This Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta is made with a rich and creamy sun-dried tomato sauce, served with peas and chicken sausage over bowtie pasta. It comes together in 30 minutes making it a great family-friendly weeknight meal.
The trick to making this extra flavorful is to sauté the sun-dried tomatoes in a little olive oil from the jar for a few minutes. This brings out the rich and sweet flavor of the sun-dried tomatoes which in turn lends that flavor to the whole dish.
A jar of sun-dried tomatoes is such an easy ingredient that adds so much flavor so quickly to a dish, and it’s usually pretty well-loved by everyone at the table. Just add some milk, cream, and parmesan and you have a dish that looks and tastes like it came from a high-end Italian restaurant.
Some of our other favorite Italian homemade meals, particularly on a Friday night, are pizza made with Poolish Pizza Dough, such as Broccolini Pizza, or Grandma Pie Pizza. We also love this easy weeknight Gnocchi with Brown Butter Sage Sauce. And this Lemon Basil Pesto Pasta With Burst Cherry Tomatoes can also be made in under 30 minutes, a dish that is easy, but feels special and unique.
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Why You'll Love This Dish
30-Minute Meal: This dish requires very little prep and is done in under 30 minutes.
Family Friendly: With ingredients like pasta and sun-dried tomato cream sauce, it is a well-loved dish around the table.
Simple Ingredients: This meal requires only 8 ingredients, many of which you may already have like pasta, milk, frozen peas, and salt. A jar of sun-dried tomatoes can be found at most grocery stores, making this dish easy and accessible.
Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta.
- Sun-Dried Tomatoes: You can find jars of sun-dried tomatoes in most large grocery stores. Keep an eye on the ingredients. Some stores will sell sun-dried tomatoes in canola oil rather than olive oil. Look for the kind that is marinated in olive oil. Trader Joe's sells jarred sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil at a reasonable price. Whole Foods also has it, but it's quite a bit more expensive, yet the product is not any higher quality.
- Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage: I use raw sweet Italian chicken sausages from Trader Joe's and remove the sausage from the casing. I like to use chicken sausage but feel free to swap in sweet or spicy Italian pork sausage.
- Whole Milk: Do not substitute whole milk for 1% or 2% milk as it is much more likely to curdle when you bring the sauce up to a simmer.
- Heavy Cream: Adds a thick creamy consistency.
- Parmesan: I recommend buying a wedge of parmesan and grating it yourself. It'll taste better and you'll avoid the anti-caking ingredients found in already grated cheese. I use the parmesan at Trader Joe's. It is tasty, but mild enough to use in all sorts of dishes without overpowering other flavors.
- Frozen Peas: Frozen peas are an easy way to add some vegetables and bright green contrast to the otherwise rich and creamy sauce. No chopping or cutting or anything complicated, just toss them in.
- Salt: Add salt to taste.
- Pasta: Use any kind you like, but a shorter pasta like bowties or penne works really well with this sauce. Or use tortellini, which is great in a creamy tomato sauce like this Marry Me Chicken Tortellini.
See the recipe card further below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Below are some ideas for variations and substitutions for this dish.
- Sausage: Substitute sweet Italian chicken sausage for sweet or spicy Italian pork, turkey sausage, or ground turkey.
- Pasta: Substitute bowtie pasta for penne or orecchiette. We also serve this over short-grain brown rice sometimes if we want to avoid the pasta.
- Add-ins: Other vegetables that you could add in: spinach, kale, or baby broccoli.
How to Make Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Below are the step-by-step instructions and photos for how to make Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta.
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Bring a large saute pan to medium heat and add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Add the chicken sausage (removed from the casings), and cook, stirring and chopping with a spatula occasionally until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Expert Tip: If you are using an electric stove bring the heat to a setting of "4 out of 10". Any higher and you're more likely to burn the food.
Step 2. Add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes and a couple more tablespoons of olive oil from the jar. Cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes to intensify the sun-dried tomato flavor. Watch carefully to ensure that the sun-dried tomatoes do not burn.
Expert Tip: Jars of sun-dried tomatoes are sold either as halved or as julienne (sliced). Choose julienne if possible, then dice them even further so they are in bite-sized pieces. Eating half or even a juilenne slice of a sun-dried tomato all at once can be a bit much, but dicing them into smaller pieces is the perfect amount of intensity along with the pasta, peas, and sauce.
Step 3. Add the whole milk, heavy cream, and grated parmesan cheese.
Expert Tip: Use 1 cup each of whole milk, heavy cream, and parmesan cheese. This makes it easy to get the measurements right (just 1 cup of everything), but also it lightens up the dish a little by not using all heavy cream. The added parmesan cheese adds richness.
Step 4. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the cooked chicken sausage and frozen peas and season with salt. Stir to combine and bring back to a simmer.
Step 5. Serve warm over pasta. If desired, sprinkle with additional parmesan cheese.
How to Store and Reheat
To Store: I recommend storing any leftover sauce and pasta separately in sealed plastic containers in the fridge for up to 5 days.
To Reheat: Spoon the leftover sauce over leftover pasta and microwave for 1 minute, adding 30 seconds at a time as needed until warmed through.
Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta FAQs
I'd recommend buying a jar of sun-dried tomatoes that is marked julienne. Then to ensure a balanced amount of flavor per spoonful of sauce, do a rough dice of the julienned sun-dried tomatoes. Too much sun-dried tomato in one bit can be a bit intense, so dice them even smaller for balanced flavor.
Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes less than what the package says to ensure an al dente texture. Remove one piece of pasta, run it under cool water, then taste the pasta. If it is to your liking, then remove it from heat and strain out the water.
This dish is a full meal and does not need a side dish, but if you're looking to add something extra I'd recommend a light green salad and garlic bread to accompany the main meal.
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Sausage Sun Dried Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 8-10 oz jar sun dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 1 lb sweet Italian chicken sausage, removed from casings
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1 cup frozen peas
- salt to taste
- 1 lb pasta, such as bowties
Instructions
- Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. Add the loose Italian chicken sausage, cook stirring occasionally and breaking into smaller pieces about 8-10 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Remove the sun dried tomatoes from the jar, reserving the olive oil. Dice the tomatoes into smaller pieces. Add the diced sun dried tomatoes and 2-3 tablespoons of the olive oil from the jar. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Watch carefully so that they do not burn.
- Add the whole milk, heavy cream, and grated parmesan cheese. Stir to combine and bring to a low simmer. Add the peas, chicken sausage, and salt to taste. Bring back to a simmer. Remove from heat and serve over pasta.
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