Turkey Sausage Rigatoni with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

Pasta will always be one of my favorite dinners.  I can truly go for pasta with a good marinara and some Parmesan cheese.  My husband on the other hand needs to have meat along with his pasta dishes. He’s also super picky about tomatoes. I know. I don’t understand it either. This Turkey Sausage Rigatoni with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce is now on his approved list.

While this looks very indulgent, I cut a lot of calories using turkey sausage, extra vegetables, and 1/2 the cheese of typical baked pasta dishes. If you are going to cut things like cheese, you need to replace flavor. That’s where the fire roasted tomatoes, crushed red peppers, and seasonings come in. The topping has parsley and a garlic cheese dried seasoning on top.  I love Delallo brand garlic cheese seasoning. It literally tastes like garlic bread.  Fire roasted tomatoes add lots of flavor to chili and pasta without extra calories. They also aren’t super “tomato-y.” If someone in your life is a little picky on tomatoes, try these.

Turkey Sausage Rigatoni with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce is easy, but still impressive.  I serve this on a random Tuesday or on the weekend when friends come to dinner. It’s a perfect back pocket recipe when you’re having unplanned company. The holiday season specifically brings a lot of “surprise gatherings.” Don’t scramble because you didn’t thaw a roast or you haven’t been grocery shopping.  Stock your pantry for easy impressive pasta dishes like this one.

I really hope you make this one guys.  I think you and your family will love it.  Tag me on Instagram @freshfitkitchen if you make it and leave a review on the recipe below.  I look forward to your feedback!

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Turkey Sausage Rigatoni with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce

Turkey Sausage Rigatoni with Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce is packed with vegetables, lean ground turkey sausage and a zesty fire roasted tomato sauce.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 55 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 12 ounces Rigatoni
• 14.5 ounces Canned Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes
• 1 cup Red and Yellow Peppers finely diced
• 1/2 cup onion finely diced
• 2 cups Baby Spinach chopped
• 1/3 pound Italian Turkey Sausage ground, casing removed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp. Italian Seasoning dried
• 1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese grated
• 1/2 cup part skim mozzarella cheese
• Parsley For Garnishing the top- optional.
• Dried Garlic Cheese Seasoning I like Delallo Brand. Optional

Instructions

 

• Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rigatoni until just shy of al dente. Drain and set aside. *The pasta box typically has instructions for al dente (this means it has a little bite) so you'll want to shave about 1 minute off the cooking time. This pasta gets baked and you don't want mushy pasta.
• This dish can be cooked in cast iron and then transferred to the oven. If your pan can't go into the oven, just plan to transfer it to a 9x13 casserole dish.
• Drizzle some olive oil into the pan and saute the turkey sausage, onions, garlic and peppers until the turkey sausage is cooked through and the peppers are soft.
• Add the Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, and fire roasted tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and add in the baby spinach. Toss everything together until the spinach is just wilted. Salt and pepper to taste.
• Remove the pan from the heat and toss the cooked rigatoni with the sausage mixture. Toss in the 1/3 cup of Parmesan. Make sure everything is evenly coated.
• Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees covered for 45 minutes. Remove foil, add the 1/2 cup of mozzarella, parsley and garlic cheese seasoning if using. Bake another 10 minutes until the mozzarella is melted.

Notes

Gluten Free- Gluten free pasta selections are easy to find these days.  Use a gluten free rigatoni and if you can't find rigatoni, a penne will do.

Vegetarian- Add mushrooms to the veggie mix and omit the Turkey Sausage if you want to make this vegetarian.

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