Smoked Sausage Basil Cream Sauce is my answer to that familiar weeknight question: what am I making for dinner? I had Italian sausage, tomatoes, cream, and a reason to fire up the Ninja Woodfire. That was enough of a plan to get moving. What I wanted was a family pasta dinner with a little smoke, a rich tomato sauce, and plenty of fresh basil.
I like a dinner that leaves room for a little improvising. There does not have to be a grand occasion behind a good plate of pasta. Sometimes the whole idea is simply to take what I have and make something I am excited to put on the table. This combination gave me that direction without turning a weeknight meal into a project.
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Woodfire Smoked Italian Sausage with Tomato Basil Cream Sauce
Equipment
- Ninja Woodfire
Ingredients
- 6 Mild Italian sausages
- 5 tablespoon Unsalted butter
- 6 cloves Garlic minced
- 28 oz San Marzano style tomatoes
- 4.56 oz Tomato paste
- 1 cup Heavy cream
- 8-10 Basil leaves
- 3 tablespoon Parmesan
- 1 tablespoon Kosher salt plus up to 1 tablespoon more only after tasting
- 1 tablespoon Granulated onion plus up to 1 tablespoon more to taste
- ½ cup Reserved pasta water
- Favorite pasta for serving
Instructions
- Set the Ninja Woodfire to 350°F (177°C) with smoke enabled. Cook the sausages for about 15 minutes, or until the center reaches 160°F (71°C) for pork. Use internal temperature to determine doneness.
- Melt the butter and cook the minced garlic until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until caramelized.
- Add the tomatoes, 1 tablespoon kosher salt and 1 tablespoon granulated onion. Simmer the sauce, then stir in the heavy cream and Parmesan.
- Cook your favorite pasta and reserve ½ cup pasta water before draining.
- Slice the cooked sausage and combine with the sauce. Stir in the reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce.
- Add the basil near the end. Taste before adding more seasoning. If desired, add up to 1 tablespoon more granulated onion and up to 1 tablespoon more kosher salt gradually. The extra salt is optional and may not be needed.
- Serve with your favorite pasta.
Video
Nutrition
Tried this recipe?Mention @DadGotThis or tag #DadGotThis!How Smoked Sausage Basil Cream Sauce became dinner
My starting point was six mild Italian sausages. I could have built the whole meal around the sauce alone, but I wanted the sausage to bring something of its own. The Ninja Woodfire was my way of giving this familiar pasta dinner a smoky direction. Tomato, cream, and basil already make sense together. Adding smoked sausage made the idea feel like something I would want to cook.
There is a comfortable middle ground between following a rigid dinner plan and staring into the kitchen with no idea where to begin. That is where this meal lives for me. I had the main ingredients, a favorite pasta to serve them with, and enough flexibility to taste the sauce as it came together. The recipe card keeps the measurements in one place for the next time that same dinner question shows up.
A tomato sauce with something to say
The tomatoes are a full 28 ounce can of San Marzano style tomatoes. They give the sauce its tomato foundation, while the tomato paste brings a more concentrated layer. I caramelize that paste because I want it to contribute more than a squeeze of tomato flavor. It is one of those small choices that fits right into a home dinner without needing a separate occasion or a long explanation at the table.
Butter and garlic are also doing their part here. With five tablespoons of unsalted butter and six cloves of garlic, this is a sauce I intend to enjoy. Then the heavy cream takes it toward the kind of tomato cream sauce I wanted from the beginning. I am not looking for a plain red sauce tonight. I want a bowl of pasta that welcomes the sausage and feels generous.
What I like about Smoked Sausage Basil Cream Sauce
The appeal for me is the combination. There is smoke from the sausage, tomato in the sauce, richness from the butter and cream, and basil to bring a fresh finish. Parmesan belongs in that conversation too. Each ingredient has a reason to be there, and I do not need a complicated serving plan to enjoy them together. My favorite pasta is enough.
I also like keeping the basil near the end. Those eight to ten leaves are part of the finish I have in mind when I picture dinner. The sauce can simmer and the sausage can bring its smoky flavor, while the basil gets its moment as everything comes together. That is the kind of balance I am after in this bowl.
The part where I taste before deciding
Improvising does not mean the seasoning has to be a guessing game. I start with one tablespoon each of kosher salt and granulated onion, then taste. An additional tablespoon of each is an option, not an instruction to empty another spoonful into the pan automatically. I am especially careful with the salt. The sausage and Parmesan are already part of the finished dish, so I want to judge the sauce with that in mind.
The reserved pasta water has a practical place here too. Half a cup gives me something to loosen the sauce with as I bring the meal together. It is easy to focus on the sausage and cream and forget that little bit of water before draining the pasta. For this dinner, I want it ready when I need it.
A family dinner worth keeping
This is the kind of meal I want in my weeknight rotation: familiar ingredients, a little room to make decisions, and a plate of pasta at the end. The sausage cooks on the Woodfire at 350°F (177°C) with smoke enabled, with about fifteen minutes as a guide. For pork sausage, I check for 160°F (71°C) inside. The temperature gets the final say.
I started with the question of what to make for dinner and landed on smoked Italian sausage with tomato basil cream sauce. That is a pretty satisfying answer. Grab your favorite pasta, keep a little pasta water, and use the recipe card for the details. Dinner does not need a big backstory to become something worth making again.
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