Creamy Sausage Pasta
A 15-minute Russian-style weeknight skillet pasta — sliced sausage and onion melted into cream cheese, smoky paprika, and tomato paste, finished with shredded cheddar.
Ingredients
- 1 Onion
- 300 g Italian sausage
- 100 g Cream cheese
- 3 g Smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 250 g Pasta
- 60 g Cheddar cheese
- 5 g Salt
- 15 ml Cooking oil
Method
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.
- Dice the yellow onion.
- Slice the sausage into rings.
- Shred the cheddar cheese.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook one minute shy of al dente per the package (firm to the bite).
- Reserve a mugful of the pasta water, then drain.
- Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the diced onion and saute until soft and translucent.
- Add the sliced sausage to the skillet and cook until lightly browned.
- Stir in the cream cheese and let it melt into the sausage and onion.
- Add the smoked paprika and tomato paste. Stir to coat everything.
- Pour in a splash of water and simmer briefly to loosen everything into a sauce.
- Add the cooked drained pasta to the skillet and toss to coat in the sauce, loosening with the reserved pasta water as needed. Taste and adjust the salt.
- Off the heat, sprinkle with the shredded cheddar so it melts from the residual warmth. Serve immediately.
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About Creamy Sausage Pasta
Creamy sausage pasta is unpretentious weeknight Russian-American cooking: sausage and onion browned quickly, then folded into a pan sauce built from cream cheese, paprika, and tomato paste. Cream cheese is the secret—it melts into the meat's fat and creates an instant, glossy sauce without the fussiness of making a proper sauce from scratch. The smoked paprika adds color and a subtle smoke-and-sweet note that distinguishes this from a thousand other cream sauces, and the tomato paste gives it a whisper of umami and brightness.
Fifteen minutes and you have dinner for three, hearty enough to feel filling but fast enough that this works on a Tuesday. Cheddar cheese shredded over the finished pasta adds a touch of sharpness and helps the whole thing meld into one cohesive bite rather than separate components. This is not delicate cooking—it's direct, practical, designed to feed people on time. The sausage does almost all the flavor work, so its quality matters; choose one with character and enough fat to support the cream. Serve this without ceremony, with bread to soak the pan and a cold glass of something bright.
Creamy Sausage Pasta: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Creamy Sausage Pasta?
A serving has about 862 calories — 32.3g protein, 73.2g carbs, 48.3g fat, 4.1g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 32.3g of protein, roughly 15% of its calories.
Is Creamy Sausage Pasta gluten-free?
As written, no — it contains Pasta. You'd need a certified gluten-free swap for that ingredient to make it gluten-free.
Is Creamy Sausage Pasta dairy-free?
Not as written — it uses Cream cheese, Cheddar cheese. Swapping those for a plant-based alternative makes it dairy-free.
How many servings does Creamy Sausage Pasta make?
This recipe makes 3 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.