Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage Pasta

Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage Pasta

Hearty, healthy, easy AND delicious. This was so quick and easy I whipped it up for a quick lunch this weekend.

As is often the case, I headed out to the market - this time Whole Foods - to pick up some specific items and ended up strolling around the store and getting super hungry.

This chicken sausage really caught my eye:

Lots of delicious flavor and not too spicy at all - just perfect!

And I immediately thought it would go great (and would be quick) in a pasta dish, so I headed to look for some fresh rigatoni pasta. I didn't find that so I wandered into the dry pasta area and discovered pasta made with farro! So healthy and hearty.

Of course I abandoned the rigatoni idea and went straight for this healthy pasta:

Pasta made with farro!

With a few more simple ingredients, the sauce was ready in no time:

And since you'll have the pasta cooking while your pulling your sauce together, dinner (or lunch in this case) will be ready in under 30 minutes...easily under 30 minutes.

Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 12-ounce package spicy Italian chicken sausage links, sliced into bite size pieces (I used Brat Hans)

1 8.8-ounce package organic farro casareccia pasta (or any pasta) (I used Rustichella d'Abruzzo)

1-2 teaspoons dried Italian herb seasoning

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 14.5-ounce can whole tomatoes

1 whole roasted red pepper, torn or cut into small strips

salt to taste

shredded and/or grated Parmigiano Reggiano (don't skimp here, Parmigiano Reggiano is the best and makes a huge difference)

fresh basil for garnish

Heat a skillet to medium and add olive oil, then brown the slices of chicken sausage. It's already fully cooked, so you are just browning here.


Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions using heavily salted water. This will help give a little more flavor to the pasta.


When the sausage has browned add the Italian herb seasoning, crushed red pepper, and garlic and saute for about a minute until the garlic is fragrant:

Next add the tomatoes, roasted red pepper, and a heavy pinch of salt, and stir using your spoon to break up the whole tomatoes into smaller chunks.

liquids will cook away in about 10 minutes or so

Saute over medium heat, stirring occasionally and allowing the liquids to cook away, about 10 minutes or so. Taste and, if desired, add more salt and crushed red pepper to taste.


When pasta is ready, drain and place in large pasta bowl. Drizzle a little extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle shredded or grated Parmigiano Reggiano over the pasta, then cover with sauce. Garnish with more Parmigiano Reggiano and fresh basil. Excellent served with garlic bread.

Welcome to a big bowl of hearty and delicious!

Wine Pairing:

2008 Root: 1 Carmenere

$16 at Tom Thumb/Vons

This bold red from Chile is fabulous and well-balanced with gentle notes of blackberry, plum and spice. Think Bordeaux. I would enjoy this anytime but it was excellent paired with this spicy pasta.

Root: 1 uses grapes grown from their original, ungrafted root systems. The result is pure and delicious.