This 30-minute, creamy pasta dish is cozy and comforting. Makes a perfect weeknight family dinner.

Every mom needs a good 30-minute pasta recipe in her back pocket.

(And not just “dump jarred sauce over cooked pasta”–though believe me, that particular dish makes an appearance on our menu sometimes too.)

This Cozy Weeknight Sausage & Spinach Pasta can be that back-pocket-pasta-dish for you. It is for us.

It makes so many appearances on my Real Mom Menu that I figured I’d share the recipe (I feature our dinner game plan in my weekly emails–sign up for those here).

This recipe was inspired by Pinch of Yum’s Date Night Rigatoni. It’s simplified (and lightened up) for a simple weeknight family meal.

How to Make Sausage & Spinach Pasta

While your pasta water is coming to a boil, heat oil in large skillet. Add sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized pieces. (I don’t drain the fat from the sausage, but you can if you’d like.)

When sausage is almost done, add the garlic and stir to cook. Add tomato paste and broth and stir until combined.

Stir in heavy cream.

Then add the chopped spinach. It will look like a lot of greens, but will wilt down nicely.

Add the cooked pasta and stir, drizzling in some reserved pasta water until the sauce is a thickness you like.

Give it a taste and add salt and pepper if you’d like. Then serve, with or without Parmesan cheese on top.

Can you use other pasta shapes?

Sure! Rigatoni, bowties, or penne would also work well with this creamy sauce.

My kids don’t like anything green. Now what?

You can certainly omit the spinach. Or serve them a helping without it. Or let them surgically remove it from their portion and leave you a little pile of greens at the bottom of their bowl.

This pasta also makes excellent leftovers. Enjoy!