Creamy Cavatappi Pasta

What is Cavatappi? Well, it’s just about the most fun pasta shape of all!

In this easy recipe, I just do a quick sauté of Italian sausage and a few veggies, toss it with some red pesto sauce and cream, and then add in my boiled cavatappi. It’s one of my my favorite pasta dishes out there.

So I’ll tell you, I’ve followed this very same recipe with a lot of different pasta shapes. Farfalle go great, tubes like rigatoni and ziti also work well, but my favorite is cavatappi. It’s just perfect here.

In case you’re not familiar with it, cavatappi, which was invented in the 1970’s, is a corkscrew shaped tubular pasta. Kind of imagine a bunch of macaroni noodles connected together into one long spiral.

Anyways, this quick pasta dish has become a regular in our weeknight dinner rotation. Give it a try, it might become one of yours too.

Ingredients

• Pasta – Again, you can use any shape you prefer. But please do try it with cavatappi, it’s such a fun shape and goes great in this recipe.
• Olive oil – This is for cooking the sausage and vegetables.
• Italian sausage – I personally prefer spicy, but use mild if you like.
• Mushrooms – One of sausage’s favorite accompaniments.
• Bell pepper – Any color of your choice. I like the sweetness from red.
• Garlic – If you don’t like it, find another food blog.
• Red pesto sauce – The very first time I made this recipe, I used green pesto. It’s very good, but I really prefer the flavor of red pesto here.
• Heavy whipping cream – This is where the creaminess factor comes in. I have tried it with half and half, but it’s just not as good. That being said, you can make the swap if you’re watching calories.

Cavatappi Pasta Recipe

First, I get the pasta going. In salted water, I boil it to al dente, then drain and set it aside.

While the pasta is cooking, I heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add sausage. I break the sausage up with a spoon, stir in the mushrooms and chopped red bell pepper, and cook until there is no more pink in the sausage.

Next, I add the garlic, stir well, and cook for 1 more minute.

To finish things off, I stir in the red pesto sauce and heavy cream, mix well, then add in prepared cavatappi pasta. I stir everything up until it is well combined, then serve immediately.

So, there’s your easy weeknight pasta dish. It’s Wednesday, who really wants to slave in the kitchen anyways?

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Some more great pasta recipes:
Frutti di Mare
Gigi Hadid Pasta
American Chop Suey
Kielbasa Pasta
Pasta e Piselli
Spicy Sausage Pasta
Jambalaya Pasta

Creamy Cavatappi Pasta Recipe

Yield: 4-6 servings

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

My easy Cavatappi Pasta Recipe is a flavorful weeknight dinner that you can whip up in about 30 minutes.

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Ingredients

• 8oz cavatappi pasta
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
• 8oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 6.7oz jar red pesto sauce
• ¾ cup heavy whipping cream

Instructions

1. In salted water, boil pasta to al dente according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and add sausage. Break the sausage up with a spoon, stir in the mushrooms and chopped red bell pepper, and cook until there is no more pink in the sausage.
3. Add garlic, stir well, and cook for 1 more minute.
4. Stir in red pesto sauce and heavy cream. Mix well, then add in prepared cavatappi pasta. Continue stirring until everything is well combined.
5. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Information

Yield 6 Serving Size 1
Amount Per Serving Calories 591Total Fat 46gSaturated Fat 17gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 30gCholesterol 77mgSodium 762mgCarbohydrates 23gFiber 2gSugar 6gProtein 22g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.