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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
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 0.4 lb smoked sausage , sliced (I used Gyulai Smoked Sausage)
- ¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes , without oil, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 ½ cups half and half
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 8 oz penne pasta
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt to taste (optional)
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
I’ve made this recipe about 10 times over the past year. I use the same ingredients Julia used. My son loves it too and he’s a picky pasta eater so I am glad we agree on this one. Thanks for sharing.
I was in a rush for dinner . Realized I had all the ingredients , that was a plus!! I added onions, red bell pepper and green bell pepper just because I had some. Came out great. Will definitely make this again.
Going to try to make this for dinner but I do not have the sun-dried tomato can use Tomato paste instead for the sun dire Tomato
Was just wondering do you have to use Sun-dried tomatoes or can you use tomato paste
While the recipe was very easy to follow and was pretty limited ingredient-wise, I felt it to be far too thick of a sauce based on how much cheese it called for. The smoked sausage and cheese is all I tasted. I would recommend doing spicy Italian sausage instead and cutting the amount of cheese in half.
I tried this recipe for dinner last night. And everyone absolutely loved it! 🙂 I did not have any fresh garlic, so I sprinkled in some powdered garlic, and I cant use sundried tomatoes, so I substituted a small amount of tomato paste. It worked out wonderfully! Definitely a do over for my family!!
How did it come out with the tomato paste because I’m gonna be using some
This dish is SO good! It’s delicious, it’s easy to make. Absolutely one of my and my roommates new favorites !!
I used a can of petite diced tomatoes and it was awesome. Not a big fan of sun dried tomatoes. BTW I doubled the recipe only because my husband loves casseroles and leftovers. He thought it was amazing.
Mary, I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 Happy to hear that a can of diced tomatoes worked well instead of sun-dried tomatoes.
Glad I came across this. Will try it with diced tomatoes tomorrow for supper. Thank you.
Smells delish! Currently in the middle of cooking it. Just added the cheese. It’s VERY clumpy...did I do something wrong here ♀️
Hi Angela - I am glad you are making this dish! If the cheese gets clumpy it's most likely for these 3 reasons:
1) Make sure the sauce is hot enough. Bring the sauce to a quick boil and then reduce to a low boil (the sauce should be boiling but not intensely. Add the cheese.
2) Keep stirring the cheese at all times until it melts.
3) Make sure to use low-moisture, part-skim Mozzarella cheese. Do not use fresh Mozzarella (usually sold as Mozzarella cheese balls).
I hope this helps.
The sauce was very thick and had a weird texture. I used shredded mozzarella. Maybe that was why? Will not make this again.
I don't get why people are complaining. I absolutely loved it. I had to reduce the garlic cloves to 1 - 4 was a bit too much for me. Recently I added mushrooms, and cooked them with the sausage. I also added a small frozen bag of peas, in the pasta water, 1 minute before draining. It was excellent. I love your recipes.
Kevin, thank you so much for your comment! Glad you liked it! Love your additions of mushrooms and peas.
While I enjoy the consistency, there isn’t much flavor..
Hi Brittany, you can add extra spices, such as Cajun spice, Chili powder, paprika, or minced garlic to spice up the dish!
It came out pretty bland. I tried adding some various seasonings but didn't seem to help. The family liked it but it didn't hit the mark for me.
I agree with this comment! I'm hoping that as it sits, the ingredients will blend together and the dish will become more flavorful over time.
I agree it wasn’t super flavorful. A bit bland and I couldn’t find much to help spruce it up. I had high hopes this one just wasn’t a major hit for me
You can add some extra spices, such as Cajun spice, Chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, or minced garlic to spice up the dish!
If so, then please let us know how it turns out.
Not sure what I did wrong because I followed the recipe but it ended up really grainy and there wasn’t much flavor.... idk....
If you use already shredded cheese, it comes with “anti-caking agent” which will not dissolve well and will make your sauce “grainy”. Use freshly shredded cheese, or dice up some string cheese, as these won’t have the “anti-caking agent”.
Hi Jeff, those are great tips! It's also important to use low-moisture part-skim Mozzarella cheese, and not fresh Mozzarella (that usually comes in balls).
The first time I made this,I doubled it for my family and since I didn't have sun-dried tomatoes, I subbed a can of Italian diced tomatoes which worked well. The second time I made it, I used the sun-dried tomatoes which was also really good, but I'm much less likely to have on hand for a quick weeknight meal.
I like the idea of adding asparagus or spinach. I'll have to try that next time.
I thought that it was going to be stringy with the mozzerella but it wasn't. Next time I will add more garlic. I also added Texas sweet onion and got some fresh basil from my garden. Everyone loved it! Certainly a keeper recipe!