I tried this dish with my mother one Christmas Eve after taking it from one of her cookbooks. They were fantastic! Even my pickiest person I know, my brother, enjoyed them. I gave one to my dog after they were finished. They have since become his preferred sweet. I hope you like this dish as much as we do!
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 45 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- ¾ pound uncooked pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound spicy Italian sausage
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes; drain and set aside.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir sausage in the hot skillet until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic to the skillet; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in broth, tomatoes, and basil.
- Cook over medium heat until liquid reduces slightly, about 5 minutes. Add chopped spinach; cover the skillet, reduce heat, and simmer until spinach is tender.
- Add pasta to the skillet and mix until well combined. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese; serve warm.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 423 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| Cholesterol | 90 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 1077 mg |
| Sugars | 3 g |
| Fat | 19 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Way too much liquid. As somebody else said it was like soup! Had to drain it to make it edible. Waste of time, money and ingredients.
I absolutely love this recipe. It’s a family favorite and works well with most fresh veggies!
Just finished eating it and I was shocked with how much of a hit it was. I did use fresh spinach and turkey sausage. I was nervous that it didn’t reduce as much as I’d like but I did do a teaspoon of cornstarch. I felt dumb bc it says serve warm, once it cooled I’m sure it would have thickened up.. I also did leave it on the heat before mixing it all together a Lil longer so it would reduce a bit more. If we weren’t so hungry I would have taken my time and let it do its thing. I like that this was not a normal marinara, Alfredo wine or cream sauce. It was something different and still light. I was not sure if I needed to strain the can of diced tomatoes. I did but not sure if that would have affected anything either. Definitely will make again!
I wasn’t to impressed with this recipie. I think that it would be better to use 1/3 cup of the broth, and then add like 1/2 cup heavy cream. That way it wouldn’t be so runny, and more cream like. Also, you could remove all of the chicken broth, and add a small can of tomato sauce, and some heavy cream. I also felt that it was WAYYYY under seasoned. So, I added some salt, pepper, and italian seasoning at the end.
I have made this several times and over the years it has become more of a hit with my family. I use turkey sausage instead of the spicy and add green bell peppers for more vegetables. I have added carrots in small pieces when my daughter was younger. I also use whole wheat penne and fresh spinach. This turns out great and is so quick and easy to make.
Very easy, very fast, and very tasty! I can’t find those 10 ounce boxes of spinach anymore so I’ve been using a 16 ounce bag. I love spinach so that’s actually a plus.
The recipe was a hit for my family. They all really enjoyed it. It was very tasty, and there really isn’t anything that I would change about it.
This recipe is easy to prepare and is absolutely delicious! We loved it.
I will make this recipe again. It was fresh, light and satisfying. I did use fresh tomatoes and I left out the cheese. I used regular breakfast sausage as some family members can’t handle spicy. Easy to make and pretty quick to throw together.
I had peas instead of spinach and I used fresh mint in place of basil but other than that it was good
At first my 9 year old said eeewwww looks like lizard food I asked her just take one bite then she devoured it awesome recipe thanks
I love this and make it all the time for my kids and I! I made some changes like using cherry tomatoes sliced in half along with a dash of white wine that I cook out before adding in the broth. I also add extra broth since I use cherry tomatoes that aren’t as runny as regular tomatoes.
This was easy to make….. I improvised to a point….found pork sausage and frozen spinach in my freezer and happened to have everything until the Basil but had Oregano (worked nicely and basil will be nice when I make it again). Used shredded Mexican cheese…. Might do 2 cans of tomatoes and less chicken broth. Added black olives second night and still delish.
Delicious! I’ll definitely make this again. Easy recipe with lots of flavor. I also added a dollop of ricotta cheese to each serving. Yum.
UPDATED REVIEW: 11 YEARS LATER, Y’ALL! Thank you for this awesome recipe. This is now a go-to recipe in our house that my children have grown up eating. sniff. When my son goes off to college in a year this will be one of the things I make for him when he comes home to visit. sniff. I healthied it up a little bit over the years and this is how I make it now: I sautée the onions in olive oil first, then throw in the minced garlic for 30 seconds. Next, I add a package of pre-cooked Italian chicken sausage that I’ve cut into half medallions and brown that. Then I add the rest of the ingredients except for the spinach and parmesean and simmer as directed. In the last few minutes I add a half package of fresh spinach I’ve chopped a little (2 cups). While all of that is cooking I make a 13 oz box of whole wheat penne, drain it and return it to the pot. Once the sauce is done I carefully stir it into the penne. (Whole wheat pasta tends to fall apart.) Then I gradually stir in the parmesean so that it won’t clump. I serve it in pasta bowls because the sauce is liquidy, and it’s delicious with pretzel bread to dip in the sauce (unfortunately I’ve had a hard time locating that lately). We add red pepper flakes at the table for those who want them.
My kids would call it the sausage special when they were younger. Made it all the time. So light and easy. Might be making tonight.
This was a joy to make!! I Love how it is very versatile and easy. I am a vegan so I substituted vegan sausages and I didn’t have any spinach in the house so substituted fresh kale. Next time, I am going to throw in a few black olives for color and taste!! So good!!
This was super yummy, and totally quick to make! I was worried after reading the directions that this would be very watery so I reserved the juice from the tomatoes and added corn starch and a little garlic powder and salt. Thickened up nicely. Quick and tasty meal for something different on a weeknight!
We enjoyed it but I used fresh baby spinach & basil and some tomato paste.
This is excellent and easy. Didn’t change a thing but finished off two types of pasta (elbow and penne). Definitely a keeper!
I used ground, mild Italian sausage, fresh tomatoes and fresh spinach – my basil plant died so I had to use dried basil. This came together easily and tasted good. We enjoyed it even though we weren’t wowed.