Sweet and Spicy Sausage and Farfalle
Sweet and Spicy Sausage and Farfalle is a recipe that I grew up eating, and fell in love with again as an adult. It is one of the easiest recipes you can ask for, and the speedy preparation time makes it a perfect weeknight dinner option. When I was growing up I couldn’t understand why we had sweet and spicy sausage and farfalle for dinner all the time. As an adult, I get it! This is the little recipe that can feed your family of 4-5 with just 20 minutes to total preparation time. Plus, the ingredients are all super cheap. It makes perfect sense that my Mom made this recipe to feed our family of five frequently.
Servings 4 servings
Ingredients
- 2 Sweet Italian Sausages ½ lb total
- ¼ cup chopped White Onion
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 1 14.5 oz can of Crushed Tomatoes
- ½ cup Heavy Cream
- 1 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
- 2 cups Farfalle
- 2 cups Baby Spinach
- 2 tablespoons Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Finely chop the onion and garlic. Slice the ends off the sausage, and push the meat out of the casing, and loosely crumble it up.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Once the water has come to a boil, add the pasta. Cook for 7-8 minutes, until al dente. Then drain the pasta and set aside.
- As soon as you put the water on the boil, start to prepare the rest of this dish. Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté. After 2 minutes, add the sausage and red pepper flakes. For a mild spice add ½ teaspoon of red pepper flakes, or add more for extra spice.
- Brown the sausage, while using a wooden spoon to break it into small pieces.
- Once the sausage has browned, add the garlic, crushed tomatoes, and cream. Stir together. Let simmer for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the drained pasta to the sauce, along with the spinach (I tear it up as I add it in). Let the pasta and spinach simmer in the sauce for 2 minutes over medium heat. Serve with a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Notes
One of the things that I love about this recipe is that you can opt to make it spicy. There are two ways to go about this. First you can simply use Spicy Italian Sausage instead of Sweet Italian Sausage, or you can add crushed red pepper flakes. If you really love spice – you can do both! If you want to eliminate the spicy, just omit the red pepper flakes. I like to add a couple handfuls of spinach to the sauce right when I mix in the pasta. It helps to turn the pasta into a complete meal. If you wanted, you could add some additional vegetables. Mushrooms and bell peppers would both be excellent additions. I used pork sausage, but you can choose to you chicken sausage instead. You could even experiment with using tofu sausage, which I just discovered is a thing! This pasta does reheat well, and I often make a big batch. A single batch is plenty for four servings, but if you have a larger family – or just really love leftovers – you can make a double batch without adding any additional preparation time.
