Hello to the easiest ever weeknight pasta! Pasta in general tends to be an easy weeknight meal, but sometimes it just takes a few extra steps than you want to take with chopping onion and mincing garlic. Since this pasta uses Italian sausage, all the seasonings are built in! Other than some salt and pepper, you don’t need to add anything else.
With protein, vegetable, and carbohydrate all coming together in one dish, there’s no need for any sides, making this perfect for weeknight meals. Maybe it’s been a busy day or maybe you just don’t feel like cooking, but either way, this dish is sure to make everyone happy. And at just seven ingredients, this recipe certainly falls into the easy meal category.
Topped with a generous sprinkling of cheese to make everyone happy, this dish makes me wonder why I don’t use ground sausage in pasta more often. Generally in pasta I’m using shredded chicken, or ground beef, but the Italian sausage adds so much flavor! One of our go-to super easy meals in our house is a box of pasta, a jar of good marinara sauce, and sliced chicken sausage. Using ground sausage distributes the flavor even better!
I hope you make this dish sometime this week!
- 1 lb. dry pasta
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1½ lbs. fresh broccoli florets, chopped*
- ¼ tsp. fresh ground pepper
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- Salt to taste
- Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In the same pot, brown sausage. If your sausage comes in casings, remove before browning. If you're able to purchase bulk sausage from your grocery store, that makes this step easier! Break the sausage into small pieces as it browns.
- Add olive oil and broccoli and cook until broccoli is tender.
- Add ground pepper and lemon juice. Taste and add salt as desired.
- Return pasta to pot and stir to combine.
- Serve topped with Parmesan cheese, if desired
Leave a Reply