I’m going to be honest about my struggles with vegetables–there are few that I truly love without cheese or butter. I know they’re great for me, so I typically fit them into my menu planning as an afterthought. This usually means some kind of frozen veggie blend that I season and force my way through so I can enjoy the real star: steak and potatoes, spaghetti and meatballs, pizza, etc.
As you can imagine, this one-pot wonder is such a lifesaver because I get to mask those veggies in a delicious pasta dish that is somewhat traditional to my roots–Southern Italian. The broccoli really mellows out as it cooks with the other ingredients, and the whole dish comes together in about 30 minutes. The perfect weeknight meal. Mangia!
Orecchiette with sausage and Broccoli
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 8 oz orecchiette pasta, or any other small shaped pasta
- 9 oz Italian chicken sausage, hot or sweet
- 7 cups broccoli florets (about 14 ounces)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp whipped or light butter
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- up to 1/2 cup salted pasta water
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot, boil pasta according to package directions, making sure you liberally salt the water (about a tbsp or so of salt).
- In the last two minutes of cooking time, add in broccoli. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water, drain, and set aside.
- In the same pot, coat bottom with cooking spray and brown sausage until cooked through. Pour into a separate bowl.
- In the same pot, heat oil and butter with garlic and red pepper flakes over medium heat for about a minute, or until garlic is fragrant. Add in a few splashes of pasta water to deglaze the pan, then add in pasta, broccoli, and sausage. Mix together.
- Off heat, add parmesan and mix again. Add in more pasta water as you feel necessary. Once the pasta is at the consistency you like, taste for seasoning and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Notes
Click here to determine your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe (if you are logged in to your WW app, it should calculate for you automatically). Calculated for 1 1/2 cup serving.
WW Freestyle SmartPoints: 7 for 1 1/2 cups
Do you have any suggestions for an alternative vegetable to add? Maybe spinach? My husband won’t eat broccoli, but I think he’d like this otherwise.
I think green beans or asparagus could work!
Hi Geri,
I think you’re a genius! I would love to make this because there’s nothing in it we don’t like, however, I’ve never seen g.f. Orecchiette so what would be a good substitute? I know that half the fun of eating a dish with sausage and orecchiette is having the sausage bits cling to the cup of the pasta. Maybe shells?
Thank you, Mary! Shells would be great. I’ve also made this with rigatoni and loved it. I definitely need to update this blog post, so thanks for the reminder!
This looks so yummy! Any idea how many smart points on green this would be?
Thanks!
I’m working on updating this recipe this week, so check back soon!