The perfect comfort food
The perfect comfort food! Spicy sausage rigatoni is such an easy dish to make and will surely please the whole family. If you have little ones or you are cooking for anyone who isn’t a fan of spicy food, you can easily leave out the spice and just have a delicious herby, smoky sauce. I promise it’s just as tasty!Using sausage creates a lovely flavour similar to having spaghetti and meatballs.
What sausages work best?
We use Cumberland sausages because they have a lot of herbs and seasoning already, and combined with a rich, smoky tomato sauce with kicks of heat from the chilli and little bites of crispy pancetta, it’s the perfect comfort food in the winter it tastes sooooo good when you scoop it up on some buttery garlic bread. Also, the leftovers (if you have any) make a tasty lunch the next day.You can use any pasta shape you prefer, or even spaghetti would work well. I personally love rigatoni and always opt for a spicy pasta dish for comfort food cravings, so this is perfect if you love this sort of thing.
Spicy Sausage Rigatoni
Course: MainCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy4
servings5
minutes30
minutesSausage and pancetta covered in a smoky, spicy tomato sauce. It’s an excellent, cheap, and easy recipe if you are trying to save money!
Ingredients
1tbsp olive oil
6 Cumberland sausages, sliced
70g diced pancetta
1 large onion
4 cloves of garlic
1 chilli, sliced
220g tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2tsp paprika
1tsp chipotle chilli powder
500g passata
300g rigatoni pasta
1tsp Italian herbs
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2tsp garlic pepper
1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
165g sweetcorn
2 bell peppers, diced
1/2 tsp black and red pepper
Directions
- Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and fry sausages and diced pancetta on a high heat until golden brown.
- Turn the heat down, add the onions and 1tsp cracked black pepper, and fry them off for about 4-5 minutes until slightly softened.
- Then add the garlic and chilli and fry off until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add the halved tomatoes and a pinch of salt and cook them for 3-5 minutes until they become soft.
- Sprinkle 1tsp of paprika and 1tsp of chipotle chilli and stir until combined.
- Pour in the 400g passata and let it simmer.
- Add 300g rigatoni to salted water for 10-12 minutes or according to pack instructions.
- Sprinkle 1 tsp of Italian herbs 1/2tsp onion salt and 1/2tsp garlic pepper and stir thoroughly.
- Add a splash of Worcestershire sauce.
- Stir through in a tin of sweetcorn and bell peppers and let it slightly simmer so it can heat through, stirring occasionally
- Pour the pasta into the sauce mixture, stir until thoroughly combined, top with black and red pepper and serve immediately.
Notes
- This is also perfect if you top it with mozzarella and parmesan and bake it in the oven for a sausage pasta bake! Just bake in the oven for 25-30mins in an ovenproof dish on 200 (180 for fan oven) and don’t forget the side of garlic bread!
- And always remember to taste as you go!
I love the versatility of this dish, and having the base of onion, garlic, and chilli really sets the foundation of a deep-flavoured tomato sauce with chunks of tomato for a bit of freshness, too, and you really can alter it any way you want,, whether you prefer a real punch of chilli or you’d like it more fragrant and herby you can perfect it to your individual taste.
Remember you can follow me on Instagram, where I share daily stories and reels and show how I create recipes you see here on the website! You can also see the reel where I made my first attempt at this exact dish here. I changed a couple of things (like frying the sausage off first) and it made such a difference to the outcome and if you love these types of dishes, feel free to check out our tagliatelle bolognese recipe which you can find here.
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