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Cooking With Anadi
12K subscribers · chicken sausage, tomatoes and cream with orecchiette pasta
Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage Recipe
You’re home after a long day of work. You’re ravenous. You just want to dig into some crazy comfort food.
Yep, been there, done that. I know the feeling all too well. Now, hold the phone and don’t get takeout just yet! This Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage recipe will have you covered for those tough evenings! As I mention in my free motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, Make Cooking Fun!, being realistic with what you can achieve is key to success! While you probably won’t have the energy or inclination to make a four-course meal after a tough day, what you CAN do is try a new fairly fast but super flavorful dinner! You’ll thank yourself later!
Why I Love This Spicy Orecchiette Pasta Recipe
My perfect formula for a comforting dinner is saucy, meaty, and cheesy. This Orecchiette with spicy Italian sausage checks all those boxes. I especially love my pasta very saucy. I’m team red sauce, how about you? For more saucy and meaty tomato-based pasta recipes, I recommend you check out my Spicy Bacon and Chorizo Penne, the timeless Spaghetti & Meatballs with Classic Marinara, and this Hot & Spicy Cajun Chicken Spaghetti.
I discovered orecchiette not too long ago. I love exploring unique pasta shapes, and this was really standing out to me at the grocery store!
As I’m writing this, I learned that orecchiette are named for their shape, meaning “little ears.” Guilty, I’ve never made that connection! But that’s super cool!
What I do love about these little guys is that they absorb sauce and cheese so well. Sometimes you’re having some spaghetti and the sauce is just slipping and sliding right off! Spaghetti is my favorite pasta shapes, but for some dishes it just doesn’t do the trick!
Orecchiette really grabs onto the creamy tomato sauce so well. I also love how the little chunks of Italian sausage fall into the grooves of the pasta. The cheese stays nicely coated on top. What more could you love!
The heat in this pasta comes from a twist on my typical marinara sauce recipe. The secret is the addition of authentic Calabrian peppers, which you can learn about in the video! If you haven’t subscribed to my YouTube channel already, be sure you do, and don’t forget to press the bell button to be notified when all of my latest video recipes are live! Let’s get cooking!
Tools Needed to Make Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage
- Measuring spoons
- Measuring cup
- Mixing bowl
- Mortar and pestle
- Non-stick pan
- Wooden spoon
- Sharp chef’s knife
- Garlic press
- Pepper mill
- Pot
- Spatula
- Sieve
- Microplane
What You Need for Spicy Orecchiette with Sausage
Scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL PRINTABLE Recipe Card for all ingredients and their quantities and to save the recipe instructions for later. You can also use the recipe card to scale the recipe based on how many portions of pasta you want to make so that you have the perfect amount of sauce and sausage to make everyone satisfied!
For the Spicy Calabrian Pepper Sausage
- Ground chicken: That’s the choice of protein I used here, but you can use turkey or pork if you prefer.
- Calabrian chili: You can use this or Calabrian chili paste, which is also known as Bomba. Because that’s what I had on hand and it’s more accessible to me, I used bomba.
- Thai green chilies: This adds a bit of heat to the sausage.
- Fennel seeds: Use whole seeds that will be ground up.
- Anise seeds: To be ground up with the fennel seeds.
- Honey: A bit of sweetness to balance out the spiciness.
- Water: Optional, but it helps bind the ingredients better into the sausage.
- Salt and pepper: Season your sausage to taste.
For the Orecchiette Pasta
- Olive oil: This will be used to sauté the veggies for our tomato sauce.
- Garlic cloves: Mince fresh garlic cloves into the sauce.
- Heavy cream: To make a pink sauce! You can use lighter cream, but you’ll need to use more of it. You only need a splash of heavy cream to get the desired result!
- Parmesan cheese: To add into the pasta and sauce and then extra for garnish. Please grate it fresh!
- Spicy Italian Calabrian Pepper Sausage: As described above, but if you really need to save time, you can just buy one.
- Diced tomatoes: Make sure you use plain diced tomatoes and not a can that has seasoning! That will throw off all the flavors here!
- Orecchiette: If you don’t have orecchiette, you can use another small pasta shape. Great alternatives include penne, rigatoni, fusilli or rotini.
- Onion: I’ve used a diced red onion.
- Salt and pepper: Always add these to taste!
- Calabrian peppers: Or Bomba, if you can’t find whole canned Calabrian chili peppers.
- Basil: Fresh basil cut into a chiffonade for garnish.
Making the Spicy Chicken Sausage
In this recipe, I used my own spicy Italian sausage made with Calabrian pepper paste, which you can read about here. In essence, we mix all the above ingredients for the sausage and the sausage is now ready to cook.
If you’re trying to save time, you could purchase a pre-made Italian sausage. Of course I’ll always advocate that there’s more flavor in your own homemade sausage, but this is designed to be a quick and convenient weeknight dinner!
The sausage has a good balance of sweet with spicy from the hot Calabrian peppers and sweetness from the fennel, anise and honey. If you do decide to move forward with a so keep in mind that you may have to make your sauce a bit spicier if you’re using a mild, pre-packaged sausage.
Tomato Cream Sauce
If you have not prepared pink sauce before, this will be a great, simple introduction. While not technically a traditional recipe for pink sauce or Parma Rosa sauce, it has the same elements. The traditional Parma Rosa is a blend of marinara and Alfredo sauce - the latter is just a mixture of butter, cream and parmesan.
We prepare this quick sauce by sautéing the onions, garlic with the sausage. Then adding some diced tomatoes and cooking down the tomato sauce.
Once the pasta is cooked, we toss it with the tomato sauce with a drizzle of cream and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
The flavor and appearance of this sauce will make it seem you spent hours slaving over a marinara and Alfredo, while you know the secret to the sauce. Isn’t that great?
Top It Off!
I love to top this off with some basil chiffonade for a pop of color and some grated Parmesan cheese. I love the nutty flavor of the Parmesan cheese, and it contrasts nicely with the heat in the tomato sauce and the sausage.
So there you have it! If your sausage is already prepared, this (almost) one-pot meal comes together in no time, perfect for hosting guests or to make for the entire family on a weeknight when you’re ravenous. Give it a try!
Tips for a Delicious Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage
- You can adjust the amount of sweetness and heat in the sausage based on your preferences. To test whether you’re happy with the flavor of the sausage, cook a small piece of it as a tester. Then, you can adjust the batch overall before cooking it.
- Reserve pasta water so that you can use it to thin out the sauce, if needed. The starches in the water help bring the dish together.
- You can cook the sausage the day before, if desired. However, if you are cooking the sausage in advance, make sure to reserve some of the juices so that you still get that flavor into the pasta and the tomato sauce.
- If you don’t have diced tomatoes, you can use whole San Marzano tomatoes or even fresh, if that’s accessible to you!
Variations of This Spicy Sausage Orecchiette Recipe
- Add veggies: You can add a nutritional boost to this pasta by throwing in red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, and/or carrots.
- Meat: If you don’t want to use the sausage, that’s fine! This will still be delicious with some bacon, Italian-Herb Grilled Chicken Breast, leftover Roast Chicken, or even ground beef! You could even switch up the sausage by trying out Pork-Bacon Sausage.
- Cheese: You can substitute the Parmesan for Gruyere or Pecorino Romano.
Serving Suggestions for Spicy Orecchiette and Sausage Pasta
- Appetizers: The BEST Mozzarella Sticks, Restaurant-Style Buffalo Chicken Wings, Chick-Fil-A Waffle Fries
- Bread: Garlic bread, baguette, or Soft and Fluffy Dinner Rolls.
- Salad: Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad, Gurkensalat (German Cucumber Salad) or Arugula Goat Cheese Salad.
- Other greens: Garlic Butter Broccoli, Garlic-Creamed Spinach.
Storing Leftovers
While I think that this delicious Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage will just disappear off of everyone’s plates, if you do have leftovers, then don’t worry about it! All you need to do is transfer the leftover contents into an airtight container. Then, just reheat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure that the pasta is evenly warmed through.
What Is Orecchiette? The Little Ears of Puglia
Orecchiette come from the Puglia region, the heel of the boot in southern Italy, and the name translates literally as "small ears." Traditional homemade pasta there is made from just two things — durum wheat flour, usually milled to the coarse grind sold as semolina flour, and lukewarm water. No egg. A piece of dough is rolled into a rope, cut into little nubs, dragged flat against the board with a knife or the tines of a fork, then flipped inside out over your thumb so each one ends up with a domed cap and a rougher inner surface. That texture is the whole point, and it is exactly why these little ears grab onto the creamy tomato sauce in this recipe instead of letting it slide off the way spaghetti does.
Classic Orecchiette Pairings and Easy Swaps
In Puglia the most famous way to serve orecchiette is not with sausage at all — it is with broccoli rabe, garlic, chili and a couple of anchovy fillets melted into the hot olive oil, where they season the sauce rather than making it taste of fish. You can borrow from that version here: wilt a bunch of chopped broccoli rabe into the simmering tomato sauce a few minutes before the pasta goes in, or use a few handfuls of baby spinach if you want something milder that needs barely a minute. Pecorino cheese is the Puglian choice over Parmesan — sharper and saltier — so if you swap it in, start with less than the 1/4 cup called for and taste before adding more. And for vegetarian recipes, simply leave the chicken sausage out and lean on what is already in the pan: olive oil, 4 cloves of garlic, onion and the 2 tablespoons of Calabrian chili peppers carry plenty of flavor on their own.
Can You Freeze Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Sausage?
Yes, with one caveat. The freezer is kinder to the sauce than it is to the pasta, so a frozen-and-reheated portion will always be a little softer than a fresh one. Cool the leftovers completely, pack them into an airtight container and freeze for up to two months. Because the sauce is finished with 1/4 cup of heavy cream, thaw it overnight in the fridge rather than reheating it straight from frozen, then warm it gently on the stovetop with a splash of water or milk and stir until the sauce comes back together. If you know ahead of time that you are cooking for the freezer, freeze the tomato and sausage sauce on its own and boil fresh orecchiette on the day — the pasta keeps far more of its bite that way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use store-bought sausage instead of making my own?▼
You can, but the homemade version is quick and worth it — you just mix ground chicken, turkey or pork with Calabrian chili, Thai green chili, crushed fennel and anise seeds, a little honey, salt and pepper. No casing or special equipment needed. Store-bought Italian sausage works as a shortcut if you're in a hurry.
What are Calabrian chilies, and can I substitute them?▼
Calabrian chilies are fruity, fiery Italian peppers, and they're what give this dish its signature heat — they go into both the sausage and the sauce. The recipe works with either the chopped chilies or Calabrian chili paste (sold as 'bomba'), so use whichever you can find.
Why crush the fennel and anise seeds?▼
Crushing the fennel and anise (in a mortar and pestle, or under the back of a knife) releases their aroma and gives the sausage that unmistakable Italian flavor. You want them coarsely broken, not powdered — the little bits add texture too.
Why should I save some pasta water?▼
Reserve about half a cup of the starchy pasta water before draining. Adding it a splash at a time loosens the tomato-cream sauce to just the right consistency and helps it cling to the orecchiette instead of sliding off.
If you liked this recipe please let me know in the comments. Tag your post on social media using #cookingwithanadi and mention me @cooking.with.anadi. Thank you!
Recipe by Anadi Misra
Orecchiette with Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage is a quick, bold pasta dish packed with flavor. Ready in under 30 minutes, it is the perfect easy weeknight dinner the whole family will love.
Stovetop
Rate this recipe ✦
7 min
Prep
30 min
Cook
37 min
Total
2
servings
medium
Level
Ingredients
Ingredients
Tap any quantity to scale
For the Spicy Italian Calabrian Pepper Sausage
For the pasta
- (15 ml) olive oilShop →
- garlic cloves(minced)
- small onion
- canned diced tomatoesShop →
- (15 g) Calabrian chili peppers(roughly chopped)Shop →
- (227 g) orecchietteShop →
- (0 g) Best Homemade Italian Seasoning · make your own
- Calabrian Chili Chicken Sausage (as described above) · make your own
- (60 ml) heavy cream
- (15 g) Parmesan cheese
- (6 g) fresh basil(cut into chiffonade)Shop →
- salt(to taste)Shop →
Instructions
For the Spicy Italian Calabrian Pepper Sausage
- 1
Begin by crushing the fennel seeds and the anise seeds in a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, measure and arrange the whole spices on a paper towel.
Begin by crushing the fennel seeds and the anise seeds in a mortar and pestle. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, measure and arrange the whole spices on a paper towel.
- 2
Fold the paper towel over the seeds, making sure to have the spices gather in one spot. Using the back of a knife or a rolling pin to crush the seeds It does not need to be completely powdered, the coarseness adds to the texture and flavor of the sausage. Crush just enough to break down the spices and release their flavor and fragrance.
Fold the paper towel over the seeds, making sure to have the spices gather in one spot. Using the back of a knife or a rolling pin to crush the seeds It does not need to be completely powdered, the coarseness adds to the texture and flavor of the sausage. Crush just enough to break down the spices and release their flavor and fragrance.
- 3
In a large bowl, add the minced meat (chicken/turkey/pork) and mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
In a large bowl, add the minced meat (chicken/turkey/pork) and mix all the ingredients together until well combined.
For the pasta
- 1
Heat a pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and garlic and mix. When the garlic starts to become light brown, add the onions and mix. Sweat the onions until they become soft.
Heat a pan on medium heat. Add the olive oil and garlic and mix. When the garlic starts to become light brown, add the onions and mix. Sweat the onions until they become soft.
- 2
After about five minutes, add the sausage and break down the meat with a wooden spoon. Cook out the sausage until the meat is no longer pink.
After about five minutes, add the sausage and break down the meat with a wooden spoon. Cook out the sausage until the meat is no longer pink.
- 3
Add the diced tomatoes and allow the tomatoes to come to a simmer. Once the tomatoes are simmering, add the Calabrian peppers. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add salt, Italian seasoning and mix.
Add the diced tomatoes and allow the tomatoes to come to a simmer. Once the tomatoes are simmering, add the Calabrian peppers. Turn down the heat to medium-low, add salt, Italian seasoning and mix.
- 4
As the sauce is simmering, cook the orecchiette until it is al dente, as per package directions. Stir every few minutes to ensure that the pasta does not get stuck together.
As the sauce is simmering, cook the orecchiette until it is al dente, as per package directions. Stir every few minutes to ensure that the pasta does not get stuck together.
- 5
When the pasta has finished cooking, reserve about ½ cup pasta water.
When the pasta has finished cooking, reserve about ½ cup pasta water.
- 6
Once the tomato sauce is fragrant and has thickened, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Gradually add the pasta water to thin out the sauce as desired.
Once the tomato sauce is fragrant and has thickened, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Gradually add the pasta water to thin out the sauce as desired.
Learn the technique - 7
Finish with cream and simmer for one more minute. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Serve hot and enjoy:)
Finish with cream and simmer for one more minute. Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Serve hot and enjoy:)
Did you make this recipe? Tag @cooking.with.anadi on Instagram and hashtag it #cookingwithanadi
Tested & written in Anadi’s kitchen
Recipe history
- April 16, 2026 — Reworked and refreshed for the 2026 relaunch — new photography, restructured and standardized ingredients & instructions.
Filed under
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