I made the Pioneer Woman's creamy one-pan pasta with Italian sausage and mascarpone.
The simple recipe used pantry staples and took less than an hour to make.
I made enough that, as a single person, I could eat leftovers for multiple days.
There's nothing quite like a simple, no-fuss pasta dish that requires minimal ingredients, one pot, and easy-to-follow instructions.
Ree Drummond, better known as the Pioneer Woman, has built a following around her simple, hearty recipes that often make enough to feed a whole family or have leftovers for days.
Even as someone cooking for one, I've found many of her dishes are perfect for quick, satisfying weeknight dinners that I can easily reheat throughout the week.
On one particularly hectic evening, I tried her one-pan Italian sausage pasta and discovered it's the ultimate easy comfort meal for busy nights.
Here's how to make the Pioneer Woman's one-pan pasta with Italian sausage.
Ree Drummond's recipe for creamy Italian sausage one-pan pasta requires basic ingredients, including some pantry staples.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
To make Drummond's recipe for one-pan creamy sausage pasta for six, you'll need:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, removed from casing
1 medium onion, diced
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
A pinch of red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and black pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
One 28-ounce can of tomato puree
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound fusilli pasta
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 cup mascarpone
Shaved Parmesan
10 to 12 fresh basil leaves
Drummond recommends using fusilli pasta for this dish, but you can substitute it with any pasta shape you prefer or have lying around.
And while this may look like a long list of ingredients, you may already have most of them in your kitchen.
I started by dicing a medium-sized onion and a few cloves of garlic.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
There isn't much prep involved in making this pasta dish, which also made cleanup a breeze. I only needed to wash my cutting board and the skillet I used to cook the pasta.
After prepping my vegetables, I heated the olive oil in a pan and added the sweet sausage meat.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I allowed the sausage to slightly brown in my large nonstick skillet while breaking it up with a wooden spatula, which was easier when it was lightly cooked.
It took about five minutes for the sausage to slightly brown.
I then added the diced onion and cooked it until it became translucent.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
It took another five minutes for the onions to cook and fill my kitchen with a heavenly scent.
I then added the seasonings and the garlic.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The recipe requires fennel seeds, oregano, and red pepper flakes — all staples I already had tucked away in my pantry. This made the prep process even easier.
I stirred everything together, using the oil from the sausage to brown it all. I also added salt and pepper to enhance the flavor even further.
I then added the ingredients for the tomato sauce and the uncooked pasta noodles.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The recipe calls for low-sodium chicken broth, tomato puree, and tomato paste to make the sauce. When I first added the ingredients, I was nervous the sauce would end up too liquidy.
After cooking the pasta noodles in the sauce for about 20 minutes, it thickened up.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
I loved that I didn't need to use an extra pot to boil water or cook the pasta separately. Everything came together in a single pan, which made the whole process incredibly efficient.
Not only did this save me time, but it also meant fewer dishes to wash — no extra pot or colander required.
For someone cooking after a long day, that kind of simplicity made a huge difference and took the stress out of making a busy weeknight dinner.
After the pasta had fully cooked, I removed the pan from the heat and added a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese and the mascarpone.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
This is how Drummond's "creamy" Italian sausage pasta gets its name — after adding in the cheese and mascarpone, the sauce became even creamier, with shreds of cheese pulling and swirling throughout the pasta as I stirred it with my spatula.
The final result was a comforting, unbelievably easy pasta dish that I'll make time and time again.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Drummond recommends garnishing the dish with shaved Parmesan cheese and basil leaves for added brightness.
The pasta was creamy and savory, making it the perfect one-pan meal for a busy weeknight.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
The sauce, which was creamy and strongly flavored with cheese and mascarpone, clung to the noodles, while the hints of fennel seeds and red pepper flakes brought out the savory flavor of the Italian sausage.
I loved the ease of this one-pan recipe — cooking the pasta noodles in the same pan saved me time and cleanup, and I was impressed by how simple the instructions were to follow.
In fact, it was so simple I'm sure I could recreate this dish from memory next time.
With its rich flavors and effortless cleanup, this recipe proved that a weeknight dinner can feel indulgent without being complicated.