This simple pasta dish with a delicious, flavorful sun-dried tomato cream sauce will be on your table in 30 minutes! Italian sausage, garlic, parmesan, herbs, and sun-dried tomatoes create an amazing blend of flavors. Add penne pasta, cream, and butter… and you’ve got a new comfort food favorite in your household!

If you’ve never made a homemade cream sauce before, I promise it is SO easy. And you probably won’t want to grab the jarred version ever again!

The base ingredients for a homemade cream sauce are heavy cream, butter, and flour. From there I like to add in fresh garlic and freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Depending on what you’re cooking, you can add fresh or dried herbs and other ingredients (like sun-dried tomatoes!)

I mean… does that cream sauce not look heavenly?

When you make your cream sauce you just want to make sure you are whisking frequently and you don’t let it come to a boil. It’s pretty hard to mess up!

Alright, let’s get into the recipe 🙂

Sun-Dried Tomato Cream Sauce Pasta

Serving Size: 4-5
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb mild Italian sausage
• 4 servings penne or rigatoni pasta
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained + chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring water for pasta to a boil and cook pasta according to package instructions. While water is heating, grate parmesan cheese and heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add sausage, and cook until sausage is browned + cooked all the way through, stirring frequently (about 7-10 minutes). Set aside.
2. In a separate medium saucepan, melt butter and 2 cloves garlic over medium heat for 2 minutes. Whisk in flour until smooth.
3. Add sun-dried tomatoes, herbs, spices, and cream, whisking frequently for 4-5 minutes or until desired thickness. Careful not to let the sauce boil.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in grated parmesan cheese until melted and smooth. Mix together pasta, cream sauce, and Italian sausage. Enjoy!

If you liked this recipe, you may also enjoy my Brussels Sprouts Pasta with Pesto Cream Sauce or Cheesy Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta Bake! If you try it, feel free to snap a photo + tag me on Instagram— I absolutely love seeing my recipes in your kitchen!