One-Pot Penne with Sausage and Arugula

A light and easy dinner idea that cooks up in one pan in less than 45 minutes! This one-pot penne with sausage and arugula with white wine is full of fresh flavor and won’t leave you with a pile of dishes in the sink.

One-Pot Penne

After years of being a “boil the pasta separate” kind of person I’ve experienced a sort of renaissance in this department and in the last year or so have embraced the idea that you can, in fact, boil pasta in the same pan as everything else. It doesn’t always work (there are just certain times when pasta needs to be tossed with a sauce and not cooked in it), but when it does, as is the case with this one-pot penne, it makes for happy times. Fewer dishes is always a good thing.

This recipe started with one I found on Real Simple a few years ago and it is a “real simple” recipe except for the fact that you have to boil the pasta in a separate pot, a step that in this day and age just seems unnecessary. So I played around with it until it morphed into a simple one-pot penne recipe and I’ve haven’t turned back. It’s a simple and easy dinner idea.

Some Ingredients You’ll Need

• Italian Sausage: I tend to favor mild sausage, but if you want things a little spicier use hot Italian sausage.
• Onion, garlic, olive oil, and salt. You know, the usual dinner ingredient suspects.
• Some kind of fresh herb. I used thyme, but parsley, basil, or even chopped rosemary would work, too.
• Penne: You can buy special pasta that cooks fast for one-pan recipes, but I find regular penne works fine. It just takes a few minutes longer to cook.
• Chardonnay and fresh lemon juice: Because I used plain-old water to cook the pasta in the pan (as opposed to chicken stock) I wanted to add extra flavor – the white wine and lemon juice does this well. The help release any browned bits off the bottom of the pan (aka flavor!) and add a pop of brightness.
• Fresh baby arugula: Or, substitute the same amount of spinach if you have some on hand.

More One-Pot Recipes

30 Minute One Pan Beef Penne

One-Pan Loaded Mexican Rice

Chicken with Lemon-Garlic Green Beans and Potatoes

One-Pot Penne with Sausage and Arugula

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• Author: April @ Girl Gone Gourmet
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings
• Category: Main Course

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Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 Italian sausage links, casings removed
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced thin
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• leaves from 6 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup Chardonnay
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 5 oz baby arugula
• 6 ounces penne
• Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

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Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the sausage and brown it using a spatula to break it up as it cooks. Add the onion, garlic, thyme leaves, and salt. Once the sausage is browned, add the wine and lemon juice and stir, scraping up the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the arugula and cook it down (add it in batches to avoid overfilling the pan).
2. Add the uncooked penne to the pan and stir. Pour enough water into the pan so that the pasta is almost covered (about 2 1/2 cups). Bring the pan to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, for about 15-20 minutes or until almost all of the liquid is absorbed and the pasta is tender. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

Notes

Nutrition estimates do not include the Parmesan cheese garnish.

Nutrition

• Calories: 450
• Fat: 22g
• Carbohydrates: 40.3g
• Fiber: 2.8g
• Protein: 18.1g