for the comment Kristine. It's definitely one of our favorites!
Two enthusiastic thumbs up from my family, toddler included. We served over Banza and it didn’t compromise the sauce at all! So so yummy!
That's great to hear. I'm happy you enjoyed it!
Very easy to make and full of flavour, instant hit with the family. Even two fussy kids, definitely make this again
Great to hear! Glad you all enjoyed it.
I am giving this 5 stars before the sauce is even finished because hubby smelled it as he came home, then tasted the sauce and declared it delicious! Will be in my rotation of dinners.
Thanks so much! This is one of our go-to recipes. I'm glad it's now one of yours!
Can I use crushed tomatoes instead of pulse plum tomatoes?
Absolutely. Any quality crushed tomato would be fine. Enjoy!
Fabulous recipe!! Do you have a cookbook out? TY TY TY for this recipe!!!!!
I made your pork chop + vinegar pepper recipe. Sooo good. The key was cooking the pork chops at 325 degrees for 1 1/2. Wow delicious.
Hey thank you! I'm glad you liked both this one and the pork chops. I plan to get a book out within the next 12-18 months. Until then, I'll keep posting weekly recipes.
Made this dish for dinner today! It was super easy to make! And it was really delicious! My husband, went back for 3rds! Both of my sons also loved it!
Thank you for another winning dish! 💕
Glad to hear you all enjoyed it! Appreciate you making the recipes and leaving feedback.
You always make cooking fun and so easy to follow. Watching your videos I learn something new every day, it's a pleasure to watch them and in my case, I often watch them 4-5 or 6 times.
Hi Darlene. Thanks for watching the videos. I find video instruction is so important even for a very well-written recipe. My goal is to make every written recipe here into a long-form hosted video. Glad they are providing value to you and I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Phenomenal! Easy to make but tastes like a million bucks.
Hey Tom. Really glad you enjoyed the recipe!
I've been watching your videos on YouTube for awhile now. I finally got enough nerve to try one...this one. It turn out great. I added some mushrooms and spinach to it. My entire family enjoyed it. It will not be long before I try another one of your recipes. My wife was calling me "Chef" all night. hehehe
Hi David. Really glad you and the family enjoyed it. Thanks for watching my videos, chef!
from southern california keep cooking
Thank you, Steven!
A flavor explosion! Delicious!
Hi Sarah, thank you, and glad you liked the recipe!
This is by far one of my favorite recipes! Absolutely delicious! My kids and hubby beg for this. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Renee, thanks for your comment and so happy you all enjoy this recipe!
This was sooo damn good and very simple Thank you thank you for sharing!!
Thank you, Kim! So happy you liked this one!
Can you use half n half instead of heavy cream?
Hi Janice, you can try but it may break. You may want to temper the half and half before adding to help with that.
really tasty and delicious and easy to make!👌
Hi Loretta, so happy you enjoyed this recipe! Thanks for the comment!
This was amazing! I was skeptical because the recipe seemed so simple, and so many recipes for this dish seem fussy in comparison. I stand corrected. This is classic and delicious. Truly flawless. Hey, if you know, you know. Thank you.
Hi there, thanks for the comment and so happy you liked it!