If you’re looking for an easy Italian meal that’s guaranteed to be a hit, look no further than this delicious Rigatoni with Sausage Sauce recipe! This simple but scrumptious pasta dish combines the classic flavors of Italian sausage and red sauce. Which coats hearty rigatoni for a mouthwatering dish that’s sure to satisfy everyone’s cravings. Get ready to enjoy a delicious Italian meal that’s sure to have everyone asking for seconds!
Tips, Tricks & Suggestions
- Hot vs mild sausage: When it comes to today’s recipe you can use either hot or mild Italian sausage. The choice really comes down to your spice tolerance.
- In casing or no casing: Similarly, you can either use sausage that is sold without the casing, or ones that come in a casing. Just make sure if it’s the latter that you slit the casing lengthwise and remove the sausage meat before using it in the recipe.
- Buy whole canned tomatoes: When buying your canned tomatoes for this recipe, or really any pasta sauce for that matter, I always recommend that you use whole tomatoes. Why? Well, there are two main reasons. First, in my experience whole tomatoes tend to be of better quality. Secondly using whole tomatoes and crushing them by hand is the only way to achieve a nice rustic sauce that is both chunky and smooth. That being said if all you have on hand is crushed tomatoes then feel free to use them, it won’t ruin the sauce.
- A note on salt: I know I’ve said this before with previous pasta recipes but it deserves to be repeated. Adding salt helps to bring out the overall flavor of a dish not just add saltiness. So in the end when you are tasting the dish to determine if it needs more salt you need to keep in mind one thing. Does it taste flavorful or does it taste bland? Not does it taste salty? And if it tastes bland to you then all you need to do is add more salt. It’s as simple as that.
- Do you have to use rigatoni?: Not at all! In fact, I often make this dish with any type of pasta I’m in the mood for. That being said I personally don’t find that this sauce works well with long “noodle” kinds of pasta like spaghetti or linguini. But it does work well with every short type of pasta that I’ve made it with (e.g. farfalle, orecchiette, penne). So feel free to use any short type of pasta you like or have on hand, you’ll still end up with a great dish!
Other Great Pasta Dishes to Try Out
- Orecchiette with Sausage & Broccoli Rabe
- Penne Arrabbiata
- Pesto alla Trapanese
- Spaghetti alla Putanesca
Rigatoni with Sausage Sauce Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients
1 Lb of Rigatoni pasta
For the sauce:
¼ Cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 Italian sausage links, or roughly ½ Lb of loose sausage meat
1 medium onion, diced fine
2 cloves of garlic, minced
½ Teaspoon of red pepper flakes, optional
28 oz. Can of whole tomatoes, crushed by hand
Salt & pepper to taste
Optional garnish:
Basil leaves
Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Get a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Brown up the sausage: Pour ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil into a large walled pan/skillet and place it over medium-high heat. Once hot, toss in the sausage and use a wooden spoon to break it up into crumbles. Saute the crumbled sausage in the oil until it is cooked on the outside and slightly browned.
- Add the onion to the pan/skillet and saute it with the sausage for a couple of minutes or until the onion is translucent.
Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to saute everything for another minute.
- Make the sauce: Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan/skillet along with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Stir so that all of the ingredients are incorporated together. Let the sauce come to a boil then reduce the heat so that it stays at a simmer.
- Add the rigatoni pasta to the pot of boiling water and let it cook 2 minutes shy of al dente. Don’t worry we’re going to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce.
- Finish the dish: Use a slotted spoon or spider to transfer the pasta to the sauce along with ¼ cup of the pasta water. Stir to incorporate everything together and return the heat to high so that the sauce starts to boil. Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick/coats every piece of pasta. Finally, take the pan/skillet off the heat, taste a portion of pasta, and add any additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Transfer the rigatoni with sausage sauce to individual plates. Garnish with shredded cheese and basil leaves if you like, and enjoy!
Rigatoni with Sausage Sauce Recipe
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 Lb of Rigatoni pasta
For the sauce:
- ¼ Cup of extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Italian sausage links or roughly ½ Lb of loose sausage meat
- 1 medium onion diced fine
- 2 cloves of garlic minced
- ½ Teaspoon of red pepper flakes optional
- 28 oz. Can of whole tomatoes crushed by hand
- Salt & pepper to taste
Optional garnish:
- Basil leaves
- Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Get a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Brown up the sausage: Pour ¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil into a large walled pan/skillet and place it over medium-high heat. Once hot, toss in the sausage and use a wooden spoon to break it up into crumbles. Saute the crumbled sausage in the oil until it is cooked on the outside and slightly browned.
- Add the onion to the pan/skillet and saute it with the sausage for a couple of minutes or until the onion is translucent. Then add the garlic and red pepper flakes and continue to saute everything for another minute.
- Make the sauce: Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan/skillet along with a pinch of salt and black pepper. Stir so that all of the ingredients are incorporated together. Let the sauce come to a boil then reduce the heat so that it stays at a simmer.
- Add the rigatoni pasta to the pot of boiling water and let it cook 2 minutes shy of al dente. Don’t worry we’re going to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce.
- Finish the dish: Use a slotted spoon or spider to transfer the pasta to the sauce along with ¼ cup of the pasta water. Stir to incorporate everything together and return the heat to high so that the sauce starts to boil. Finish cooking the pasta in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick/coats every piece of pasta. Finally, take the pan/skillet off the heat, taste a portion of pasta, and add any additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Transfer the rigatoni with sausage sauce to individual plates. Garnish with shredded cheese and basil leaves if you like, and enjoy!
