This Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is the perfect easy and weeknight meal! Loaded with a rich and creamy roasted red pepper sauce and Italian chicken sausage – it’s packed full of goodness and so simple! Pasta night = done!
This post is sponsored by my friends at Al Fresco – thank you so much for continuing to support the brands that make what I do at OBB possible!
Happy Valentine’s Day, friends! It’s officially here! The day of love. Well actually, the weekend of love! Are you celebrating today or tonight? Ben and I have decided to celebrate tomorrow!
And just in time here on the blog, I’m sharing exactly what we will be making! Ben and I were planning on making our traditional Valentine’s Day Dinner (see my last post for that!) but This Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is EVERYTHING! We can’t get enough of it so we are making it again!
Why This Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Chicken Sausage is the BEST!
I love any type of creamy pastas. And this really checks off all of the boxes. First, you have the amazing roasted red pepper puree. It gives it a smoky savory flavor. It’s not at all acidic like some pastas can be – the smokiness works perfectly with the richness of the other ingredients.
Speaking of other ingredients in that roasted red pepper sauce, hello heavy cream! You rich, beautiful nectar, you! Heavy cream balances out this dish so well and it’s overwhelming. It all blends and melds together deliciously.
I also love the fresh garlic, crushed red pepper, chicken broth and the starchy pasta water which gives it so much flavor! Oh. And there is freshly grated parmesan cheese because #duh!
I love using penne for this recipe because the sauce literally like, soaks into the noodle and makes each noodle SO JUICY AND FILLED WITH SAUCE. It’s amazing.
One of my favorite things about this pasta though is the chicken sausage!! I used Al Fresco’s new Pasta Night Mild Italian Chicken Sausage and whoa! Y’all, not only was it insanely easy, which is a huge plus for me, it was delicious! The mixture of the green and red bell pepper within the sausage along with the fennel seeds absolutely elevated the whole dish to another level!
I loved how the sausage comes in the package fully cooked – I just put it in the skillet for some extra color! It was the perfect protein to add to the pasta and really made it a fully rounded meal.
So let’s get into how to make it already!
Ingredients You Need:
- al fresco pasta night mild italian chicken sausage
- penne pasta
- jar of roasted red peppers
- fresh garlic
- heavy cream
- olive oil
- salted butter
- chicken broth
- reserved pasta water
- tomato paste
- parmesan cheese
- red pepper flakes, oregano + salt and pepper
- fresh parsley or oregano for topping
How to Make Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Chicken Sausage:
Begin by draining the jar of roasted red peppers. Using a food processor or a blender, blend the roasted red peppers until it is a smooth puree. Set this aside.
Slice the chicken sausage into 1/2 inch pieces. Finely chop/mince the fresh garlic. Set these both aside.
Prepare the pasta according to the box directions. I let my water come to a rolling boil, added a generous amount of salt and then added in my pasta. You want to cook the pasta until it’s al dente.
A very important step of this recipe is to reserve one cup of the pasta water BEFORE you drain the pasta. As I was walking to the sink getting ready to drain, I poured my one cup into a mason jar. Easy peasy!
Next, grab a large sauce pan and warm it on medium heat on the stove. Add 3 tbsp of olive oil and then add in the sliced chicken sausage. Cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping halfway through. You don’t want these to get caramelized – just a slight golden brown color..like this:
Once done, remove from the skillet onto a plate and set aside. To the same skillet, add in the fresh garlic along with oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes until garlic becomes fragrant and then add in the tomato paste. Stir around and mix it all together. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
Next, add in the chicken broth, roasted red pepper puree, pasta water, heavy cream, butter and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Let this simmer on low/medium heat and stir occasionally for 10 minutes as it thickens/warms.
Once the sauce has thickened, taste and adjust for seasoning. I added a large pinch of salt and a crack of pepper to mine. Oh and maybe a dash more heavy cream for good measure!
At this point, make sure that the heat is low. Add in the pasta directly to the sauce and toss. Then add in your sausage. Toss.
Garnish with red pepper flakes, fresh herbs and more parmesan cheese!
This is such a super easy, fresh and yummy pasta night dinner. I hope you guys enjoy it! And I hope whether you’re single, taken, married, whatever the case is…that you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Here are a few others you might like:
Roasted Garlic Cashew Cream Pasta
Thank you so much for following along here, friends! Want to see more? Be sure to follow ourbalancedbowl on Instagram and tag me with your photo if you end up making a recipe! You can also post a photo of your recipe to the Our Balanced Bowl Facebook page! I always love to see your re-creations! If you do make a recipe, it would make my whole day if you were to rate and comment so I can get your feedback! Lots of love! – Haylie
Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Chicken Sausage
This Roasted Red Pepper Pasta is the perfect easy and weeknight meal! Loaded with a rich and creamy roasted red pepper sauce and Italian chicken sausage - it’s packed full of goodness and so simple! Pasta night = done!
Ingredients
- 8-10 oz penne pasta
- 12 oz jar of roasted red peppers, drained
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 6 oz (1 link) al fresco mild italian chicken sausage
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (save some for garnish)
- fresh herbs for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
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Drain the jar of roasted red peppers. Using a food processor or a blender, blend the roasted red peppers until it is a smooth puree. Set this aside.
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Slice the chicken sausage into 1/2 inch pieces.
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Finely chop/mince your fresh garlic. Set these both aside.
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Prepare the pasta according to the box directions. Make sure to save 1 cup of the starchy pasta water before you drain it!
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Warm a large sauce pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and let it warm up. Then add in the slices of chicken sausage. Cook for 2-3 minutes, flipping halfway. Don't let them get caramelized, you just want to add a little color/warm them. Once done, remove them from the pan and set aside on a plate.
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To the same skillet, add in the fresh garlic along with oregano and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1-2 minutes until garlic becomes fragrant and then add in the tomato paste. Stir around and mix it all together. Cook for another 1-2 minutes.
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Next, add in the chicken broth, pasta water, heavy cream, roasted red pepper puree, butter and parmesan cheese. Stir to combine. Let this simmer on low/medium heat and stir occasionally for 10 minutes as it thickens/warms.
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Once the sauce has thickened, taste and adjust for seasoning. Salt goes a long way here!
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Make sure that the heat is low. Add the pasta directly into the sauce. Toss and then add in the sausage and toss until all combined. Garnish with more shredded parmesan cheese, fresh herbs or red pepper flakes. Eat while hot! Enjoy!
That chicken sausage sounds great Haylie! This would be a perfect meal for date night. I hope you and Ben have a lovely weekend celebrating Valentine’s Day!
Thanks, Leanne! It was a lovely Valentine’s Day! Hope you and your hubby had a great one too! 🙂
Roasted red pepper adds so much flavour to everything! And you can’t beat any pasta dish! This looks super hearty and cozy, Haylie…just what I want (and need) on a cold day like today 🙂 Hope you’re having a lovely week so far!
I so agree, Dawn! Love love the flavor of roasted red pepper!! Pasta is the best! 🙂 Thanks girl!
We’re a sausage loving household, Haylie! And a pasta loving one so this one is definitely calling my name for an easy weeknight dinner. I love that you used chicken sausage, too! Yum!
We love sausage too, Katherine! So good and super easy!! 🙂 Thanks my friend!
This dish was great. Super easy, inexpensive and delicious! Thanks!!
Hi J! Thank you so much – so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
This is so delicious and easy to make! I don’t have a food processor so I just left the peppers out and it was still so great. I’ve tried it twice with different kinds of sausage- but the pineapple bacon sausage was amazing. With this recipe I was actually able to make lunch for three days. Is there a certain amount of butter your recommend? Thank you for the delicious recipe!
Hey Alyssa -thank you so much for the kind review! I’m so so glad you were able to enjoy this meal several days!! Woohoo! 🙂 Whoops, sorry I just now saw that I forgot to add the amount of butter in the ingredient description – I’ll go change that now. I would recommend 2 tbsp of salted butter! And when you’re heating it up for leftovers, I’d even add a dollop of butter in there as well to get it super creamy and delicious! Thanks again for making the recipe! <3
Maybe I’m missing something but I can’t find when you add the roasted red peppers in this recipe. I see that the step where they are pureed in a blender but then they’re never mentioned again. I assume you add them with the chicken broth. Looking forward to making this.
Thanks.
Hi Beth! Oh my word – what an ultra silly mistake on my end, LOL! I can’t believe I forgot to add it in the directions! But yes, you are correct, you add it in with the chicken broth, pasta water, parmesan cheese etc. I’ve both updated the recipe card and the blog post itself to include that. Thank you for catching that. I hope you enjoy this recipe, it’s one of my favorites! 🙂 – Haylie
This was really delicious. I used regular sausage – what I had on hand – but I’m sure it would be as good with chicken sausage. Thanks!
Thank you so much, Beth! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I really love this recipe. I’ve made it a few times and always follow it to a T. It’s also a big hit in my household of three.
Awesome! So glad you love this recipe, Jenn! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Amazing! I did not have a jar of roasted peppers, but had a bag of mini peppers and tossed in olive oil and smoked on the Traeger. I also used angel hair pasta because it’s what I had! This was amazing. Oh my goodness slap your momma good🤣. Amazing so much flavor!!!!!!!
Tonya, this review made me LOL! I loved it. So so happy you enjoyed the recipe so much! 🙂