Andouille Sausage Pasta

Warm up your taste buds with this andouille sausage pasta loaded with seared sausage, peppers, onions, and smothered in a creamy Cajun pasta sauce. This hearty pasta is bursting with your favorite bold flavors of Lousiana and spiked with just the right amount of heat.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Penne pasta - You can substitute your favorite type of pasta.
• Andouille sausage 
• Red bell pepper - Yellow bell peppers or any other sweet peppers is also great.
• Sweet onion - Yellow onion can be substituted. Red onion can also work, but it would be my last choice.
• Garlic - Fresh garlic cloves are highly recommended over garlic powder.
• Chicken broth - Chicken stock can also be used.
• Heavy whipping cream - Half and Half can be substituted but heavy cream will give you the best sauce.
• Cajun seasonings - Use a store bought seasoning blend or my Creole seasoning blend.
• Fire roasted tomatoes - You can find these by the other canned diced tomatoes at the grocery store, and also in the organic aisle.
• All purpose flour - This can be optional if you want a thicker sauce. You can also use a smaller amount of corn starch instead.
• Parmesan cheese - I prefer using grated Parmesan for this recipe, but shredded Parmesan will also work.

Note: Andouille sausage and Cajun seasoning both add a spicy kick to this dish. If you don't like spicy food you can use smoked pork sausage or chicken breasts instead and omit the Cajun seasoning. Alternatively, for more heat add hot sauce or cayenne pepper. If you like spicy pasta dishes, you will also want to try my Rattlesnake pasta recipe too.

How to make it

There are two ways you can make this andouille sausage pasta recipe. This can be made as a one-pot meal where the pasta noodles are cooked with the sauce, or you can cook the pasta separately in its own large pot of water. Personally, I choose to cook the pasta separately because I like more control over not overcooking the pasta.

Using a saute pan, or large skillet, set over medium high heat and sear the sliced sausage until browned. Then remove them from the skillet and set aside. Set the burner to medium heat and saute the peppers and onion in the rendered fat left in the skillet, adding olive oil if needed. Once almost tender, add garlic and saute for an additional minute. Remove the peppers, onion, and garlic and set aside with the sausage.

Note: The sausage, peppers, onion, and garlic can all be cooked together if you need to cut down on cooking time.

Start cooking the sauce by deglazing your skillet with the chicken broth. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits so they can add flavor to the sauce. Then stir in the heavy cream and Cajun spices. Bring the liquid to a simmer then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, or until thickened. Stir in a tablespoon of flour to thicken it further if needed.

Remove skillet from heat and sprinkle in the grated Parmesan, while stirring to incorporate it into the sauce. Then stir in the fire roasted tomatoes as well. Finally, add sausage, peppers, onion, and garlic back into the pan along with the cooked pasta. Toss everything to combine and serve on the dinner table.

More Recipes with Andouille Sausages

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