Sausage Rigatoni Rosa
with Zucchini & Parm
- Wheat
- Milk
Fun culinary and language fact: “Rosa” means “pink” in Italian. For our chefs version of rigatoni rosa, you’ll make a homemade rosa sauce with tomato paste, cream cheese, broth, and chili flakes (for a little heat!). Toss that with rigatoni, zucchini, and crumbled pork sausage, then sprinkle Parmesan all over and we promise: you’ll be blushing from all the compliments you receive on this meal.
Ingredients
6 ounce
Rigatoni Pasta
(Contains: Wheat)
1 unit
Zucchini
1 clove
Garlic
9 ounce
Longhini's Pork Sausage
1.5 ounce
Tomato Paste
4 tablespoon
Cream Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
1 unit
Chicken Stock Concentrate
1 teaspoon
Chili Flakes
½ cup
Parmesan Cheese
(Contains: Milk)
Not included in your delivery
2 teaspoon
Cooking Oil
½ teaspoon
Sugar
1 tablespoon
Butter
(Contains: Milk)
Salt
Pepper
Nutrition Values
Utensils
Cooking Steps
• Wash and dry produce. • Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once water is boiling, add rigatoni; cook, stirring occasionally, until al dente, 9-11 minutes. • Reserve 1 cup pasta cooking water (1½ cups for 4 servings), then drain and set aside. • Meanwhile, trim and halve zucchini lengthwise; slice crosswise into ¼-inch-thick half-moons. Peel and mince or grate garlic.
• While pasta cooks, heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add zucchini; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned and tender, 5-6 minutes. Remove pan from heat; transfer zucchini to a plate. • Remove sausage* from casing; discard casing. • Heat another drizzle of oil in same pan over medium-high heat. Add sausage; cook, breaking up meat into pieces, until almost cooked through, 3-4 minutes (it’ll finish cooking in the next step).
• Stir garlic and tomato paste into pan with sausage; cook until garlic is fragrant, tomato paste is well distributed, and sausage is fully cooked, 1-2 minutes. • Stir in cream cheese, stock concentrate, ½ cup reserved pasta cooking water (ladle straight from the pot if pasta hasn’t finished cooking yet), 1 TBSP butter, ½ tsp sugar, and a pinch of chili flakes to taste. (For 4 servings, use ¾ cup pasta cooking water, 2 TBSP butter, and 1 tsp sugar.) Remove from heat.
• Add drained rigatoni and zucchini to pan with sauce. Stir in half the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. TIP: If needed, stir in more reserved pasta cooking water a splash at a time until pasta is coated in a creamy sauce. • Divide between bowls; top with remaining Parmesan and serve.
Customer reviews
Review summary
Updated on Dec 2025- Flavor: Many loved the creamy rosa sauce and sausage combo, though some found it a bit greasy or bland.
- Ease of prep: Quick and simple to make, with clear instructions that even kids could follow.
- Suggestions: Consider draining excess fat from sausage; try smaller pasta like penne for better texture.
- Portions: Generous servings that often provided leftovers, though some wanted more veggies.
- Veggies: Add more zucchini or try roasting it; some suggest including additional vegetables like mushrooms or spinach.
Reviews from our home cooks
One of the better dishes. The pasta was amazingly big. I've never had that kind of large rigatoni before and it was great. The zucchini was good too but need more of it. The quantity of zucchini is very small in all of your recipes for some reason. It's a fairly cheap ingredient. Please add more in the future. It is a low calorie filler and great in many dishes.
Loved the sausage with this pasta. The sauce has a great flavor. Only used a pinch of hot flakes. Liked the mild taste of this dish better than a very spicer flavor. Quick and easy but so tasty.
This recipe was ah-mazing!! Super easy to cook too! I loved the zucchini in it. Highly recommend!
I liked the pasta & sauce. The zucchini seemed too delicate for this hearty of a pasta. I did not like the sausage. It was hard to get out of the casing, it was hard to break up in the pan, and I didn't care for the texture.
Was a huge hit with my family. Even the zucchini! My super picky 3 year old gobbled it up and asked for seconds. I was amazed!
If you like Pasta and Sausage. This is the MEAL. I cooked double meals for 4 and still had leftovers. This is in my Top 10 meals. ***** 5 stars
Great combo with the zucchini and the sausage. Rigatoni holds the sauce well. Will eat again.
The only thing to make this recipe better, would be to add a small piece of parmesan cheese instead of bagged shredded cheese.
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