This Sausage and Broccoli Pasta is the perfect weeknight dinner. A light, flavorful sauce, Italian sausage, pasta, fresh broccoli, and plenty of Pecorino Romano cheese to finish everything off. 30 minutes, a few simple ingredients, and you’ve got the most delicious dinner.
The Quickest Weeknight Dinner: Sausage and Broccoli Pasta
and a light lemony sauce that coats it all!
I am big fan of a quick and easy pasta dish. It’s hearty, comforting, and such an easy option when making dinner is the last thing you want to do.
This sausage and broccoli pasta with Italian sausage is a quick 30 minute weeknight dinner that checks all the boxes. Flavorful, easy, and quick! Tender pasta, fresh broccoli, and crisped sausage all come together to give you an incredibly flavorful pasta that’s coated in a light yet creamy sauce. You’re going to love this one!
Sausage and Broccoli Pasta Ingredients
- Pasta: I’ve tested this recipe using both penne and rigatoni! Both of those pasta shapes work really well.
- Broccoli florets: Fresh broccoli is what you want for this recipe! I’ve tested in with frozen and it’s just not the same.
- Garlic: Because this recipe uses such simple ingredients, it’s important to use the freshest you can find. Fresh garlic just adds a flavor that jarred garlic can’t.
- Ground Italian Pork Sausage: I tested this recipe with both a hot Italian sausage and mild. Both work incredibly well. If you like a little extra heat, go with the hot Italian sausage variety.
- Pecorino Romano Cheese: my use of Pecorino Romano in this dish instead of parmesan is intentional. I find that it has a punchier flavor that works so well in this simple dish.
- Lemon Zest: Another must-have that just really helps my version of this classic recipe stand out. Don’t skip it!
My Tips for How To Make Sausage and Broccoli Pasta From Scratch
- Cut the broccoli into roughly the same size. This will ensure that it cooks evenly.
- Don’t overcook your pasta. Cook the pasta al dente so that it still has a bit of bite.
- Salt your water while cooking the pasta to ensure that it has plenty of flavor.
- Don’t skip using fresh garlic. It really makes such a difference.
and it turns out so good every single time.
I hope you give this Sausage and Broccoli Pasta a try! If you do give this recipe a try, I want to know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings / #allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you know and love.
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Sausage and Broccoli Pasta
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian inspired
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Sausage and Broccoli Pasta is the perfect weeknight dinner. A light, flavorful sauce, Italian sausage, pasta, fresh broccoli, and plenty of Pecorino Romano cheese to finish everything off. 30 minutes, a few simple ingredients, and you’ve got the most delicious dinner.
Ingredients
- 1 pound penne pasta
- 16 oz broccoli florets, cut into bite-sized pieces
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound ground Italian pork sausage
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (plus more to taste)
- 1 cup grated Pecorino Romano (plus more for serving)
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon zest
Instructions
- Heat a large pot of water to boiling. Once boiling liberally salt the water and then add the pasta—Cook the pasta to al dente (according to the package instructions). During the last two minutes of cooking, add the broccoli florets before draining, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water. Drain the pasta and broccoli, and then set aside.
- Return the pot to the stove and bring the heat to medium-high. Next, add the olive oil. Once hot, add the Italian sausage and break it up as it begins to cook. When the sausage is no longer pink, add the minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook until the sausage is browned.
- Reduce the heat to low, and then add the pasta and broccoli back to the pot.
- Next, add 1 1/2 cups of pasta water, grated cheese, and fresh lemon zest to the pot and stir until everything is well combined. The pasta water will help to create a thin sauce that coats the pasta. If you need to, feel free to add the additional half cup of pasta water to create more sauce.
- Serve the pasta with additional grated cheese, red pepper flakes, and fresh lemon zest on top.
Photography: Casey Colodny / THE MINDFUL HAPA
I can’t even count how many times I’ve made this sometimes with parm sometimes with just Romano no matter what it’s always delicious! I need to write it down in my recipe book it’s so good I would have to lose this one!
Fresh and flavorful
This was great and very easy! I used spicy sausage so I didn’t add pepper flakes. I did add half a block of cream cheese for more creamy sauce. A hit! highly recommend
Wow, I happened to have all of the ingredients on hand so I gave this a try, and it is delicious and so simple to prepare. I had my doubts that the “sauce” would be flavorful enough, but it was. Yum!
Thank you for this incredible recipe! Made this 3 times and each time I can’t get over how deliciously all the flavors come together. The savory sausage, cheese, garlic and broccoli are perfectly kissed with the bright, zesty lemon zest. SO good!
This was delicious! I loved that I had everything in my kitchen for this recipe. It was quick and easy, my family loved it!
so happy you loved it, Michele!
The meal was simple to make and came out great. Definitely will be on our go to list!
This was super tasty and very easy! I didn’t have any sausage so I added chicken, and that was pretty tasty. I will definitely try this again with the sausage!
I can’t wait to make this one! Sounds really yummy and I think the lemon zest makes perfect sense. My favorite way to have broccoli is with a squeeze of lemon juice.
My husband had seconds. It was delicious!
Great recipe, I used to use hats pasta to make this dish. but the penne is excellent. Never put lemon in this dish, so a little was a nice touch. thank you for upgrading this great recipe. I’m not particularly eager to put the broccoli in the pasta starchy water. so
I Cook/steam the broccoli in chicken stock, low sodium, then add the rest of the ingredients. 1 can of small sliced mushrooms is what my Italian recipe also calls for.. 5 stars
Excellent meal/recipee! Thank you!
I made the Penn pasta. I loved it.
I’m a college student, and this meal was so easy to make and have leftovers. All my roommates told me how good it smelled when they walked in the kitchen, 10/10!
I’m so glad you loved it, Kris!
This dish is delicious! It came together quickly with minimal and simple ingredients. The lemon zest is genius and makes the dish bright and flavorful. Thank you Ashlea!