This delicious pasta with sausage and spinach is full of flavor in every bite, plus it can be made in less than 20 minutes! Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free
Y'all, when it comes to pasta recipes, I'm on the struggle bus of being dairy-free. I especially miss my air fryer chicken parm. Actually, revise that, it's not just pasta, it's also just about anything you can do with ground Italian pork sausage (mild or spicy) which I love. It's preseasoned, always tastes delicious, and is versatile.... if you can eat cheese.
Long sigh.
I'm not ungrateful for my ability to breastfeed. There are a million reasons including the cost of the hypoallergenic formula that I'm unbelievably grateful. That said, still, breastfeeding a baby with MSPI is not preferable to breastfeeding a baby without food restrictions. Yet, here I am again.
Here is the thing about pasta and being dairy-free, it particularly sucks if you don't love the taste of marinara sauce. Which, I'm sorry to say, but I don't. With KJ, when he had MSPI I made my bacon brussel sprout pasta on REPEAT. Almost every week. But I regularly purchase ground sweet Italian pork sausage in my ButcherBox and when I googled what to do with it I was met with a whole lot of cheese and marinara-filled recipes.
What I came up with is so freaking easy, can be made with 5 -7 ingredients, and is done in less than 20 minutes. It's a pasta dish with sausage and spinach that I willingly make every time we get the sausage from ButcherBox! I'll probably eat it so much while I'm dairy-free this year that I'll never want to eat it again. But, in the meantime I'm LOVING this pasta!
Let's Talk Ingredients:
Pasta - I love chickpea pasta for its extra protein and fiber. Plus, I don't love beans so it helps me get in more of one of the world's healthiest foods. You could easily swap any type of pasta including whole grain, brown rice, lentil, etc. You could use any short pasta, I just wouldn't use long kinds of pasta like spaghetti because it would be too hard to toss.
Onion and Garlic - these are entirely optional and 75% of the time I make this I don't use them, the BB meat is already flavorful enough. But, you can if you want to.
Italian sausage - use mild or hot, but make sure you love the brand you buy because most of the flavor in this recipe comes from the meat. Yes, you can use, chicken or turkey varieties as well, but you may need to add some extra oil if the pasta doesn't end up creamy enough.
Canned tomatoes - Please do not omit or sub-fresh tomatoes here. The canned tomatoes are "precooked" and sit in a liquid that will help make your "sauce" for this recipe.
Spinach - you could sub 12-16 ounces of frozen-thawed and squeezed dried spinach here in a pinch. Mix it in at the end to warm it.
How to Make Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
My camera broke so I don't have pictures of the process here, but cook your pasta and your ground meat. Then combine everything and eat up! See the recipe card below!
How to Store & Freeze Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
Store in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. You can freeze this recipe for up to 3 months once it's fully cooked, however, you may need to add some water to it when you defrost and reheat to help moisten it since it doesn't have a true sauce. Defrost under refrigeration and reheat in the microwave.
MORE ITALIAN SAUSAGE RECIPES
- Italian Sausage and Spinach Tortellini Soup (basically this pasta in soup form - not dairy free though!)
- One Pan Creamy Cauliflower Gnocchi and Sausage
- Sausage and Apple Stuffed Butternut Squash
Five Ingredient Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
Ingredients
- ½ tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, chopped (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic optional
- 1 lb Italian sausage meat mild or spicy
- 8 ounces chickpea pasta whole wheat, brown rice
- 16 ounces canned diced tomatoes
- 4 cups fresh spinach
Instructions
- Cook pasta al dente.
- Saute onion and garlic until translucent and tender (optional). Add ground meat ot the skillet and break up. Cook all the way through.
- Add diced tomatoes and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add in pasta.
- Working in batches, add in the spinach, stir until wilted, repeat with remaining spinach.
- Salt and pepper to taste and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Todaygamescore says
Thanks for share blog
Kirsten says
Do you drain the grease from the sausage?
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
I don't! But you definitely can if you want too!
Rachel says
My family really enjoyed this meal, it turned out very tasty. It was rather frustrating, though, that there was nothing on the recipe card about cooking the pasta beforehand. It made for quite an elongated and irksome cooking experience. By the time I figured out not to add water and had to fish out my partially cooked pasta, my sauce was watered down and the pasta ended up over cooked. Not your fault, but the edit would be helpful for future users since I think most of us scroll right to the card and the only mention of cooking the pasta in the description was in passing. Thanks 😊
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
I will update the recipe card right now! Thank you for the feedback.
NF says
This was a winner. I was hesitant due to the simplicity and very few ingredients. However, everyone ate it and my husband had thirds. I might try sprinkling some Parmesan cheese and olive oil on top for a little extra kick next time. I used gluten-free penne.
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
So glad you loved it!
Kristina says
This was delicious! I made it with regular pasta and added a lot more seasoning. Also added some dairy free cheese really helped make it yummy.
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
What dairy free cheese do you like? I can't find one I like!
Kristina says
I like daiya.
Sonya says
I made this for my family last night and everyone loved it! I was anticipating a large amount of leftovers, as there are only 3 people in my family, but we ate all of it. I can’t wait to make this again. It is definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
So glad you loved it as much as we do!
Eletha says
So quick, so simple, so good. Other than picking up some Italian sausage, I had everything in the pantry or fridge to make this. I used seasoned canned tomatoes because that’s what I had, and added a sprinkle of parmesan when I served it. All in all a great recipe that I will definitely be making again.
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
So glad you love it, one of my favorites!
Sonia says
I made this for my family last night and everyone loved it! I was anticipating a large amount of leftovers, as there are only 3 people in my family, but we ate all of it. I can’t wait to make this again. It is definitely a new family favorite. Thank you!
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
So glad you love this one as much as we do!
EMILY SAYLOR says
We have has those several times and we love it! After the first time I did throw some tomato paste in with the browned meat and I also do 28 ounces of tomatoes. Because we love tomatoes. Amazing taste, quick prep, easy ingredients! Thanks!
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
So glad you enjoyed it!
Belinda says
Omg this was so delicious! It was so easy to make!! I love it when there’s only a hand full of ingredients, makes it so much faster to complete. I substituted snap peas for the spinach (didn’t have spinach), I try it next time! Thank you so much!!
Kelli Shallal MPH RD says
I bet the snap peas were really yummy!
Amber Haun says
Good and simple. I added some extra seasoning, used garden tomatoes I had, and added shaved Parmesan at the.wnd. One change I would make is adding the spinach to the sausage tomato mixture and wilting and then just adding the pasta at the very end. Even though I cooked the pasta al dente and rinsed it, it still fell apart by the time the spinach was all incorporated