I tried a new recipe last night and wanted to share because I tweaked the original recipe. My family seems to love all pasta, so I try to switch things up by making new recipes. This recipe calls for tomatoes and spinach and cheese and garlic and seasonings and it has really good flavor. After making many recipes over time, I’m getting good at tweaking things to our liking. Hers is how to make creamy sausage and cheese pasta!
The original recipe is made with gnocchi, which I love. My my family loves pasta more, so I thought it would be easy to substitute. I found this fun pasta at Target, which kind of mimics the shape of gnocchi. Of course, you can use gnocchi or whatever kind of pasta you like!
Creamy Sausage and Cheese Pasta
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground sausage (I used turkey sausage)
- 1/2 diced onion
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1.5 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes with garlic
- 1.5 cups half and half
- 16 oz. pasta of choice (I probably used about 12 oz. total cooked pasta)
- 1-2 cups fresh spinach (depending on your audience)
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
Instructions for Creamy Sausage and Cheese Pasta:
- Start by browning the sausage, onion, garlic, and seasonings over medium high heat until the sausage is cooked and veggies are softened.
- While the sausage mix is browning, boil your pasta in salted water.
- After the meat is browned, add tomatoes, half and half, and spinach to the pan. Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes. The spinach should be wilted down.
- Stir in drained pasta noodles and cheese and mix until cheese is melted. *Add more pasta if you want it to be less creamy, or add less pasta for it to be creamier.*
This recipe served my family of four and there is enough left over for me to have some for lunch!
Tweaks from the Original Recipe
- I used turkey sausage instead of regular sausage. My family could not tell the difference. Turkey sausage is cheaper and healthier!
- Whenever a recipe calls for heavy cream, I try to use half and half instead. In this case, I added more because I always feel like recipes never have enough sauce/pasta ratio!
- Using pasta instead of gnocchi is an easy substitute!
- Next time, I would dice the tomatoes and the spinach smaller so they felt more mixed into the recipe and not so chunky. Chopped smaller would have been better!
Overall, this creamy sausage and cheese recipe is easy to make because everything goes in one pan! Aside from cooking the pasta, everything just gets thrown in together. The ingredients are easy to find and there is a ton of flavor. It looks pretty too! XO
