Spicy Sausage Pasta With Greens

Name: Spicy Sausage Pasta With Greens
Prep time: 20

4.4

4.4 out of 5 stars (based on 12 reviews)

20 min prep

2 servings

Carrot Icon for Number of Ingredients Size

11 ingredients

One of our founder Ann Ogden Gaffney’s top pasta recipes, “This Spicy Sausage Pasta With Greens is known in our house as SGP and is my husband’s favorite. It’s another quick and easy pasta dish...

Whole wheat pasta like penne, rigatoni or any other chunky pasta, 2 ounces per person
1 bunch of either Swiss chard, kale, collards, beet greens, broccoli rabe or spinach
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 stalk of rosemary, leaves stripped and chopped or ½ teaspoon dried
2 hot Italian style chicken sausages, squeezed out of their casings (see Ann’s Tips)
1 small dried red chili pepper, deseeded and broken into small pieces
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 to 2 cloves of garlic, smashed peeled and slice lengthways
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, to taste (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley
Salt and black pepper, to taste

Missing an Ingredient?

Visit our ingredient substitution guide ›

Nutrition Facts

Calories

452 cals

Fat

29 g

Saturated Fat

5 g

Polyunsaturated Fat

5 g

Monounsaturated Fat

18 g

Carbohydrates

38 g

Sugar

5 g

Fiber

6 g

Protein

17 g

Sodium

883 mg

Directions

Put water on for the pasta to boil.
Strip the tender parts of leaves from the stalks of the greens. Wash in a sink full of cold water. (See Ann’s Tip)
Heat the oil in a heavy frying pan at medium high heat. Add the rosemary and fry for a minute then add the sausage, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks. Once browned, add the chili pepper, the onion, and the garlic, and fry until the onion is starting to caramelize.
Once the water is boiling add in the pasta. After 5 minutes, add greens to the pasta water. Cook for another 4 minutes.
Meanwhile add ½ cup of pasta water to the sausage and onions. Cook until the sauce looks syrupy. Stir in Parmesan to taste and parsley.
Pour pasta and greens into a colander. Drain well and add to the pan with the sausage mixture. Turn to mix well and cook for a few seconds over a medium high heat until the pasta and greens are coated in sauce, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with more grated Parmesan cheese.

Chef Tips

If you are using chard, unlike kale or collards their stems are edible and can be thinly sliced and added to the sausage along with the onion in step 3, or blanched and frozen for another use.

You can also use frozen greens to make this. At the end of step 3 when the onions are caramelized, add them to the pan with 1/2 cup of pasta water.

If you can’t find Italian style chicken sausage at the store, buy plain sweet chicken sausage, and in step 2 along with the rosemary, if you have them, add 1/2 teaspoon of fennel seeds.

Registered Dietitian Approved

Our recipes, articles, and videos are reviewed by our oncology-trained dietitians to ensure that each is backed with scientific evidence and follows the guidelines set by the Oncology Nutrition for Clinical Practice, 2nd Ed., published by the Oncology Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group, a professional interest group of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Institute for Cancer Research and the American Cancer Society