5-Ingredient Creamy Greek Yogurt Pesto Pasta with Chicken Sausage
This creamy greek yogurt pesto pasta with chicken sausage is an easy, high-protein dinner that's bursting with flavor! Made with just 5 simple ingredients and perfect for busy weeknights.
Equipment
- Large pot for boiling pasta
- Large deep skillet
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 8 oz dry pasta
- 2 links pre-cooked chicken sausage
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (sitting on counter and out of the fridge for 15-20 mins)
- ½ cup basil pesto
- 2 cups baby spinach
Pantry staples
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Cook pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente. Reserve ¼ cup of pasta water, then drain.
- Make pasta sauce: In a mixing bowl, stir together basil pesto and Greek yogurt. Make sure that the yogurt has been out of the fridge and sitting on the counter for 15-20 minutes before this step. Add 1–2 tbsp lukewarm water if the sauce seems too thick.
- Brown the chicken sausage: In a skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Slice chicken sausage links into rounds (as pictured). Add to skillet and cook for 5 minutes, until browned on both sides.
- Add pasta to skillet: Add the drained pasta to the skillet. Mix gently to combine. Turn off the heat, or remove the skillet from the stove. Let the skillet cool down for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the pasta sauce: Pour the yogurt-pesto sauce on top of the pasta + sausage. Mix to combine. Add in 1 tbsp of reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce if needed.
- Add spinach leaves directly to the skillet (with the heat still turned off). Fold in gently until spinach is wilted.
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Make sure you use pre-cooked sausage links! This recipe is written for using pre-cooked sausage links. If you use raw meat, you will have to cook it for a longer period of time in step #3.
- To prevent curdling, make sure the Greek yogurt is sitting on the counter for at least 15-20 minutes before you add it to the pasta. I also recommend taking the skillet off the stove or at least shutting off the stove before you add the yogurt-pesto sauce
- If your sauce curdled, it's still safe to eat! But it may give a little bit of clumpy or gritty texture to the pasta. See the FAQ below for some tips if your pasta does curdle
- Top with parmesan - I didn't top my pasta with cheese due to personal preference, but you can definitely add some grated parmesan on top if you want!
- Add extra veggies like roasted cherry tomatoes or roasted zucchini for color and nutrition