This Sausage Pasta dinner with spinach and mushrooms makes for a filling, flavorful and comforting recipe for weeknight dinners! It’s so fast to make and everyone loves it, almost always going for seconds.
Family Pasta Dinner
If you are a family like ours with young kids, who take afternoon sports you know how tight dinner time on weeknights can be. Like any mom, I struggle with the tight deadlines, afternoon sports, homework and getting kids to bed at a decent time on weeknights.
Family pasta dinners are my answer to navigate some of that evening stress. I’ll admit, sometimes I make a quick pasta dinner without much flair. But I always feel guilty afterwards because we need more protein or more veggies.
Well, this sausage pasta dinner has been a welcome addition to our weeknight dinner rotation!! It cooks FAST!! Plus it has lots of veggies and protein from the Italian sausages. Score for mom:))).
Tip – One of our other spinach and mushrooms recipes is this Chicken in Creamy Mushrooms and Spinach sauce that we serve over pasta, rice or with salad.
What Sausages Would You Buy for This Pasta Dinner?
I used mild Italian sausages for this pasta dinner. My local grocery stores prepares them fresh and we all like the taste of these sausages. There’s a spicy variety too if you like some heat.
I feel the Italian sausages are the best match to this recipe because of the whole Mediterranean theme. This pasta recipe is full of veggies and herbs.
However, if you can’t find Italian sausages you can use:
- Argentinian chorizos
- Spanish chorizos
- Polish Kielbasa
- Albanian Suxhuk
- German Bratwurst
Every market can have different options, go with what’s made locally then pick by flavor or even by method of how sausage is made. There’s beef sausages, pork sausages, kosher ones etc etc. So you definitely have lots of options for every lifestyle or diet.
Ingredients
I would love to go over some of the ingredients with you in case you’re skimming over the recipe before doing grocery shopping. I’ll add some substitutions or options next to each ingredient.
- Fusilli pasta – I love fusilli for this recipe but you can use your favorite pasta. Make sure the pan for this dinner is deep enough to accomodate the whole dish.
- Sausages – I used Italian sausages (mild) but you can use spicy sausages or any other type of sausage to your taste or availability. Make sure to cook them thoroughly.
- Onions – I used 1 large white onion, roughly chopped. You can replace with yellow onion or red.
- Bell pepper – I used 1 red bell pepper on this recipe. You can use any color bell pepper.
- Spinach – I used about 2 cups of baby spinach, triple washed. Spinach wilts a lot, so you increase the quantity and not affect the recipe.
- Mushrooms – I used white mushrooms for this recipe. I sliced them myself but you can buy them already sliced as well.
- Garlic – I start with 4 garlic cloves, but you know how it is. For anyone from the Mediterranean, you say 4 garlic cloves, we put in 8 lol. So feel free to adjust garlic to taste.
- Tomato Sauce – small can of tomatoes of 8 ozs. You can add more tomato sauce.
- Olive oil – I prefer extra virgin olive oil (evoo).
- Salt/pepper – add salt and black pepper to taste.
- Herbs – I usually add oregano, paprika or red crushed peppers.
Pro-Tip – Save about 1-2 cups of pasta water before draining. Pasta water ties all the ingredients together, thickens the sauce and makes the pasta look silky and taste amazing.
Additional Ingredients you can use
Additional ingredients you can use to enhance this recipe are as follows:
- Sun Dried tomatoes
- White wine or chicken broth
- Basil or other fresh herbs
- Artichokes
Step by Step Process
While this is not a difficult recipe, especially if you are a seasoned homecook I am aware that some of my readers are young students trying to help out with dinner at home. So if some extra pictures or step by step break down help you, I am happy to include extras:).
- Cut or slice sausages.
- Cook them thoroughly in olive oil then remove and place them on a platter. At this point add pasta to boiling water in a separate pot. Cook pasta 2 minutes less than al dente.
- Saute onions, garlic until translucent. Then add bell pepper.
- Add mushrooms, stir and cook for few minutes.
- Add tomato sauce, seasonings (salt, pepper, herbs). Mix well.
- Add a ladle or two of pasta water.
- Drain pasta and then add pasta to pan with veggies.
- Add the sausages back in. Then finally add spinach.
- As you mix everything, spinach will wilt and incorporate with the rest of the ingredients.
- Top off with freshly grated parmesan cheese, freshly ground black pepper and serve warm.
Some Pictures of Process
Sausage Pasta with Spinach and Mushrooms
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 mild Italian sausages
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 16 oz fusilli pasta usually 1 box
- 4 quarts water
- 1 tbsp salt this is for pasta water
- 1 white onion
- 4 garlic cloves add more to taste
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 cups sliced white mushrooms
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- salt / pepper to taste
- 1 tsp oregano
- 0.5 tsp paprika
- 0.5 tsp crushed red pepper add more for a spicier dish
- 2 cups spinach you can use baby spinach too
- 1 tbsp freshl, chopped Italian parsley
- freshly grated parmesan cheese add to taste, usually 2 tbsps per adults but my kids eat less
Instructions
- Chop onion, chop red bell pepper, mince garlic and slice mushrooms. Set everything aside.
- Place the deep saute pan on the stovetop, medium heat. Add olive oil on the pan. In the same time, place the pasta pot in another burner on the stovetop. Add water and salt, set to boil.
- Slice or cut sausages in bite size pieces. Add sausages to saute pan. Use a wooden spoon to stir occasionally so sausage bites don't stick to pan and they cook evenly. Once sausage bites are browned, start removing them from saute pan and place them on a platter.
- As soon as water boils in the pot, add pasta in it. Give it a quick stir. Let cook until pasta is al dente or about 1 minute from al dente.
- Add onions and garlic to saute pan. Once translucent, add chopped red bell pepper. Saute everything for a minute or two. Stirr occasionally.
- Add mushrooms and keep stirring so the mushrooms start softening. Once mushrooms are soft, add the sausages back in the pan.
- Pour tomato sauce over the mushrooms, add salt, pepper, oregano, paprika and crushed red pepper. Using a ladle, pour 1 to 2 ladles of pasta water from the pot to the saute pan. Mix everything well in the pan.
- At this point pasta is al dente or almost al dente (about 10-11 minutes from the moment you put pasta in boiling water). Reserve 1 cup or so of pasta water in case more is needed. Then drain the fusilli pasta and add them over the mushrooms and the rest of the sauce you are preparing in the saute pan.
- Add spinach over the pasta and sausage and start folding it in from the sides with the wooden spoon. Spinach will wilt fast and will get incorporated with the pasta and the rest of the sauce. Lower heat to low and cover the saute pan for just a minute after everything has been mixed well together.
- Garnish with fresh parsley right before serving and add grated parmesan cheese either straight on the pan or on individual plates. I love adding some fresh cracked black pepper on my plate too right before eating.
Video
Notes
- Rule of thumb for pasta is that you need 4 quarts of water and 1 tablespoon of salt for 1 lb of pasta.
- Serve with a green salad and bread rolls and enjoy!
- Store leftovers in an airtight container for few days in the refrigerator. You can warm up the leftovers in a saute pan or microwave.
Nutrition Label
Nutrition
Fusilli is a spiral almost like a corkscrew shaped pasta. Other pasta types that can replace fusilli for this recipe are rotini or cavatappi. However, even tubular pasta would taste amazing (for example penne, ziti etc) but they might require a bigger pot for the final dish instead of a deep pan.
Yes you can! This recipe is not heavy on tomato sauce because it emphasizes mostly the other vegetables. However, if you want the pasta to be more red and have more tomato sauce you can double the tomato sauce and add less pasta water until you achieve the consistency you desire.
If you would like to save this recipe for later, please save the below image to your boards in Pinterest so you can easily retrieve it later. Let me know in comments if you made the recipe or if you have any questions. Feel free to tag me in social media with your pictures of this recipe:). I love to hear modifications and see your creativity too.
Thank you so much for reading my recipes!!
Instagram: mediterranean_latin_love or Facebook: Mediterranean Latin Love Affair.
Additional Family Dinner Recipes
Here are some of our family dinner recipes that we cook the most on weeknights. Hope some of them can make your evening routine easier.
- Chicken in Sun Dried Tomatoes Sauce with Mushrooms
- Mediterranean Sheet Pan Chicken with Veggies
- Beef & Mushrooms Pasta Sauce
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