Creamy Orecchiette Pasta, One-Pan Style

Imagine cooking your entire pasta dish in one pan. I’m talking chicken sausages, spinach and peas swimming with cute little orecchiette pasta in a creamy sauce. Again, all of this is done in one pan.

I kid you not.

Orecchiette is one of my all time regular pasta shapes. It holds sauce like dependable little cups and it’s shape makes peas look like pearls. Oh and then there was that one time my then seven-year-old, Malloree showed me this “worker guy” and I only about died.

Got 30 minutes?? Make this truly simple and flavor-packed one-pan meal! Scroll down and watch the magic happen.

To cook this Creamy Orecchiette Pasta Gather:

• chicken sausages
• shallot
• garlic
• low-sodium chicken broth
• baby spinach
• peas
• parmesan cheese
• heavy cream

What makes this dish so straightforward and fast (besides everything being done in one pan) is that the chicken sausages are pre-cooked. Only slice, brown in some oil for a few minutes and that’s it.

First, slice the chicken sausages about 1/4 of an inch thick and on an angle.

Meanwhile, heat a deep 10-inch skillet over medium heat with a tablespoon of olive oil and once hot, add in the sausage slices. It shouldn’t take too long to crisp and golden those edges.

Then transfer the crispy sausages to a bowl and set off to the side.

Next, while the sausages were in the pan, I quickly (and particularly thinly) sliced up a large-ish shallot and minced up a 3 medium cloves of garlic.

Then add those to the pan and cook until simply starting to soften, about 1-2 minutes.

Next, add in 2 heaping cups of orecchiette pasta and pour in 4 cups (1 quart) low sodium chicken broth.

Then cover, increase the heat under the pan to high and bring to a boil.

Once the broth is boiling, I remove the lid, stir the pasta and then decrease the heat to somewhere between medium and medium-high. Cook the pasta until al dente, should be around 10-12 minutes (depending on your pasta) but I check it around 8 minutes. And by check it, I mean taste test it <—– go-to part.

By now the pasta is cooked. However there should still be some broth in the pan.

Next, turn down the heat to low and add in a couple generous handfuls of baby spinach along with 1 cup of peas and also half of the Parmesan cheese.

Next, give everything a stir and once the spinach has wilted, add a few splashes of heavy cream.

Lastly, add the sausage back in to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper, stir and serve!

Creamy, dreamy and SOOOOO amazingly simple! Serve family-style with fresh basil and parmesan cheese.

And I’m pretty sure I will forever try to avoid separately cooking my pasta. One less pot = one happy lady!

All it needs is an extra sprinkle of Parm and it’s ready to be shoveled into your mouth.

Enjoy! And if you give this Creamy Orecchiette Pasta recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!