Categories: Food

Ina Garten’s Rigatoni with Sausage and Fennel

Y’all, today I had to share with you one of the best pasta dishes I’ve ever made and it’s from none other than my HERO, Ina Garten. If y’all have been following me for a while, you might know that I adore Ina Garten. She is simply everything that I aspire to be, especially after trying this rigatoni dish of hers. 😉

You can find the original recipe in her cookbook “Cooking for Jeffrey” and here as well on the Food Network website.

I adapted the recipe a little bit to my personal taste by doubling the amount of garlic, fennel, and red pepper flakes her recipe calls for. Y’all have to try it, it is the PERFECT fall/winter dish. Warm, comforting, hearty, it’s everything and more that you could ask of in a pasta dish.

I made it using the same sausage I bought from my local farmers market that I love. I also used it last time I made this pasta dish!

If you don’t like the taste of cooked wine in your sauce (which it’s pretty mild especially since it’s white wine) you could probably sub the wine for vegetable stock.

And obviously, if you don’t love rigatoni, you could try it with a different pasta like penne!

I love a good traditional red meat sauce, but there is just something truly special about a pink sauce. It is truly heavenly.

If you give this dish a try, please comment and let me know or tag me in a picture of how it turned out on Instagram (@saraannsutton)!

5 from 4 votes

Ina Garten's Rigatoni with Sausage & Fennel

Ingredients

3 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cups fennel (1 large bulb) chopped
1 ½ cups yellow onion chopped
1 ¼ lbs sweet Italian sausages casings removed
4 tsp minced garlic (4 cloves)
1 tsp whole fennel seeds, crushed with a mortar and pestle
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1 cup heavy cream
⅔ cup 2/3 cup half-and-half
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 lb rigatoni
½ cup fresh parsley leaves chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Italian Parmesan cheese

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the fennel and onion and saute for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Add the sausage and cook for 7 to 8 minutes, crumbling it, until nicely browned. Add the garlic, crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon black pepper and cook for one minute. Pour in the wine, bring to a boil, and add the heavy cream, half-and-half, and tomato paste. Bring back to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a generous amount of salt, and cook the rigatoni according to the directions on the package.
Drain rigatoni and add to the sauce, stirring to coat the pasta. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce. Off the heat, stir in the parsley and parmesan
Serve with more grated parmesan if desired

Recipe Notes

From Food Network courtesy of Ina Garten

Sara Ann

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View Comments

RO Collinson says:

January 2, 2023 at 12:48 pm

This is delicious, but if you use chicken sausage you save a lot of calories. I seem to be incapable of cooking sausage so it comes out small, so I put the chicken sausage in the food processor quickly to do that. After it’s cooked, of course.
- Tina says:
  
  August 7, 2023 at 1:08 am
  
  Why would you ever change one of her recipes? And saving calories? It has heavy cream, half and half, pasta and cheese. I would rather have full flavor then save a few calories with chicken sausage. Just saying 😊
  - Mary Riley says:
    
    September 21, 2024 at 6:17 pm
    
    This recipe is great, but there is no need to use huge tubes of rigatoni. I substituted brown rice penne. I've had it both ways. I guess if you love pasta then rigatoni is fine, but I do not. I used just a tad more over half the pasta required, and it was plenty. My recommendation is to not overpower the dish with needless tubes of pasta, as it detracts form the essence of the dish.
Tina says:

August 8, 2023 at 12:11 pm

Excellent flavor. And easy
Mary Riley says:

September 21, 2024 at 6:16 pm

This recipe is great, but there is no need to use huge tubes of rigatoni. I substituted brown rice penne. I've had it both ways. I guess if you love pasta then rigatoni is fine, but I do not. I used just a tad more over half the pasta required, and it was plenty. My recommendation is to not overpower the dish with needless tubes of pasta, as it detracts form the essence of the dish.