One Pot Kielbasa Pasta

This One Pot Kielbasa Pasta recipe is fast, easy and delicious! You will LOVE the creamy tomato Mascarpone sauce and sausage combo. A perfect weeknight dinner that is sure to become a family favorite. Slimming friendly with minor tweaks.

Love creamy pasta dishes? Try my addicting Shrimp Alfredo!

Cooking right now frequently feels like one of those cooking shows where you have to make a meal out of a handful of cupboard ingredients.

Luckily this one pot sausage pasta is both unbelievably delicious AND easy to make, using just a handful of pantry staples. What’s more, my fussy kids love it – I call that a big win!

I mean, what’s not to love about a creamy tomato and mascarpone sauce spiced up by smoked Polish kielbasa sausage and Cajun seasoning?

And to make things even easier, the pasta is cooked right in the sauce. Take a look at the video to see how its done!

Sausage Pasta Ingredients

This recipe is pretty easy going – if you can’t find that ingredient I have specified feel free to substitute with any of the alternatives suggested below (or anything you have to hand).

• Sausage: I used Kielbasa which is a smoked Polish sausage (Polska Kielbasa Wędzona) but you can use any type of sausage, ideally something with a bit of a spicy kick like Italian sausage.
• Onion and fresh minced garlic or garlic paste. Chopped frozen onions and garlic can also be used.
• Cajun seasoning – check the levels of heat if using a store-bought seasoning. Reduce or increase the quantity to suit your taste
• Chopped tomatoes (or crushed tomatoes) from a can
• Chicken stock (from a stock cube or stockpot) or use low sodium chicken broth
• Your choice of dried pasta: I used rigatoni in the video, but any similar pasta shape works well such as penne or fusilli
• Mascarpone and grated Parmesan cheese. Replace the mascarpone with cream cheese or ricotta
• Fresh basil to garnish or Italian mixed dried herbs if you don’t have any fresh

How to Make One Pot Kielbasa Pasta

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

Mist a large pot with olive oil spray and pan fry the kielbasa over medium-high heat for a few minutes until it starts to color and crisp at the edges. See notes if using a different type of sausage. ⤵

Lower the heat and add the diced onion, Cajun seasoning and salt. Cook, stirring, for about 5-7 minutes, or until the onion starts to soften. ⤵

Add the minced garlic and cook for a couple of minutes until fragrant. ⤵

Stir in the chopped tomatoes. ⤵

Add the chicken stock (or broth) and bring to a rolling simmer. ⤵

Stir the pasta into the pot and lower the heat to a simmer, partially covering the pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the rigatoni is cooked through but still al dente (see notes). ⤵

Stir in full-fat Mascarpone cheese (or block cream cheese) until it melts and is incorporated into the sauce. ⤵

Add the Parmesan cheese and stir to combine. Check the seasoning and add salt (if needed), freshly ground pepper and chili flakes. Serve garnished with chopped fresh basil and a little extra grated Parmesan – yummy! ⤵

Recipe Tips

A note on sausages… if you are using fresh sausage you can pan fry them first until firm enough to slice and then add them in the sauce. Alternatively you can remove the sausage meat from the casings and pan fry it with the onions then proceed with the recipe.

One-pot pasta Cooking the pasta straight in the sauce takes longer than it would if you were simply boiling it. Do keep stirring it occasionally so it doesn’t stick and expect to cook it for roughly 1 1/2 times the suggested cooking time on the packet. Take a look at my slimming friendly Chicken Fajita Pasta or the ever popular Cajun Chicken Pasta.

Storing and reheating Keep any leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days, reheating thoroughly before serving. Put in a saucepan and heat gently, stirring in a bit of hot water or milk if you need to thin the sauce. This recipe is not suitable for freezing.

Make it vegetarian Replace the sausages with vegetarian sausages. You might need to cook those separately and stir into the dish at the end as they don’t keep their shape as well.

Try These Sausage Recipes

• Hearty Sausage Pie
• Tuscan Potato Salad – Warm Potato Salad with Bacon and Italian Sausage
• Easy Sausage Casserole
• Cheesy sausage and pasta bake
• Sausage Potato and Pepper Traybake
• Spicy Sausage Pasta

HAVE YOU MADE MY ONE POT KIELBASA PASTA RECIPE? Post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #Nusde and make my day!