How long it takes: less than a half hour Equipment you’ll need: large pot with cover or Dutch oven Servings: 6 Spaghetti with meat sauce is always a go-to easy weeknight meal but it makes so many dishes dirty. One pan for sauce, one big pot for pasta, a colander to drain the pasta, and that’s without any side dishes. The sink is starting to fill up with dirty dishes and all of a sudden your easy weeknight meal became kind of a pain in the you-know-what.

Easy & Delicious Rigatoni

Only one pan! This pasta gets ONE PAN dirty. Only one! Brown the Italian sausage in the pan, add the sauce, and the uncooked pasta. It all cooks in the same pan. It’s so easy. Done in 30 minutes. I mean, this recipe is basically a dream come true. Perfect for weeknight dinners or entertaining. This is a quick weeknight meal and it also translates smoothly into entertaining. Try serving it with Dutch oven bread and bread dipping oil. A beautiful arugula salad will round out the meal nicely.

Ingredient Notes

Italian sausage: I use Italian sausage in this recipe, either pork or turkey. It’s a nice switch up from plain ground beef or turkey because it packs a lot of really great flavor into this one pan rigatoni before you even add any other ingredients. We like to use sweet Italian sausage but if your family likes things a little spicier, get the spicy version of Italian sausage. Buy bulk sausage or links, and remove the sausage from the casings. Onions, bell peppers, oregano and garlic: This array of savory vegetables and herbs adds so much flavor and nutrition. Canned crushed tomatoes: A big can of crushed tomatoes is the backbone of the sauce. Crushed tomatoes are a better choice for this pasta recipe than diced tomatoes because they have more of saucy consistency. Cooking the rigatoni right in the tomato mixture along with chicken broth gives this pasta dish an extra punch of flavor. Red wine: I give the sauce an additional layer of flavor with red wine. The flavor of the wine is perfect with the tomatoes, sausage and vegetable. Choose a dry red wine such as cabernet Franc, zinfandel (not white zinfandel!), pinot noir, and so on. Avoid sweet wines. Cream cheese: Last but not least, stir a few ounces of cream cheese into this pasta right before serving it. I usually use reduced fat cream cheese but you can use regular full-fat cream cheese, if you prefer. This is one of my favorite tricks to enhance a traditional tomato pasta sauce. Adding cream cheese is easy to do and it adds richness and creaminess to the pasta. Interested in a weekly meal plan that includes this recipe? Take a look at Meal Plan #91. You’ll find a wholesome recipe for each weekday plus a categorized grocery list. We add a new meal plan weekly.

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