Italian Pink Sauce with sausage is one of my family's favorite meals. The sausage balances out the creaminess of this sauce making for an ultimately delicious and family-friendly pasta.
This sauce is a classic comfort food. It's on the table in under 45 minutes and makes for an excellent meal for one, dinner for the family, or dish for a party. No one will ever be disappointed if you bring this dish over.
More traditional Italian sauces: Authentic Bolognese sauce, Classic Linguine Alla Puttanesca, Creamy Pesto Shrimp Pasta, Italian Short Ribs with Gnocchi, and The Not-So-Secret Sunday Sauce.
This sauce would also be an interesting alternative on an Eggplant Parm Sandwich!
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Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
Crushed Tomatoes. I love crushed tomatoes in this recipe. If you're looking for a much smoother recipe, you can substitute tomato puree. Personally, I like a ch
Sweet Italian Sausage. I make my own sweet Italian sausage. You can find it on this blog: How to Make Homemade Sausage. It is important that you use ground sausage and not links and the pork needs to have some sugar in it. I take 1 pound of ground pork and add 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoon fennel, 2 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon parmesan, 2 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley, and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg.
Heavy Cream. You can lighten up the dish by substituting half-and-half at a 1-to-1 ratio. Or you can substitute an equal amount of coconut cream to make it dairy-free.
Rigatoni. I prefer any short pasta with this recipe! Try it with rigatoni, penne, ziti, or elbows!
*Please see the recipe card below for more information on ingredients.
Step-by-Step Directions
There are not many recipes that can be done in under 30 minutes like 15-minute spaghetti with garlic and oil or garlicky cauliflower pasta. Any meal under an hour is a weeknight meal to me, especially when 20 minutes of it is simmering the sauce.
Browning the Sausage
Bring a sauce pot to medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sausage in pieces to the pot. Don't stir right away. Let the sausage sit for 2-3 minutes to develop a crust.
Then use a wooden spoon to scrape the sausage off and stir occasionally until the sausage is browned and no pink remains about 5 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pot and set it aside.
Sauteing the Fragrants
If there is enough oil left over from the sausage, lower the heat to medium and add the shallots. Enough oil means when you tilt the pan, oil runs to the bottom of the pan.
If you don't see enough oil to saute, add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil. Saute the shallots for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Then add the garlic and tomato paste.
Saute the garlic for a minute while the tomato paste begins to caramelize. Then combine everything by stirring together. Let everything saute for 1 more minute.
Making the Pink Sauce
Add the crushed tomatoes to the pot. Bring to a simmer and add basil, salt, and return the sausage to the pot. Simmer for 20 minutes stirring the sauce occasionally to avoid burning it.
While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of water to a boil and boil your pasta. SAVE 1 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce.
After 20 minutes of simmering, add half a cup of pasta water to the sauce. Stir and then remove from the heat.
Stir in the heavy cream and the parmesan until the pasta reaches a pinkish color. Adjust the heavy cream ratio to make your sauce more or less pink. Remember! The more cream you add the richer the pasta will taste.
Add your pasta to the pot and stir until it is coated with the sauce. Serve with extra parmesan and basil.
What to Serve Pink Sauce with
- Serve this sauce and pasta on the side of some Crispy Italian Chicken Cutlets or Restaurant-Style Chicken Saltimbocca
- This pasta also needs a vegetable side to go along with it so you can serve it with Italian Lacinato Kale Recipe (Tuscan) or Italian Cabbage Recipe.
- It also is a great replacement sauce for Chicken Parm Sliders, Eggplant Parm Sandwich, and Air Fryer Zucchini Fritters.
Variations
Vodka sauce. If you're looking for a classic pink sauce variation, try our Spicy Vodka Sauce.
Spicy. If you want to spice this dish up a bit, add crushed red pepper and substitute the sweet sausage for hot sausage.
Creamy. Another creamy sauce is our Creamy Red Pepper Sauce, which would be a great alternative to Italian pink sauce!
Pro-Tips
- When browning the sausage, don't move it right away when adding it to the pot. Let it develop a crust before you stir it. Stirring it right away will result in steaming the sausage instead of searing it.
- It is good to take the sausage out about 15 minutes before you're about to cook it so that the temperature gets closer to room temperature.
- Stir the sauce occasionally while cooking to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.
How to Store and Reheat
Store this pasta in an airtight container and leave it in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or my favorite way is to reheat in a nonstick pan on the stove over medium-low heat.
Italian pink sauce makes for great leftovers and is also one of my favorite cold kinds of pasta. Nothing like stealing a couple of rigatonis at 8 AM.
Recipe FAQs
Pink sauce is made of a combination of tomatoes and cream. The cream is added once the sauce is removed from the heat.
Pink sauce has a bunch of different names and variations including vodka sauce, rosatella sauce, or rosa sauce. It depends on what country you're in and what the variation is.
Video Recipe
More Creamy Pasta Recipes
Please leave a comment and star rating below in the recipe card! I love to hear what you think of our recipes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram @vindelgiudice.
📖 Recipe
Italian Pink Sauce with Sausage
Equipment
- 1 large sauce pot
- 1 large pot for pasta
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 lb ground sweet Italian sausage
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 handful basil
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 lb rigatoni or penne
- ⅓ cup parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Bring a sauce pot to medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sausage in pieces to the pot. Don't stir right away. Let the sausage sit for 2-3 minutes to develop a crust. Then stir occasionally until the sausage is browned and no pink remains. Remove the sausage from the pot and set aside.
- If there is enough oil left over from the sausage, lower the heat to medium and add the shallots. If not add a tablespoon or 2 of olive oil. Saute the shallots for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Then add the garlic and tomato paste. Saute the garlic for a minute while the tomato paste begins to caramelize. Then combine everything by stirring together.
- Add the crushed tomatoes to the pot. Bring to a simmer and then add basil, salt, and the sausage. Simmer for 20 minutes. While the sauce is simmering, bring a pot of water to a boil and boil your pasta. SAVE 1 cup of the pasta water to add to the sauce.
- After 20 minutes of simmering, add half a cup of pasta water to the sauce. Stir and then remove from the heat. Stir in the heavy cream and the parmesan until the pasta reaches a pinkish color. Then add your pasta to the pot and stir until the pasta is coated with the sauce.
- Serve with extra parmesan cheese and basil!
Notes
- When browning the sausage, don't move it right away when adding it to the pot. Let it develop a crust before you stir it. Stirring it right away will result in steaming the sausage instead of searing it.
- It is good to take the sausage out about 15 minutes before you're about to cook it so that the temperature gets closer to room temperature.
- Stir the sauce occasionally while cooking to make sure it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan.
Joshua Leibowitz
This is also called a rosè sauce. I’m going to make it as you have instructed however when the sauce is completed I’m going to add meatballs to the sauce to cook right in there.
Shuga Shan
Super delish!
Shuga Shan
Very good instruction and tips. This recipe was nicely relayed to chefs on ever level and presented in a manner that covers all ground. This recipe is amazing as well! Super tasty. I even recommend a couple dashes of garlic salt and granulated sugar just to heighten your senses. Nevertheless, it is a universal sauce that would great with a variety of pasta types ( ie: rigatoni, rotini, etc.) This one right here is a keeper! Thank you for sharing Vinny. I love a man that can cook! ☺️ xo
Frank
This recipe is incredible! The sausage goes so well with all the flavors. Highly recommend and very easy recipe to follow. I will be making this again very soon!