Italian Sausage Rigatoni Pasta

This pasta dish is so easy to make and requires only a few ingredients.  I almost feel silly for posting this recipe but it has been my go-to pasta dish for years.  I have used this when having large groups over for dinner (umm my daughter's basketball team as well as parents or my son's cross-country running buddies.)  They all love it.

This can be made in about 20 minutes and here is what you will need...

This is enough for about 8 people or two dinners for 4.  You can half everything if you want.

1 package of hot italian sausage (not sweet)

2 jars of Ragu spaghetti sauce

garlic salt

cayenne pepper

The hot italian sausage and the cayenne pepper are what "make" this recipe and give it the "kick" that everyone loves.

Let's get started,

Remove the hot italian sausage from the casing, break into bite size pieces and place in a pan.  Cook on stove on medium high turning often.

While that is cooking, start to boil a pot of water with salt.

I added a little olive oil to brown the sausage but I have done it without.  

When your pot of water is boiling add the rigatoni.  Stir occasionally, and cook until softened.

Now that the sausage is thoroughly cooked we can add the 2 jars of Ragu.

Add a generous amount of garlic salt.

Then add cayenne pepper.  Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Drain cooked pasta and do not rinse.  This helps the sauce to adhere more readily to the pasta.

I like to make individual servings instead of mixing the sauce with the pasta.  Some people like more sauce than others.

If you have left overs, I suggest that you store the pasta and the sauce separately.  I'm not sure why it is but it seems to reheat better than when I have mixed them and reheated.

I hope you enjoy this simple and affordable recipe.

printable recipe