Get my Cookbooks! Sausage Spaghetti
This easy Sausage Spaghetti recipe has juicy bites of savory sausage tossed with spaghetti and marinara sauce! Additional ingredients include onions, garlic, bell peppers, and spinach for a well-rounded meal your family will love!
Be sure to try my Tomato Spinach Pasta recipe next!
Sausage Spaghetti
This Sausage Spaghetti recipe is the easy weekday meal you need in your life! My favorite thing is the way those little bites of sausage look like actual meatballs, but they’re really just sliced sausage links that ball up nicely when cooked. And they keep their shape all throughout cooking. It’s amazing.
And the flavor in this sauce is unreal. We cook and brown the sausage, deglaze with red wine, and toss in some garlic, butter, onions, bell peppers, seasonings, flavor enhancers, and even a little spinach! It’s the most amped up sauce ever.
Don’t miss my pro tips below, they’re extremely helpful!
How to Make It
Note: This is an overview. See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Remove the casings from the sausage links and cut into 3/4-inch slices. Roll into smoother meatballs if desired. Steam in a skillet, then sear until golden brown. Remove and set aside. Deglaze the skillet with red wine and reduce by half.
Add the butter, onions, peppers, and garlic and soften. Add the Worcestershire sauce, honey, oregano, basil, mustard powder, diced tomatoes, ½ bouillon cube, and marinara sauce and stir to combine. 
Add the sausage back and simmer, partially covered, while you boil spaghetti. Add softened cream cheese and spinach to the sauce.
Add the spaghetti and stir to combine. Serve with Parmesan cheese!
Pro Tips
- I’ve used Premio Sweet Italian Sausage for this recipe as well as Bianco & Sons, anything similar will work well!
- Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are the best wines to use for deglazing the skillet in this recipe. An equal amount of beef broth + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar can be used if you don’t cook with wine.
- Marinara Sauce: I highly recommend Rao’s Marinara Sauce for this recipe. Carbone Marinara is also excellent. This recipe is fairly simple so the quality of each ingredient matters, and it doesn’t get better than Rao’s!
- Diced Tomatoes: Rotel can be used instead of regular diced tomatoes to add a little kick to this dish!
- Bouillon: This recipe uses 1/2 chicken bouillon cube which really gives the sauce some depth of flavor. If you need to omit it, taste the sauce at the end and season to taste with salt.
- Cream Cheese: The cream cheese adds a smooth, creamy offset to the acidity of the tomatoes. Cream cheese from a tub (vs. a block), melts more easily, but either works!
- Kale can be used instead of spinach, it will need a few extra minutes to heat through and reduce.
- Mushrooms make a nice addition to this dish. Sauté them in a little butter in a separate skillet until golden, then set aside and add to the sauce at the end.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftovers freeze/reheat well.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links*)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- 3.5 Quart Braiser- This is what I use in this recipe as shown in the process shots above. Anything of similar size will work great!
- Spice Rack–This is the one I have, it’s a snap to measure out your seasonings quickly and easily. (Big time saver.)
- Measuring Spoons– I have these magnetic ones which stay nice and organized in my utensil drawer.
- Pasta Strainer– This is the one I have.
- Silicone Spatulas– I have these, they’re so gentle on your cookware and are the perfect tool for making the roux and stirring the sauce throughout this recipe.
- Better Than Bouillon– This is what I always use for broth in my recipes. It takes very little space and makes it easy to measure out customized amounts.
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Try These Next
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- Chicken Spinach Pasta
-
- Italian Wedding Soup
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- Sausage Tortellini Soup
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- Lasagna Roll Ups
-
- Chicken Parmesan
-
- Tomato Spinach Pasta
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Tried This Recipe?
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Sausage Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Italian sausage links, hot or sweet
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/3 cup dry red wine, see notes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 bell pepper, I use ½ red and ½ green
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon honey, counteracts the acidity
- ¾ teaspoon EACH: Dried oregano, basil, mustard powder
- 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- ½ chicken bouillon cube
- 32 oz. marinara sauce
- 2 tablespoons cream cheese, at room temp
- 2 cups packed baby spinach
- ¾ lb. spaghetti
- Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Note: Use a large, high-walled skillet for this recipe, at least 3.5 quarts. You can also use a large soup pot as it will need to hold the sauce and the pasta.
- Remove the casings from the sausage and cut the links into ¾-inch slices. If desired, roll into smoother meatballs. Heat 6 tablespoons water over medium heat in a large, high-walled skillet. Add the sausage. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove lid and increase heat slightly. Add olive oil and sear until browned, 5-7 minutes. Remove and set aside.
- Begin boiling a pot of water for the pasta while you proceed with the following steps for the sauce. Once a boil is reached, stir in salt (I use ½ tbsp).
- Turn the heat off and add the wine, then set the heat to medium. Use a silicone spatula to “clean” the bottom and sides of the pot. This will add more flavor to the sauce. Let it bubble and reduce by half, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the butter, onions, peppers, and garlic and soften for 5 minutes.
- Add the Worcestershire sauce, honey, oregano, basil, mustard powder, diced tomatoes, ½ bouillon cube, and marinara sauce and stir to combine. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the sausage back and stir to combine.
- Simmer gently, partially covered, while you cook the spaghetti to al dente according to package instructions. Drain once cooked.
- Stir the cream cheese and add the spinach. Heat through for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the spaghetti until your desired sauce-to-pasta ratio is obtained, note that the spaghetti will absorb a little more sauce as it stands. (I add a little less than ¾ lb.) Serve with grated Parmesan cheese!
Notes
- I've used Premio Sweet Italian Sausage for this recipe as well as Bianco & Sons, anything similar will work well!
- Wine: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Pinot Noir are the best wines to use for deglazing the skillet in this recipe. An equal amount of beef broth + 2 tbsp red wine vinegar can be used if you don’t cook with wine.
- Marinara Sauce:I highly recommend Rao's Marinara Sauce for this recipe. Carbone Marinara is also excellent. This recipe is fairly simple so the quality of each ingredient matters, and it doesn't get better than Rao's!
- Diced Tomatoes: Rotel can be used instead of regular diced tomatoes to add a little kick to this dish!
- Bouillon:This recipe uses 1/2 chicken bouillon cube which really gives the sauce some depth of flavor. If you need to omit it, taste the sauce at the end and season to taste with salt.
- Cream Cheese: The cream cheese adds a smooth, creamy offset to the acidity of the tomatoes. Cream cheese from a tub (vs. a block), melts more easily, but either works!
- Kale can be used instead of spinach, it will need a few extra minutes to heat through and reduce. Mushrooms make a nice addition to this dish. Sauté them in a little butter in a separate skillet until golden, then set aside and add to the sauce at the end.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Leftovers freeze/reheat well.
Nutritional information is an estimate and is per serving. This recipe makes 6 servings.
Another winner from The Cozy Cook! This was not my favorite recipe of hers. but it is delicious, easy, and economical so I give it 5 stars! Every recipe can’t be my favorite (I’m looking at you Chicken Enchilada Soup. It’s going to take a LOT to knock you off your pedestal!)
I used more sausage, chopped onions and peppers, marinara sauce and spaghetti noodles than listed. The Rao’s marinara (and I agree that it is the best jarred I’ve found) that I can buy is a 24 oz size, so I need 2 jars and I either have to use it all or throw some out and it’s too pricey for that! So I just increased the sausage and used quite a bit more chopped onions and peppers. I boiled the whole 1 lb package of spaghetti as well. I also like to cook the sauce earlier in the afternoon and let it simmer with a lid on for a while. I didn’t add the cream cheese until I was ready to boil the spaghetti.
When the noodles were ready, I save some pasta water and also took out a large deli container of sauce before I started adding in the noodles. It turned out that I didn’t need the pasta water, nor the extra sauce so I got a bonus meal since I put that in the freezer for another day!
I only cook for my husband and myself, so we had a lot left. I put it in a large deep dish pie plate and froze it. My plan is to thaw it, cover with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and bake it until the cheese browns. A fairly instant spaghetti pie!
When I make it again, I think I will also add some sliced mushrooms. It would stretch the sauce even further and I’m a fan of mushrooms in my “meat sauce.” It’s nice to have a sauce like this in the freezer, if you have that and some dried pasta in the pantry you can always get a tasty meal on the table with only a little effort.
Thanks so much for sharing your tweaks Lisa! I’m so happy you’re enjoying the recipes! I’m with you, the Chicken Enchilada Soup is pretty darn good!❤️ Thanks again!