Creamy Mozzarella Pasta with Smoked Sausage – Italian style pasta dinner that looks good and tastes great! Short penne pasta with thinly sliced smoked sausage are smothered in a delicious creamy sauce made with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, half and half, and Mozzarella cheese.
This creamy sausage pasta is a great recipe to try with the savory smoked sausage.
The recipe easily feeds 4 people, or makes an easy weeknight dinner for two, with leftovers for next day’s lunch.
What makes this smoked sausage pasta especially tasty is that first you cook sliced sausage for about 4 minutes, letting it release juices, and then you incorporate these juices into the creamy sauce, making the pasta dish spicier and more flavorful.
Creamy Mozzarella Pasta with Smoked Sausage - Italian style pasta dinner that looks good and tastes great! Short penne pasta with thinly sliced smoked sausage are smothered in a delicious creamy sauce made with garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes, half and half, and Mozzarella cheese.
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 0.4 lb smoked sausage , sliced (I used Gyulai Smoked Sausage)
- 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes , without oil, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 8 oz penne pasta
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt to taste (optional)
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add sliced sausage, cook for 4 minutes, about 2 minutes on each side. Sausage will release its own juice. Remove sausage from the skillet.
- To the same skillet, add chopped sun-dried tomatoes and minced garlic. Cook for about 1 minute, constantly stirring.
- Add half and half. Bring to boil. Add cheese, reduce heat, and keep stirring until the cheese melts. Bring heat to medium, if needed, to melt the cheese, then reduce to simmer.
- Cook pasta, drain.
- Add cooked and drained pasta and sausage back to the skillet with the sauce. Stir. Add pepper flakes.
- Note: I did not have to add salt, as the smoked sausage is already salty and provides enough saltiness. Add salt to taste, if needed.
WHAT IS HALF AND HALF? Half and half is half milk half cream. To make 1 cup of half and half, combine 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup heavy cream or heavy whipping cream.
A note on half and half – it has 10% to 12% fat content – half (whole) milk (3.25% fat) and half light cream (18% fat). If you use heavy cream (36% fat), you end up making light cream. Which is fine, since light cream is hard to find in the store these days, but the fat and calorie content will be higher than if you use half and half. If you use heavy cream, mix 1 part with 3 parts milk.