Pasta with Chicken Sausage, Mozzarella, Tomatoes, and Basil
Posted: 10/19/2011
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Enjoy this savory pasta with chicken sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, tomatoes, spinach and basil. How can you go wrong with that line-up of delicious ingredients?!
I didn’t want to leave anything out in the title. I’m in love with all the ingredients in this dish.
I quite often buy chicken sausage when I go to the store. It isn’t usually part of my “menu plan” for the week. I buy it for these days:
- Days when I don’t have a meal planned.
- Days when I’m not “feeling” what I have planned.
- Days when something goes wrong with what I have planned. Which never happens. (Eye roll.)
- Days when I end up not having time to make what I have planned. Those are usually nights when my hubs gets home late from work. It is hard to prepare dinner unless he is home to help keep the baby entertained.
I like chicken sausage because it’s fully cooked and keeps for a while in the fridge — at least a couple weeks, making it a perfect back up plan.
And it’s so versatile! I can serve it with rice and veggies or I can throw it into pasta with whatever I have in the house.
I also like the different varieties offered, because I find that they inspire recipes (such as this one.)
The variety of sausage I used in the photos is “Sun-dried tomatoes with mozzarella” and it inspired a delightful pasta dish. Here’s how:
Slice the sausage links and brown them in a bit of olive oil. Remove from the pan, and sauté mushrooms. Toss in spinach leaves and grape tomatoes and briefly cook. Add whole wheat pasta (I like penne), sausage, fresh basil, and fresh mozzarella. Aren’t those little mozzarella pearls cute?
There! Healthy, filling, delicious. And as always, easy.
P.S. I like to garnish this pasta dish with toasted pine nuts. Actually I like to garnish everything with toasted pine nuts! Or if you’re a fancy-pants: Pignolias. I could eat them by the handful. But I’d go broke. If you’re not a fan, you can eat this pasta without them, or you could grate some Parmesan over the top. But I would strongly encourage the addition of the pine nuts.
And here’s a hint: To toast the pine nuts, I put them on a paper towel and heat them in the microwave, for 30 second intervals, until they are toasted and fragrant. Don’t tell anyone that I cheat and use the microwave, but why get another pan out?
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
servings
Enjoy this savory pasta with chicken sausage, mushrooms, mozzarella, tomatoes, spinach and basil. How can you go wrong with that line-up of delicious ingredients?!
Ingredients
- 12 oz pasta--I like whole wheat penne rigate
- reserved pasta water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 12 oz chicken sausage, sliced (sun-dried tomato with mozzarella)
- 16 oz sliced white mushrooms
- 3 oz fresh baby spinach
- 5 oz grape tomatoes
- 1 cup fresh mozzarella pearls (you can dice up any type but the pearls are oh-so-cute!)
- 1/2 chopped fresh basil
- toasted pine nuts for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Put on water to boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Remember to reserve about a half cup of pasta water before draining.
- Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced sausage and cook until browned and slightly crispy. Remove to a paper-towel lined plate.
- Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté until browned and cooked. Toss in spinach and grape tomatoes and cook until spinach is wilted and tomatoes begin to split.
- Remove from heat and stir in cooked pasta, basil and mozzarella pearls. Stir to combine, adding reserved pasta water to achieve your desired consistency. (I added ~1/2 cup of reserved pasta water.)
- Garnish with toasted pine nuts, if desired.
Nutrition Information
Serving: 1of 4, Calories: 646kcal, Carbohydrates: 53g, Protein: 43g, Fat: 30g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 16g, Cholesterol: 115mg, Sodium: 880mg, Fiber: 7g, Sugar: 5g
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Miss @ Miss in the Kitchen says
Looks delicious! I had no idea you could toast pine nuts in the microwave!
Claire @ Claire K Creations says
I love that there are other people who have to ‘feel’ the meal that they’ve planned. That happens to me so often. I have it all planned out then the day comes and I don’t feel like whatever’s on the plan. It’s great to have a backup.
Michele West says
This looks delicious!
Autumn@Good Eats Girl says
Sounds awesome! I love a good pasta dish! YUM!
Lisa @ Lisa's Dinnertime Dish says
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Geni says
What a beautiful pasta dish. I would love all of these ingredients. I wish I could just pop by and have some!
Ericka says
So nice and healthy! I meant to say earlier that I loved your meal planning post from a couple of days ago. I’m gonna try that! Sooo bad a meal planning!
Bev Weidner says
Girl, you know we both love our sausages. ;)
I could take a nap inside that dish.
Leslie Means @ Her View From Home says
Oh I love all these ingredients – especially the pine nuts, mozzarella and spinach!! YUM-O!! Best part, I’m pretty sure my husband and girls would love it too! By the way – I linked your pumpkin seed recipes on my blog yesterday. Such a great idea!
Brooke @ Veggie Table says
Minus the chicken sausage (for the obvious reason) – I’m allll over this Not Rachael Ray Original! :)
Rachel says
Hahaha, yeah–maybe some fake chicken sausage? :)
Brooke @ Veggie Table says
Yes – fake chicken…or nothing – this recipe seems so flavorful!! I bet it could hold its own without the sausage :) Oh my gyah, I’m hungry for this pasta bowl right nowww!
Rachel says
It definitely could, especially with the whole wheat pasta.
Tara @ Chip Chip Hooray says
I definitely felt my hunger factor increase as soon as the first picture in this post loaded. This is everything I love in one pasta dish…and I want some right now! Sigh. :)
Nelly Rodriguez says
Love it! This is my kind of meal for sure, easy and super tasty!
Judy@Savoring Today says
Yum, this looks really tasty! Those sausages are great in a Thai peanut sauce too :)
Rachel says
Oh yum, I bet they are!
Kitchen Belleicious says
Girl! Wow! This looks amazing and all those extra goodies in there like the cheese and basil and mushrooms just make it extra special. A new favorite of mine is chicken sausage and I can’t wait to take this recipe and make it for myself- i mean my family of course- of course they can have some too:) LOL!
Kathryn says
Oh the flavours in this sound delicious! Perfectly warm and comforting, especially for Autumn. And I love the trick about toasting pine nuts in the microwave!
Rachel says
It is so quick and easy, I toast all my nuts in the microwave!