Right behind my love affair with Tex-Mex food is my adoration of pasta! Who doesn’t relish the comfort of a bowl of steamy pasta smothered with white sauce! Yum! So I am sharing with you one of my family’s favorite dishes affectionately called, “Italian Stuff.” However, since I figured that no one on the internet, at least no one in their right mind, is searching for a dish called, “Italian Stuff,” I gave our favorite family dish a more formal name. So meet Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce!
Note: This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase through a link, Hickory Hollow Farm will receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you, used toward keeping our recipes and country life coming to your inbox! I only recommend products I appreciate and trust. Thank you for your support! Full disclosures here.
Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce
Inspired by my Uncle Matt, a similar pasta dish was made for us when my family was visiting my Grandpa in Tennessee. My Uncle Matt, not to be confused with my husband Matt, my brother Matt or my nephew Matthew (we like to collect Matts:) has always been handy in the kitchen. So after my Uncle Matt made up this creamy concoction of Italian sausage and chicken blended with spices and a cheesy sauce, I knew I had to try to mimic it at home. And my family has enjoyed the chicken and sausage pasta ever since!
Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta is widely enjoyed by children, even though it is served in a casserole dish. I find most children are suspicious of casseroles with their big dishes harboring unknown horrors. But Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta has loads of flavor but the pasta casserole is not overwhelming to the young more sensitive palate. All your cooking efforts will generally be met with smiles and requests for more!
Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta does have cut up green pepper and onions, but they are sauteed for a more subtle flavor. You can adjust the amount of green peppers and onions to suit your family’s particular likes and dislikes.
Creamy White Sauce in a Jar
Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce gets its white sauce from a jar. Yay! While I love homemade sauces, this Classico’s 4 Cheese Alfredo helps makes this dish and is deliciously simple. Using a canned sauce skips a big step in making this sausage and chicken pasta recipe. Even though, I am not a big fan of alfredo sauce the four cheese jar sauce has a slightly milder taste than alfredo, perfectly complimenting the chicken and Italian sausage.
Meals Made with Italian Sausage
Before making Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta, I rarely bought or cooked with Italian sausage. But Italian sausage is a wonderful sausage full of flavorful Italian type spices that add tons of taste to any dish.
Typically, I use only half a pound of Italian sausage in this creamy pasta dish. But you can use the whole package of Italian sausage, if you wish. Since I like to make my meat go far, for more budget friendly meals, I split the pound of sausage in half to get two meals out of it.
This easy Kraft Italian Stew is super simple to make, requires no chopping, for those nights when you are too tired to cook, and uses Italian sausage! Yay! Or I make spaghetti, using the Italian sausage in the sauce, in place of ground beef.
Steps to Making Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta
There are a couple steps to making Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce, but none of the steps are hard.
First, cut up your green peppers and onions. I like to cut up my vegetables first, instead of my meat, that way you can use the cutting board for everything, without stopping to wash it! Next you’ll dice up your chicken into bite-sized pieces. And put on a pot of water to boil for your pasta.
In a large skillet, add a little oil over medium heat and cook the chicken pieces.
After cooking the chicken for a few minutes, add in the Italian sausage. You can use either the Italian sausage links or just the regular Italian sausage. If using the links, remove the casing from the links before cooking.
Before all the meat is cooked through, add the green peppers and onions. Add your pasta to hot water to cook, making sure to not overcook pasta as the pasta is going to go in oven.
Once the meat is cooked through and the peppers and onions are soft, drain the meat mixture. Add spices and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
In either the large skillet, or a separate bowl, mix together the meat mixture and hot pasta. Pour jarred sauces over mixture. Stir to coat.
Pour pasta mixture into a large 11 by 13 casserole dish. Cover with more cheese. Place in oven to heat throughout and for the cheese on top to melt.
Make sure not to allow your casserole dish to cook too long or it will dry on top and not be as creamy.
Serve with side salad and garlic bread!
Reheating Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce
This sausage and chicken pasta makes a heaping pan full. So even with seconds, there are generally some leftovers. Store leftovers in a sealed plastic container in the fridge.
When reheating, you can add a little milk or leftover sauce to the top of pasta and then reheat in microwave. Stir before eating your delicious leftovers!
Creamy Chicken and Sausage Pasta with White Sauce
Equipment
- 1 11 X 13 casserole dish
Ingredients
- 1 box medium pasta shells
- 1 tbls canola oil
- 2 chicken breasts
- 1/2 lb Italian mild sausage
- 1 small onion diced
- 1 green pepper diced
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp cumin
- 2 jars Classico 4 Cheese Alfredo Sauce
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Put a pot of water on stovetop to boil for pasta. Turn on oven to 325 degrees to preheat.
- Dice up onion and green peppers.
- Place tbls of oil in skillet on stovetop to heat up. Cut chicken into bite sized pieces. Place chicken in hot skillet to cook.
- After chicken has cooked for several minutes, add in Italian sausage to skillet.
- Before chicken and Italian sausage has finished cooking, add in chopped peppers and onions. Stir and continue cooking to green peppers and onions are soft.
- Add spices to chicken and sausage mixture. Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Stir.
- Cook pasta and drain. Make sure not to overcook pasta.
- Add hot, drained, cooked pasta to chicken and sausage mixture. If pasta won't fit in skillet, mix everything in a separate bowl.
- Pour both jars of sauce over chicken and pasta . Stir to coat pasta.
- Pour pasta and chicken mixture into greased 11 by 13 casserole dish. Sprinkle with 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.
- Place mixture in 325 oven. Heat casserole for about 20 minutes. Cover pasta with foil if it needs longer to heat, to avoid drying out pasta.
- Serve hot, creamy pasta with bread and side salad!
