This ONE-PAN sausage kale pasta with mascarpone sauce is an absolute stunner! Big, bold flavor from sautéed shallots, hearty Italian sausage, fresh kale, aromatics, and more. A mascarpone and white wine base creates creamy, lip-smacking richness. Finished with crispy prosciutto pieces on top for a fine, luxe vibe. It’s a super easy, weeknight-friendly dish to make that doesn’t compromise on flavor, delish.

sausage kale pasta in black pan with striped linen on the side

Fully and completely obsessed with this sausage kale pasta, y’all. Come to think of it, I don’t even know how one-pan pastas came to be, but praise be. They are one of my favorite dishes to make because of the simplicity and versatility of the final result. Everything cooks up in one single vessel which means that the sink stays semi-clean, ha! This one is nothing short of amazing, you will love it!

DISCLOSURE: So excited to work with my friends again from Sur La Table as well as the Scanpan® team. I’ve partnered together with them to develop this sausage kale pasta using their deep sauté pan, so nice. It’s a commercial-grade, nonstick pan that is PFOA- and PFOS-free with Stratanium+ nonstick technology. I like the durable quality and textured surface on the inside.

And btw- Sur La Table is the absolute goat for kitchen items; I mean, look at those gorgeous bistro pasta bowls, gah. A good amount of my kitchenware and food props come from SLT. >> Full transparency, I just love them!

⇢ Pasta fan? Check out my creamy beef pasta, this rasta pasta, my baked ziti, def this casarecce pasta, or maybe this lemon herb butter ravioli, yum.

sausage kale pasta with crispy prosciutto in large white bowl

Sausage Kale Pasta with Mascarpone Sauce

Obsessed times a milli with this one-pan, decedent pasta situation, peeps! So, what do we have right here exactly? Hearty, juicy Italian sausage, an abundance of fresh kale, sautéed shallots, and pantry spices. This entire dish gets cooked in a mascarpone, white wine, chicken stock/broth base that is so incredibly dreamy.

The flavors are perfect- rich, warm, nutty, cheesy, and salty. This sausage kale pasta is garnished with crispy prosciutto pieces for a lovely restaurant-quality kinda feel. We’ve got a pasta dish that is so simple to whip up yet one that doesn’t compromise on that final wow factor! >> Just so damn good.

What Is Mascarpone?

Mascarpone is an Italian, double or triple cream soft cheese. It has a smooth, thick, and creamy texture that is produced using cow’s milk with types of acid. Unlike American cream cheese, mascarpone has a sweet, slightly acidic taste as opposed to being tangy. It’s best known in the Italian dessert, tiramisu.

Since mascarpone has a higher butterfat content, it’s used in a variety of dishes and baked goods to provide deep richness. In pasta, it amps up the creaminess appeal and helps to make for one scrumptious sauce that you’ll adore.

close up of sausage kale pasta in black pan with marble serving spoon

What You’ll Need For This Recipe

(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card directly below.)

  • Butter: Used to sauté the shallot and adds more flavor, #butterbeready
  • Shallot: Love shallots so much- use a small onion as a sub if you’d like!
  • Italian sausage: Can be either hot or mild ground sausage.
  • Garlic: I love using garlic paste but cloves of garlic work as well.
  • Spices: Basic pantry staples like salt, pepper, dried oregano, smoked paprika, and garam masala. Most of them are super simple but the garam masala adds a lovely warm note that provides some contrast and brings out more depth.
  • Kale: I use lacinato kale, stems removed and roughly chopped. The greens give this pasta some freshness and kale compliments sausage so perfectly.
  • Mascarpone: The star of the show, creates one immaculate sauce!
  • White wine: This enhances, intensifies, and brings out a level of aroma in cooking. It’s important to note that the alcohol in wine evaporates when you cook with it. Therefore, the food does not taste like wine but rather helps to fortify the flavors, and again, it cannot be tasted.
  • Chicken stock/broth: This is what cooks the dried pasta in the same pan with everything else. Plus, it adds more flavor as opposed to cooking pasta in water. I use low-sodium to control the saltiness that’s already going on.
  • Short cut pasta: Big fan of fusilli corti bucati; those little, tight swirly coils just send me. However, feel free to use any kind of short cut pasta. For example: fusilli, rigatoni, casarecce, penne, farfalle, cavatappi, and orecchiette.
  • Prosciutto: For the garnish, crispy prosciutto pieces, swoon.
  • Grated cheese: Pasta and cheese are literal besties! Love me some freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese for serving. A great substitute is parmesan cheese- and grated cheese is totally optional, but do ittt.
sausage kale pasta with gold fork in large white bowl

Can I Use Different Ground Meat?

Yes! If you’d like to replace the ground sausage with something else, we can do it! I recommend ground beef, ground chicken, ground turkey, as well as ground chorizo. Any of them will be a 1:1 replacement for ground Italian sausage.

What To Serve With This Sausage Kale Pasta

This sausage kale pasta is perfect for date night at home, a comforting weeknight dinner, and all that’s in between. We love serving this pasta with a simple side salad, my loaded olive cheese bread, crusty baguette slices, some buttered up, toasted sourdough slices, and even, cornbread as well.

Storing & Reheating Pasta Leftovers

⇢ Keep any leftover sausage kale pasta inside of an airtight container. Store away in the fridge for up to 3 days. When ready to use, simply reheat on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through. I like to add a few more splashes of stock/broth/water or a pat of butter to help rehydrate the leftovers.

sausage kale pasta in large white bowl with gold fork on the side

Pasta is quite literally one of my love languages, ha! So excited to share this sausage kale pasta with mascarpone sauce with ya. Until next time! 🤟🏾

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close up of sausage kale pasta in black pan with marble serving spoon

Sausage Kale Pasta with Mascarpone Sauce

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Quin Liburd
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe

Description

This ONE-PAN sausage kale pasta with mascarpone sauce is an absolute stunner! Big, bold flavor from sautéed shallots, hearty Italian sausage, fresh kale, aromatics, and more. A mascarpone and white wine base creates creamy, lip-smacking richness. Finished with crispy prosciutto pieces on top for a fine, luxe vibe. It’s a super easy, weeknight-friendly dish to make that doesn’t compromise on flavor, delish.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 large shallot, sliced thinly into half moons
  • 1 lb ground Italian sausage, hot or mild
  • 1 tablespoon garlic paste or 4 cloves of garlic, finely minced
  • kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon garam masala
  • 1 bunch lacinato kale, stems removed and roughly chopped (about 4 heaping cups) 
  • 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine, such as pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc
  • 3 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken stock or broth
  • 1 lb dried fusilli corti bucati (or any short cut pasta of choice)
  • 2–3 slices of prosciutto, ripped into pieces
  • freshly grated parmigiano reggiano or parmesan cheese, for garnish- optional

Instructions

  1. In a large, deep nonstick skillet or sauté pan (at least about 3 quarts deep) over medium-high heat, add the butter into the pan. Once the butter is sizzling, add in the shallots. Sauté the shallots until tender, stirring every so often, about 5-6 minutes.
  2. Add in the ground sausage and use a wooden utensil to break it up into pieces. Cook the sausage along with the shallots until browned completely and lightly crisp, stirring often for about 6-7 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic into the pan and stir into the mixture. Allow the garlic to cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Then season the sausage mixture with salt/pepper, to taste, along with the dried oregano, smoked paprika, and garam masala. Stir together to combine.
  4. Toss in the kale and stir together with the sausage mixture. While mixing together, allow the kale to lightly sauté for about 1-2 minutes. The kale will wilt down significantly, continue to stir often.
  5. Create a little well in the center of the pan and add the mascarpone. Use a wooden utensil to stir in the mascarpone until it all completely melts through. This should happen pretty quick as the pan will be hot. After it melts through, stir the sausage/kale mixture around with the mascarpone to fully combine.
  6. Add in the wine and use a wooden utensil to deglaze the pan by scraping up any residual bits left on the bottom, about 1-2 minutes. Then pour in the stock/broth along with the dried/uncooked pasta. Stir everything together to fully combine- making sure the pasta is submerged under the liquid. Reduce the heat to medium.
  7. Cover the pan with a lid and allow the pasta to cook through, about 10-15 minutes or longer until the pasta is cooked through completely.
  8. Meanwhile, prepare the crispy prosciutto. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a small baking sheet with foil and a touch of cooking spray. Spread the prosciutto pieces onto it. Bake the prosciutto for 8-10 minutes or until crispy. Then set the crispy prosciutto aside.
  9. Back to the pasta pan, stir everything together to fully combine. Most of the liquid should be absorbed with nice and tender pasta. Remove the pan from heat. Ladle the pasta into bowls immediately. Garnish with crispy prosciutto pieces and freshly grated parmigiano reggiano/parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!

Notes

  1. Please read the blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.

Keywords: sausage kale pasta, mascarpone cream sauce, one pan pasta, one pot pasta, sausage pasta, sausage and kale, easy pasta