This Italian skinny sausage pasta with vegetables recipe is one of my all-time favorites.
It's adapted from the great cookbook, Jacques Pepin's Kitchen: Cooking With Claudine (affiliate link), that was also a fun television show on PBS years ago, back in the pre-FoodNetwork days.
Skinny Italian Sausage Pasta with Veggies
I first made this easy Italian sausage pasta dish for my brother, Peter, back in the late 1990s. He gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up and it's been in my files ever since.
I love pasta. It's one of my all-time favorite dishes! I can't imagine life without it which is why Weight Watchers is the only weight loss program that has ever worked for me long term. With Weight Watchers no food is off limits.
But the way I enjoy pasta has evolved through the years. As a lifetime Weight Watchers member, I've learned to load it up with vegetables and/or protein to make it more filling.
Recipe Notes
You can adapt this recipe to suit your tastes and what you've got available.
I love the combination of corn, broccoli and grape tomatoes, but green beans and/or zucchini would be delicious too.
To save on fat and calories and keep this Weight Watchers friendly, I usually opt for Italian-style chicken or turkey sausage whenever I can. And lately I've been using whole wheat pasta too.
How Many Calories and WW Points in this Pasta Dish?
According to my calculations, each generous serving has 341 calories and:
11 *SmartPoints (Green plan)
9 *SmartPoints (Blue plan)
3 *SmartPoints (Purple plan) (with whole grain pasta)
9 *PointsPlus (Old plan)
To see your WW PersonalPoints for this recipe and track it in the WW app or site, Click here!
Recipe Variations & Substitutions
Vegetarian?
Skip the sausage and just use the vegetables. Substitute soy crumbles or tempeh. Or add a can of your favorite beans (rinsed and drained) - garbanzo beans or white beans would work well
Different meat?
Any kind of sausage will work - pork, chicken, turkey. So would ground turkey, beef or pork or chopped chicken.
Different vegetables?
Onion, bell pepper, corn, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc.
Spicier?
Add a chopped chili pepper or big pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes
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If you like this Italian-style sausage pasta with vegetables, be sure to check out my other Weight Watchers friendly recipes including: Healthy 4-Ingredient Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes, Crock-Pot Creamy Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta, Slow Cooker Creamy Pasta Primavera, Pasta with Peas & Smoked Salmon and Copycat Olive Garden Slow Cooker Pasta Fagioli
If you've made this Healthy Pasta with Sausage and Vegetables, please give the recipe a star rating below and leave a comment letting me know how you liked it. And stay in touch on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest updates.
WW Skinny Sausage Pasta & Vegetables Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 ounces Italian-style turkey sausage
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 12 ounces tube-shaped pasta, such as ziti or penne
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
- 2 cups corn (fresh, canned, or thawed frozen)
- 12 ounces cherry tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving (optional)
- Crushed red pepper flakes for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt to the water, and cook the pasta until it's al dente. Before draining the pasta, reserve ½ cup of the pasta water.
- Meanwhile break apart the sausage into small pieces and cook in 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saute pan until nicely browned (about 10 minutes or so).
- While the pasta is cooking and sausage is browning, rinse your broccoli florets and halve any of the tomatoes that are especially large.
- Once the sausage has browned, add the broccoli and garlic to the pan, stir to combine everything and then reduce the heat, cover the pan and let cook for about 5 minutes.
- Add the corn and tomatoes, cooking covered for 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add the drained pasta, reserved pasta water, salt and remaining olive oil. Stir to combine everything over low heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Alternatively, you can dump everything into the pasta pot to combine if your saute pan isn't quite large enough.
- Turn out to a warmed pasta bowl and serve with grated parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes, if you like.
Equipment
Recipe Notes
- Vegetarian?
Skip the sausage and just use the vegetables. Substitute soy crumbles or tempeh. Or add a can of your favorite beans (rinsed and drained) - garbanzo beans or white beans would work well. - Different meat?
Any kind of sausage will work - pork, chicken, turkey. So would ground turkey, beef or pork or chopped chicken. - Different vegetables?
Onion, bell pepper, corn, broccoli, zucchini, green beans, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc. - Spicier?
Add a chopped chili pepper or big pinch of dried crushed red pepper flakes.
Source: adapted from Jacques Pepin's Kitchen: Cooking With Claudine (affiliate link) (Jacques Pepin's Kitchen Television Program)
*Points® calculated by WW. *PointsPlus® and SmartPoints® calculated by Simple Nourished Living; Not endorsed by Weight Watchers International, Inc. All recipe ingredients except optional items included in determining nutritional estimates. SmartPoints® values calculated WITHOUT each plan's ZeroPoint Foods (Green plan, Blue plan, Purple plan) using the WW Recipe Builder.
Search For More Weight Watchers Friendly Pasta Recipes
Watch WeightWatcherGirl as she shows how she makes another great Weight Watchers friendly pasta recipe, cheesy broccoli and chicken alfredo:
More Favorite Weight Watchers Friendly Pasta Recipes:
- Fresh Corn & Tomato Pasta
- Weight Watchers Tomato Chicken Feta Pasta
- Pasta with Italian Chicken Sausage & Kale
- Baked Pasta with Zucchini & Cottage Cheese
- Light & Healthy Creamy One Pot Pasta
Watch this video to see how to make another Weight Watcher friendly pasta - healthy chicken pasta with zucchini and corn:
Martha is the founder and main content writer for Simple-Nourished-Living.
A longtime lifetime WW at goal, she is committed to balancing her love of food and desire to stay slim while savoring life and helping others do the same.
She is the author of the Smart Start 28-Day Weight Loss Challenge.
A huge fan of the slow cooker and confessed cookbook addict, when she's not experimenting in the kitchen, you're likely to find Martha on her yoga mat.
This post contains affiliate links to products I like. When you buy something through one of my Amazon links or other (affiliate links), I receive a small commission that helps support this site. Thank you for your purchase!
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Kim Harris
This looks amazing, was wondering how much is a serving?
Thanks Kim
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kim,
Thanks, it really is delicious. One of my all-time favorite pasta recipes!! A serving is 1/6th of the recipe. I just kinda divide the amount in the skillet into 6 slices as if it were a pie and scoop up that amount. You can also bulk it up and make the serving bigger by adding in more vegetables. Hope this helps.
Stasia
This looks delicious! In fact, I'm going to make it for dinner tonight. I have on quick question, is the cheese worked into the nutritional information and points value?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Stasia, Thanks! And it really is delicious!! No, the cheese isn't worked into the nutritional information/points plus since it will depend on how much you use. I use a fine grater to grate fresh parmesan over it. Because it's so flavorful you don't need very much. Hope this helps.
3x
Thankfulness to my father who informed me about this website, this weblog is in fact awesome.
Leeta Annitti
How much do the points change if you use pork sausage?
Kerryn
Does it require any salt & pepper for flavor?
Martha McKinnon
Hi Kerryn,
The recipe calls for heavily salted water for cooking the pasta and then another teaspoon of salt in with the sausage and vegetables. You may need more along with pepper depending on how flavorful you sausage is. Hope this helps - Martha
Tammy
Delicious, the whole family loved it! Super quick and easy.... adding it as one of my main dishes.
Patricia
How do I put this recipe into WW site? Is there a way to import recipes without entering each ingredient??
Martha McKinnon
Hi Patricia, You can do a "Quick Add" just entering the name of the recipe and points for tracking purposes. I don't know of a way to import the entire recipe, however. Hope this helps. ~Martha
Ann Rodriguez
Excellent meal with very little caloried