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large ridged rigatoni tubes with cooked Italian sausage crumbles, soft red and yellow pepper strips and onion in a thick red tomato sauce on a plain bowl, with no garnish
Rachel Kim

One Pot Sausage Pasta with Peppers

Peppers need to soften before the dry pasta joins this pot, otherwise the noodles can be ready while the vegetables still taste raw. Crumbled fennel sausage spreads through the sauce and leaves enough fat to cook the onions without another pour of oil. I like rigatoni here because its wide tubes hold both meat and sweet pepper strips. The tomato sauce should cling inside those tubes rather than settle in a watery ring around the bowl.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings: 5
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 lb mild Italian pork sausage casings removed
  • 1 red bell pepper cut into short thin strips
  • 1 yellow bell pepper cut into short thin strips
  • 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 12 oz dry rigatoni
  • 1 can 15 oz tomato sauce
  • 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup water reserved
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/4 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan

Method
 

  1. Brown sausage in a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat for 7 minutes, breaking it into crumbles and cooking it to 160°F. Drain excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
  2. Add peppers and onion and cook for 7 minutes until softened at the edges. Stir in garlic and oregano for 30 seconds.
  3. Add tomato sauce, broth, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Stir in rigatoni and reduce to a steady uncovered simmer.
  4. Cook for 13 to 16 minutes, stirring from the bottom every 2 minutes and adding reserved water in small amounts if the pot becomes dry before the pasta is tender.
  5. Remove from the heat and stir in Parmesan. Rest for 3 minutes and divide among 5 bowls.