Chicken sausage pesto pasta makes for a filling, delightfully flavorful and fresh meal. Make it ahead of time for meal prep, or whip it up for the whole family!

What’s your pasta theory?

Are you into red sauce? Creamy sauce? Pesto? A drizzle of olive oil or melted butter? Something I’ve never even heard of?

Perhaps you have a noodle preference, meat (or lack thereof) specifications, and/or vegetable requirements (or lack thereof)?

While I’ve been eating gluten-free for a decade, I still occasionally find myself craving a big bowl of pasta. Truth be told, I can get down for just about any iteration of pasta, regardless of the sauce, and/or meat and vegetable inclusions.

I do find I absolutely ADORE pasta with sausage and pesto sauce. Which is exactly what we’re doing for today’s carb fest! I use a store-bought chicken sausage and homemade pesto sauce, but you can go about this however you’d like.

What Type of Sausage (or Protein) Should I Use?:

I opt for nitrate-free sausage that is also sugar-free with no added hormones or funny business. You can select your favorite sausage, or even replace it with chopped chicken breasts, shrimp, and/or ground turkey or beef.

What Type of Pesto Sauce Should I Use?:

Because I eat dairy-free due to intolerance and low-FODMAP, I make my pesto sauces homemade without parmesan or garlic. For this rendition, I use basil, arugula, avocado oil, liquid aminos, and roasted pumpkin seeds. The beauty of homemade pesto is you can adapt the recipe however you’d like (see recipe adaptations section below).

What Type of Pasta Should I Use?:

My favorite gluten-free pasta is Tinkyada, (NOT SPONSORED!) which is made with brown rice. I find it has an amazing texture and doesn’t fall apart easily the way some gluten-free pastas do. I typically avoid pasta made with chickpeas, corn, and/or quinoa, as I find I digest the brown rice pastas better.

For this particular recipe, I use Tinkyada Brown Rice Spiral Noodles but again, you can use any pasta noodles you like.

Let’s whip up this carb load!

How to Make Chicken Sausage Pesto Pasta:

Begin by preparing the pesto sauce. Add all ingredients for the pesto except for the oil to a food processor. Pulse to chop. Leave the food processor on and stream the oil through the top until it is incorporated. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Prepare the pasta noodles according to package instructions. While the pasta is cooking, slice up the sausage and cook it in a skillet. To do so, head 1 to 2 tablespoons of avocado oil (or cooking oil of choice) to a skillet and heat to medium-high. Place the slices of sausage on the hot skillet and cook until seared, about 2 minutes. Flip and continue cooking another 2 to 3 minutes.

Drain the pasta, then add it back to the pot you used to cook it, along with the sausage and pesto sauce. Stir well (but carefully) to combine. Taste pasta for flavor and add sea salt to taste.

Recipe Adaptations:

Replace the basil and arugula with any of your favorite pesto greens, such as kale, carrot tops, beet greens, etc.
Substitute roasted walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts for the pumpkin seeds in the pesto sauce.
Use Roasted Beet Pesto instead of the standard green pesto sauce.
Add 1 Tbsp cider vinegar or lemon juice, and/or 1 clove garlic for added tang.
Use any of your favorite store-bought sausage, or replace sausage with chicken breast, shrimp, ground turkey or ground beef.
Incorporate your favorite gluten-free pasta noodles
If you’re cooking for 1 or two, scale down the recipe if you don’t want leftovers. This recipe makes a lot of food.

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Carb it up!

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If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!