A cheap, easy dinner with minimal ingredients – this vegetarian sausage pasta is great for busy mealtimes. Use your favorite veggie sausages and a pan of garlicky roasted cherry tomatoes to make a tasty and filling pasta dinner that will please the whole family.
👩🍳 Christine’s Notes
Vegetarian sausages have improved so much in recent years that I find myself really enjoying cooking with them these days. There is now a huge range of tasty veggie sausages available including inexpensive supermarket brand varieties, and the kids enjoy them, so they definitely have their place in our meal rotation.
This pasta recipe is one that I have been making often over the last year and while it’s nothing groundbreaking or particularly creative, it just works and we all look forward to it. The savory herby sausage is perfect mixed with sweet garlicky cherry tomatoes, and we round it off with flavorful cheddar cheese and fusilli pasta and it’s just a very classic easy to like kind of meal.
This recipe isn’t speedy, but it is very simple, hands off and foolproof. There are only 8 ingredients and the measurements don’t need to be exact.
Ingredient Notes & Variations
- Meatless Sausages: I live in the UK so I have tested this with vegetarian sausages that are in the British style of sausage. This recipe will absolutely work with vegetarian versions of American style breakfast sausages (or American Italian sausage). All that matters is that you like the flavors of the sausage, whether it be a classic Cumberland style or a chorizo style or anything else.
- Cherry tomatoes: They get roasted in garlic, balsamic vinegar and herbs and I find this turns out fine even with the cheap / off season tomatoes.
- Pasta: I’m using fusilli but penne and farfalle work great too.
- Cheese: A strong cheddar is my preference here, but any strongly flavored cheese will do nicely. A parmesan style, feta or blue cheese would slot right in.
- Basil: Some fresh basil leaves are the perfect finishing touch, though parsley should also work.
My top picks for inexpensive meatless sausages in the UK are Quorn Sausages (the frozen ones) and Tesco Plant Pioneers (the fresh refrigerated ones).
To make this recipe vegan, you would need to leave out the cheese. If you don’t have a good melting vegan cheese that you like, I’d suggest using a dairy free pesto to boost the flavors OR doubling the tomatoes (you would need to roast two pans separately and combine them after cooking) to make sure it’s not too dry.
The Process
This recipe has a relaxed process, with everything being added to one casserole dish. You overlap roasting the tomatoes, roasting the sausages and cooking the pasta – and then mix everything together in the dish the tomatoes cooked in.
Making this recipe for babies, toddlers and kids
This recipe can be very kid friendly (it just depends how they feel about whole pieces of tomato – one of the few things my kids are not too fussy about!) and it’s a great way to introduce cherry tomatoes to babies or toddlers. Even if they’re not keen, there’s plenty else on the plate for them to enjoy.
❗️Safe Preparation of Veggie Sausages for Toddlers and Babies ❗️
Sausages can be a choking hazard for young eaters, especially when cut horizontally into rounds. It’s a good idea to chop the sausages more finely for the youngest children, cutting vertically once before cutting horizontally.
Easy Vegetarian Sausage Pasta
Ingredients
- 300 g (10.5 oz) fusilli, penne or other short pasta shape
- 6 vegetarian sausages, any brand
- 500 g (1 lb) cherry or baby plum tomatoes, halved
- 4 cloves garlic
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs
- 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 150 g (1 ⅓ cups) cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 small bunch basil leaves, whole or torn
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 360F.
- Prepare the tomatoes. Scatter them in a large casserole dish, add the garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and dried herbs. Use a spatula to mix everything together and ensure the tomatoes are all well coated. Place in the oven for 35 minutes.500 g cherry or baby plum tomatoes, 4 cloves garlic, 1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs, 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar, 4 tbsp olive oil
- Place the sausages on a baking tray and brush lightly with oil. Refer to the package instructions to see how long they need to cook – put them in the oven once the tomatoes have the same amount of time left to cook, so that they're ready at the same time.6 vegetarian sausages
- Once the sausages and tomatoes have about 5 minutes left to cook, set the pasta boiling according to package instructions.300 g fusilli, penne or other short pasta shape
- When the sausages and tomatoes are ready, remove them from the oven. Slice all of the sausages and add them to the pan with the tomatoes. Add the basil too.1 small bunch basil leaves
- Once the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to the casserole dish with the cherry tomatoes and sausages. Add the cheese, and mix it all together. The cheese should melt and help to thicken the tomato juices to form a light sauce.150 g cheddar cheese
- Serve.
