Five Ingredient Pasta with Sausage and Spinach

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 strugglebus of being dairy-free.  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