Trader Joe's Recipe Files: Skillet Pasta with Sausage and Brussels Sprouts
Stock your cart with fresh sausage, short noodles, and shaved brussels sprouts to make this crowd-pleasing dinner
In the Trader Joe's Recipe Files, we take Trader Joe's products and turn them into a family meal. Today's products: Sweet Italian Chicken Sausage and shaved brussels sprouts.
Why these products are on my Trader Joe’s shopping list:
My daughter LOVES sausage. Hot dogs, whole sausages like these, sausage coins, crumbled sausage, all of it. (Note to self: Make Claire some pigs in blankets, it will blow her 4.5 year-old mind.) I started buying these regularly because fresh sausage is a fantastic dinner hack. Think about it: The meat is already seasoned, so no matter what you decide to do with it, you're already half-way there. The sweet Italian chicken sausage is a particular favorite in our house thanks to the fennel and anise in the sausage, and because yeah, it's sweet not spicy.
I often pick up a bag of the Shaved Brussels Sprouts because they are such an easy way to bulk up a grain or a bean in my various work-from-home lunch bowls. When the sprouts are shaved like this, they cook much more quickly in a skillet than quartered or halved brussels do, so I knew they'd be perfect for creating a skillet pasta like this one.
What's great about this recipe:
This is a complete meal. I don't feel like I need to serve anything else along with it to hit any major nutrient groups or to be satisfying. Also? It only takes about 30 minutes.
It's adaptable. This recipe came from my own family's preferences, but you can easily adjust this to suit your own. Prefer pork sausage? Go for it. Want it spicy? Use a hot Italian sausage instead. Hate brussels sprouts? Use broccoli or kale. Don't want pasta? Just skip it.
This skillet pasta can feed a lot of people — do note that the recipe calls for an extra-large skillet! The recipe generously serves 4-6 people, potentially with leftovers, and could serve as many as 8 (especially if you do add a side salad). I love this pasta for this time of year, because it’s an easy option if you need to feed overnight guests or bring something to a potluck. My family is always happy to have extras of this one in the fridge.
That said, if it's just too much food for your family, this recipe is easy to scale down. Cut the number of sausages, reduce the amount of pasta, and follow the steps as-is (even if you cut down the amount of sausage and/or pasta, I'd still use the same amount of grated parm, honestly). But what makes this recipe great is that, as written, you won’t be left with annoying amounts of leftover ingredients (no frustrating tiny portion of pasta left in the baggie, no random two sausages to use up before they get slimy).
Do you have any other go-to ideas for the fresh sausage or the shaved brussels sprouts? Share your ideas in the comments!