I got the idea for this kielbasa pasta skillet from a few of these recipes. Everyone enjoyed it, and I only used what I had on hand. A welcome departure from typical pasta and meat dishes. When fresh garden tomatoes are in season, give it a try. This might go well with a Caesar salad.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 pound kielbasa sausage, sliced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style diced tomatoes
- 1 (4 ounce) can sliced mushrooms (Optional)
- 1 teaspoon white sugar
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (Optional)
- 1 pinch crushed red pepper, or to taste
- kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 3 leaves fresh basil, julienned, or more to taste
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar-Monterey Jack cheese blend
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Stir peas into the pot during the last 2 minutes.
- Meanwhile, heat oil over medium-high heat in a deep skillet. Add onion and garlic and sauté just until tender, about 5 minutes. Add kielbasa; cook and stir until browned, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, mushrooms, sugar, balsamic vinegar, crushed red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Reduce the heat and simmer until the pasta is done.
- Drain pasta, then add to the sauce. Stir to combine, then add basil. Reduce the heat to medium-low heat and cook until pasta absorbs liquid from the sauce, about 5 minutes. Stir in cheese and serve.
- You can use lite kielbasa sausage instead of regular, frozen onions and jarred minced garlic instead of fresh, 3 to 4 seeded and diced fresh tomatoes instead of canned, and dried basil instead of fresh.
- Use high-quality balsamic vinegar. It may seem like an odd ingredient to use, but it does add a nice flavor.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 636 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 66 g |
| Cholesterol | 67 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 26 g |
| Saturated Fat | 12 g |
| Sodium | 1084 mg |
| Sugars | 9 g |
| Fat | 30 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Great quick and easy recipe that I’ll definitely make again! I used a whole small onion and 6-8 ounces of fresh sliced baby portabella mushrooms. After sautéing along with the garlic, I combined that mixture with the cooked pasta and peas and then used the same skillet to brown the sliced kielbasa turkey sausage. Then added tomatoes and all other ingredients back to skillet. Took other reviewer’s suggestion and kept 1 C of the pasta water. Added half when adding in the pasta and the other half at the very end when added the cheese (sharp cheddar cause that’s what I had). Very creamy and delicious! Definitely would not have been enough sauce without it. Also skipped the sugar and did not add any salt. Used dried basil and a generous 1/2 t. of red pepper flakes. Served with roasted cabbage wedges.
Very tasty. All in all a great recipe. I just had to tweak it a little. I had to use more oil than called for because the onions and garlic were sticking to the pan. I’d recommend 2 tablespoons. I also wish that I’d saved some pasta water as the sauce was dry and there wasn’t much for the pasta to absorb. I had to add more tomato sauce and water. In fact I would use less pasta next time as the proportion of pasta to the rest of the ingredients was too high. I don’t understand the purpose of the sugar in this savory recipe so I left it out. I’d also use more mushrooms, onion and garlic. I’d definitely make this again with my modifications.
Since i am allergic to mushrooms i substituted artichoke hearts. Delicious ! Thanks for sharing !
Changed it up…Use 8 ozs pasta, no peas and no cheese. Delish!
I just made this tonight. I was looking up recipes for pasta and kielbasa and this recipe caught my eye. I didn’t have any penne so I had to use spaghetti instead which worked out just fine. The flavors all blended very well together. My boyfriend loved it. He went back for seconds. I will definitely make this again. Thank you for sharing your recipe. It was great!