One Pot Creamy Sausage Pasta
This easy one pot creamy sausage pasta with cream cheese can be whipped up in 40 minutes and is a favourite family dinner for busy weeknights.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil ($0.08 /£0.03p)
- 4 pork sausages, (approx 400g / 14oz in weight) ($4.00 /£1.25)
- 1 brown onion, finely chopped ($0.45 /£0.10p)
- 1 capsicum / bell pepper, finely chopped ($2.48 /£0.48p)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed ($0.26 /£0.05p)
- 400g (14oz) tin or can of chopped / diced tomatoes ($0.75 /£0.28p)
- 300g (10½oz) penne pasta ($0.60 /£0.45p)
- 1100ml (4½c) water ($0 /£0)
- 60g (2oz) cream cheese ($0.70 /£0.30p)
- salt ($0.01 /£0.01)
- black pepper ($0.01 /£0.01)
Instructions
- Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausages in to a large saucepan and heat with the oil over a medium heat until golden, breaking up with a spoon as you stir.
- Remove the sausage pieces and place on some kitchen towel. Add the chopped onion to the pan and cook for 5 minutes until soft, scraping any bits of sausage that have stuck to the pan to prevent them from burning (see tip in notes below if it's starting to burn too much).
- Add the chopped capsicum / pepper and crushed garlic and cook for 2 minutes.
- Tip in the pasta, tinned tomatoes, water and return the sausages to the pan.
- Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 15-18 minutes until the pasta is tender and the sauce has thickened. Stir occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Take off the heat and stir through the cream cheese. Check for seasoning. You shouldn't need any salt as the sausages tend to be salty, but I like to add a pinch of black pepper.
- Serve straight away.
Notes
Estimated costs:
Australia: AUS$9.34. Per serve: $2.34. (This was calculated when capsicum were around $2.48 each at the supermarket, if you buy at a fruit and vegetable shop, buy 'wonky' capsicums, or other seasons then the price will reduce by quite a bit!
UK: £2.96. Per Serve: 74p.
(This massive difference between the countries is mainly down to the price of the capsicum / bell pepper!)
Sausages - I like to use Italian sausages or plain pork sausages, but you can use chicken sausages if you prefer.
Onion - brown onion
Garlic - fresh garlic adds a delicious taste to the pasta, but you can substitute with ¼ - ⅓ teaspoon of garlic powder if you prefer.
Capsicum - bell pepper. I like to use red, but you can swap it for green capsicum / pepper which is often cheaper, or yellow or orange capsicum / pepper if you have those to hand.
Tinned tomatoes - I like to use crushed / diced tinned tomatoes but you can use tinned plum tomatoes and break them up with a spoon.
Pasta - I often use penne pasta or fusilli pasta to make this recipe, but you can use any pasta shapes you like: bows / farfelle, pasta spirals / fusilli, shells or macaroni.
Water - I like to use plain water, but if you had any vegetable or chicken stock you wanted to use that would work. Just check bought stocks as they could make the sausage pasta salty when combined with the sausages.
Cream cheese - plain cream cheese. I use Philadephia cream cheese if I can buy it on offer, or supermarket own brand other times. I recommend you use full fat cream cheese as it makes the pasta creamier and is less watery.
If the sausage meat has stuck to the pan and is beginning to burn, carefully add a little water from the kettle - warning! - it will steam and spit so stand back to avoid being burnt. Once its stopped steaming, gently scrape the bits with a spoon (keep them - they are full of flavour!).
Don't drain the tomatoes - you want all that lovely juice.
Stir every so often to make sure the pasta and sausages aren't sticking to the bottom of the pan.
As soon as you have stirred in the cream cheese the pasta may look slightly watery, however as soon as you have served it and got the kids to come to the table, it will have thickened slightly.
Nutrition
Calories: 583kcalCarbohydrates: 33gProtein: 24gFat: 40gSaturated Fat: 13gPolyunsaturated Fat: 6gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 0.3gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 926mgPotassium: 630mgFiber: 3gSugar: 6gVitamin A: 1335IUVitamin C: 51mgCalcium: 80mgIron: 3mg
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