Spicy Orecchiette with Chicken Sausage and Kale
This Spicy Orecchiette with Chicken Sausage and Kale is a variation on one of my favorite fast weeknight dinners, pasta + parmesan + vegetable. If you’re a Budget Bytes veteran you probably have this formula memorized, but for all my new friends, this one will change your dinner game! I’ll list some variations and link to some of my favorites in the past, so you can see how this easy formula will help you make weeknight dinner effortless.
For this recipe I used an Italian style chicken sausage from Aldi, but this recipe is so flexible that you can use just about any flavor chicken sausage, regular pork Italian sausage, or even a vegetarian sausage (Aldi makes a great vegetarian sausage, too). If you want your dish extra spicy, choose a sausage that contains red pepper. Orecchiette can sometimes be hard to find and is definitely a bit more expensive than some other pasta shapes, so feel free to swap it out with whatever you have available. My second choice would be either thin spaghetti, whole wheat spaghetti (that nutty flavor goes great with Parmesan), or even wide egg noodles. Penne is also an easy and convenient choice.
Ingredients:
- 8 oz. orecchiette
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 12 oz. chicken sausage
- 2 Tbsp butter
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 8 oz. chopped kale
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 pinch salt
- freshly cracked pepper to taste