Whole Wheat Penne with Turkey Italian Sausage, Broccoli, Tomatoes, and Parmesan
I wanted a quick and healthy dinner so I looked through the refrigerator to see what I had on hand and found some leftover turkey Italian sausage, broccoli florets, Parmesan cheese, and grape tomatoes. I threw them all together to make a healthy, flavorful, and delicious whole wheat penne with turkey Italian sausage, broccoli, tomatoes, and parmesan that I served with our house salad and baked bread. My whole family liked this pasta (except my kids picked out the broccoli–ugh). I loved the flavors of the sausage and veggies with the nutty whole wheat pasta and my husband took the leftovers to work the following day and said it was excellent.
How to Make Whole Wheat Penne with Turkey Italian Sausage, Broccoli, Tomatoes, and Parmesan
Cook the penne pasta per instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water; drain and reserve 1/3 cup of cooking water.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, removed from casings, along with the red onion. Cook the sausage and onion for 4-5 minutes, stirring often, making sure to break up the sausage into crumbles as it cooks.
Add the broccoli florets, the grape tomatoes, and crushed red pepper, and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic then cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
Add the cooked and drained pasta and the reserved pasta liquid to the pan then drizzle some olive oil onto the pasta as well as the butter, Parmesan cheese, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Gently mix until evenly coated. Taste and re-season if necessary. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 3 turkey Italian Sausages removed from casings
- ½ red onion sliced thickly
- 1 cup of broccoli florets
- 1 cup of grape tomatoes
- 1 dash or more of crushed red pepper
- 2-3 cloves of garlic minced
- 8 oz whole wheat penne pasta cooked per instructions
- 3-4 tbsp reserved pasta liquid
- 1 tbsp olive oil drizzled
- 2-3 tsp butter
- 3-4 tbsp Parmesan cheese grated
- Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the penne pasta per instructions in a large pot of salted boiling water; drain reserving 1/3 cup of the cooking water.
- While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, removed from casings, along with the red onion. Cook the sausage and onion for 4-5 minutes, stirring often, making sure to break up the sausage into crumbles as it cooks.
- Add the broccoli florets, the grape tomatoes, and crushed red pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
- Add the garlic then cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
- Add the cooked and drained pasta and some of the reserved pasta liquid to the pan then drizzle some olive oil onto the pasta as well as the butter, Parmesan cheese, sea salt, and freshly cracked pepper to taste.
- Gently mix until evenly coated. Taste and re-season if necessary. Serve immediately. Enjoy.
My family loves one-bowl pasta dishes such as this. You can’t go wrong when you blend sausage, pasta & garlic together. You can throw any sort of veggie to that combination and it’s a winner!
Oh! its really a healthy foods , i can eat those but my kids hate it specially if they saw a big veggies on it. anyway its still nice thumbs up 🙂
No wonder everyone loved it. This looks delicious and healthy! And unfortunately, I have one who will pick out the vegetables too.
I always call meals like this.. “clean out the fridge pasta” – and they are some of the best meals we have!! This looks like one of those 🙂
This looks delicious, Pam! Don’t worry about your children picking out the broccoli. I never ate my vegetables as a child, but now I can’t think of one vegetable that I don’t love!
Yum!
Looks so good! I love sausage with vegetables and pasta.
I wish this would have been my dinner! And please put all the broccoli florets that your kids picked out in my bowl!
This is just my kind of meal. Looks delicious, Pam! Love the flavors you used, especially the turkey sausage. I’m addicted lately!
Beautiful! I need to put this on the menu!
Oh yummy, this looks really good.
Not only was it a good meal, but it was good the next day, too. That’s the best thing of all!
YUM YUM YUM! simple and delicious – great recipe, I know you’ve been having problems with posts not showing – I don’t seem to be getting new posts coming through – the last one was Feb 16th – I’ll try and sign up again.
Mary x
YAY, you’re back in my reader!! That makes me so happy.
This pasta dish looks delicious! Definitely my kind of healthy meal!
Yum, I love Italian sausage and the vegetables and pasta make it even better.
I made this tonight and loved it. I wasn’t a fan of Italian sausage but my husband is, so I decided to try this recipe. My 4 & 2 year old ate it. My two sisters in law and their families ate it as well. They have a 4 & 1 year old who also ate it. thanks for sharing.
Love that you included turkey Italian Sausages. Truly a great addition.
I don’t know how it took me sooo long to find this lovely and delicious recipe, but I was fortunate to (recently) spy a link. I prepared this dish for my family when I first discovered it, and my hubby has been begging for it ever since! It’s not only appealing to the eye, but it’s also healthy and ‘very’ ‘delicious. That’s what I always strive for when I prepare our meals. I love your blog, and I’ve already signed up to receive your upcoming posts.