If you have trouble eating enough vegetables, this pasta bake is here to save the day. It’s packed to the brim with nutrient-rich veggies, Italian chicken sausage, and creamy goodness. Everything comes together in one pan (other than cooking pasta) and one serving has 20 grams of protein with just 265 calories!
Italian Sausage Pasta Bake Recipe Walkthrough
You’ll find a printable recipe card at the bottom of this post, but the walkthrough below will cover ingredient notes and tips worth reading before diving in.
Step 1: Sauté Mushrooms, Zucchini, and Red Bell Pepper for 5 Minutes
Don’t be afraid to let the veggies develop some color here. Add them to the hot olive oil, toss/stir, and let them hang out for most of the 5 minutes.
That said, you shouldn’t need to deglaze the pan or have any burning here. If you smell charring, stir and consider reducing the heat a smidge.
Ingredient notes for step 1: Feel free to use other types of mushrooms. To save prep time, you can probably find all three of the veggies here pre-sliced. You can also omit any of the veggies in this recipe. Just know the serving sizes and nutrition info will be affected.
Step 2: Add Garlic, Cherry Tomatoes, and Chicken Sausages and Sauté Another 5 Minutes
If you have some crispy bits stuck to the bottom of your pan at this point, you can use a bit of red wine vinegar (or any liquid) to deglaze the pan before continuing.
Give everything a stir and let it hang out again. The cherry tomatoes should begin to wrinkle around the 5-minute mark. You want them to stay mostly whole so avoid completely mashing them with your spatula.
Ingredient notes for step 2: I used two different types of chicken sausage from Trader Joe’s (garlic herb and spicy Italian). Though you could use their sweet Italian to reduce the spice or any other type of fully cooked sausage in your pasta bake. Check out my 5-ingredient chicken sausage pasta for another recipe to make with leftover sausage. For the cherry tomatoes, I used a medley, but you could probably do any cherry or grape tomato option.
Step 3: Add a Marinara, Light Alfredo Sauce, and Pasta of Your Choice
Turn off the heat before adding the sauces. If you need to deglaze again, a little marinara should do the trick. Give everything another stir before adding cooked pasta.
Keep the pan over the burner after turning it off. You want to keep everything warm in case you need to wait on your pasta to finish cooking.
Stir the pasta in and you’re ready to top with cheese and bake. Almost done!
If you’d prefer a one pot pasta, be sure to check out my creamy Italian turkey pasta next.
Ingredient Notes for Step 3
If you’ve tried my Cajun Sausage Pasta Bake, you’ll be familiar with the light alfredo and marinara combo. There are dairy-free alfredo options out there, but you could also omit and use more marinara in its place.
Other alfredo replacements might be a low fat ricotta like I used in my Beef Cannelloni recipe or the blended cottage cheese and alfredo sauce I used to make my high protein lasagna.
For the pasta, you could use a lower carb option like the Banza chickpea shells I used for my Taco Pasta Bake.
Step 4: Top with Shredded Mozzarella and Parmigiano Reggiano and Bake for 15-20 Minutes
Ingredient notes for step 4: Use freshly grated cheese if possible. Regular parmesan is a fine substitute for the parmigiano reggiano, but the later packs a bit more flavor in the small amount used (in my opinion). Feel free to use other pasta-friendly cheese options. And in case you’re wondering, cutting the mozzarella in half to save some calories and fat should work fine.
Bonus tip: Serve this pasta bake with some of my parmesan bread twists or cheesy garlic air fryer bread (you can bake it, too)!
If you have questions about making this Italian sausage and veggie pasta bake, you can leave a comment below. And I always appreciate your feedback. Let me know your thoughts in a recipe review or snap a pic and tag me on Instagram.
Italian Sausage and Veggie Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp 16g Olive Oil
- 8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms, sliced
- 1 large, 175g Red Bell Pepper, sliced
- 1 large, 300g Zucchini, cubed or sliced
- 8 oz Cherry Tomatoes
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 Chicken Sausage Links, sliced*
- Salt and Black Pepper, to taste
For the Pasta Bake
- 8 oz Barilla Protein+ Farfalle
- 1/2 C 125g Marinara
- 1/2 C 125g Light Alfredo Sauce
- 3/4 C 84g Shredded Mozzarella
- 1/4 C 28g Shredded Parmesan Reggiano
- 1/2 tsp Crushed Red Pepper, optional
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 400F and begin bringing salted water up to a boil for cooking the pasta. Cook the pasta for 6 minutes once the water comes to a boil.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the mushrooms, zucchini, and red bell pepper to the skillet. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken sausage, garlic, and cherry tomatoes to the skillet. Stir and sauté another 5 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and add the marinara, light alfredo sauce, and cooked pasta. Stir everything together and top with the mozzarella, parmesan, and crushed red pepper.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
I split this into 2 separate dishes to accommodate a vegetarian friend, so we had one dish with chicken sausage and one without. My 2yo twin goddaughters approved of this dish and it’s on weekly rotation in their house. This is such a fresh and filling recipe! YUM!
Made this recipe for my parents, they both loved it. Especially my mom, she made me make more the very next night for dinner. 10/10
I make this multiple times a month. I could seriously eat this every day. not only is it packed with veggies, but it tastes delicious as well. I sometimes add spinach if I have it on hand and I usually add double the cheese on top. I almost didnt make this in the past because I don’t have an oven safe skillet but I easily cook everything on the stove and then transfer to a casserole dish and pop in the oven and I get the same result. . I am currently cutting calories and this dish is super macro friendly & re-heats really well for leftovers.
This was so good, even my husband enjoyed it!! (Doesn’t hurt that I cooked AND cleaned up afterwards. I actually subbed protein pasta with chickpea pasta and I couldn’t taste the difference. This will go on a regular rotation in this house
I love using healthy sausage in a healthy dish so this was right up my alley. I get mild Italian chicken sausage that packs some flavor (Aldi find).
This is my favorite recipe from this site. It’s SO. GOOD. It is packed with veggies, the texture is great, and it’s so flavorful! I add a little more sauce than what’s called for, but other than that, it’s perfect. I make this just about every other week. It’s that good.
I can’t remember the last week I DIDN’T make this. I always have all of the ingredients on hand to make in a pinch. So easy but so delicious. DON’T SLEEP ON THE CHERRY TOMATOES – I didn’t add them the first few times and that was a mistake – they add so much more flavor. MAKE THIS NOW
Made this again today with modifications. I used a jar of roasted red peppers instead of bell pepper, plant based pasta (pea pasta- extra protein), a cup of reduced fat mozzarella and forego the Parmesan, and I double the chicken sausage. I mix the cheese into it instead of baking on top. Can skip the cheese- great option for anyone dairy free. Love that you can make in one pot. I added protein and made it 6 instead of 8 servings to better meet my macro needs.
Xxxx
As are all of your recipes, this quick, easy and delicious! Since we wouldn’t use the jarred Alfredo sauce for anything else, I bought the spice packet, mixed it with fat free milk- certainly a thinner consistency, but the flavors were there and lower in fat. This is a staple in our house!