Featured comment
Made this last night. LOVED the silky texture of the sauce as well as a step away from the traditional very tomatoey based sauces you find with pasta dishes. Divine!!
Rocio
HELLO to the Februarys.
Polar vortex? End of Sugar Free January? Formal dating holiday coming up on the 14th? The time is now. Date Night Rigatoni is here, and it is here for all of it.
Pasta Forever!
Why is rigatoni so good, actually? Why does pasta taste better when it’s in the shape of oversized chewy tubes with just the right amount of density and flop to them?
I mean, in this case, it could be because browned sausage and sauteed kale give just the right amount of hearty wintery-ness to the pan, or it could be the heavy-handed garlic and crushed fennel seeds making the house smell like a restaurant, or it could be because the silky smooth tomato cream sauce speckled with red pepper flakes and delicate shavings of Parmesan just always brings out the best in everything.
Or it could be because pasta is pasta. Full stop.
Here’s my challenge to you for your next date night, whether that’s with you and your dog, you and your baby, you and your special person, or all three (hi, it me): EAT LIKE YOU LOVE YOURSELF.
So… in other words, it’s time for Date Night Rigatoni.
Click here to see the step-by-step web story instructions for this recipe!
What Else Should I Pair with This?
Things that would go well with this recipe:
- Miracle No Knead Bread – for sopping up that sauce??!!
- Toasted Bread and Parmesan Kale Salad! An obscure old post but definitely my favorite kale salad of all time.
- Salted Caramel Brownies and bonus that you can make them heart-shapey. Date night ON POINT.
Thank you to my friend Stephanie for introducing me to this recipe – I made some variations (hi, kale!) and a few other slight substitutions, but the general concept came from her!
Date Night Rigatoni: FAQs
Sure! An alternative is subbing celery if you like it.
Totally up to you depending on your spice level tolerance – mild or spicy work here, and both are delicious!
Scallops or shrimp would be SO GOOD!
Prefer To Watch Instead Of Read?
Date Night Rigatoni
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
Description
AMAZING rigatoni with sausage, kale, tomato cream sauce, Parmesan, and red pepper flakes! Perfect for date night!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. rigatoni + 2 cups reserved pasta water
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cups chopped fennel or celery
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 lb. ground mild Italian sausage
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed or chopped*
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
- 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
- 2 cups chopped kale
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Pasta: Cook rigatoni according to package directions in well-salted water. Reserve 2 cups of the starchy water when you drain.
- Sausage: Heat olive oil in a large, deep pot over medium high heat. Add the fennel and onion. Saute until very soft – about 10 minutes. Add the sausage. Cook, breaking into small pieces, until browned all the way through.
- Sauce: Turn the heat down. Add the garlic, fennel seeds, and tomato paste. Sauté until fragrant – about 3 minutes. Add the wine; let it sizzle out. Add the cream; let it come to a low simmer. Stir in the kale. Season with salt.
- Fall In Love: Toss sauce with the cooked pasta. Add reserved pasta water as needed to thin the sauce. Stir in freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Finish with red pepper flakes and more Parm. Serve with a glass of wine because THIS IS VERY ROMANTIC AND FANCY!
Notes
Fennel seeds: I would recommend using 2 teaspoons of fennel seeds if you are using celery instead of fennel. It will give you more fennel-y flavor.
Pasta: I recommend cooking to al dente so there’s still a slight firmness. That way the noodles will hold up nicely when you toss them with the sauce.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: rigatoni with sausage, date night pasta, pasta recipe
Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!
- Slow Cooker Beef Ragu with Pappardelle
- Date Night Mushroom Fettuccine
- Date Night Mushroom Pasta with Goat Cheese
- Three Cheese Baked Gnocchi with Spinach
Time To Show You Off!
Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram for a chance to be featured
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy pasta recipes. Check it out!
This is our special occasion dish. I make it for birthdays, Christmas, friend get togethers, or just a Thursday night. It is so delicious and flexible. I love to use fresh fennel and shallots (I stick them in a food processor to chop finely since my people don’t love chunks), add extra tomato paste, and don’t use fennel seeds. I’ve been making this since the recipe was first published and it is the perfect pasta dish. In our house we are split on using mild or sweet sausage, but they’re both lovely.
If you need to prep ahead, I don’t cook the pasta and stop after the wine cooks off. Then once you are ready, cook the pasta, gently re-warm the sauce, and add cream and kale. Thin with pasta water as needed.
This was fabulous! My hubby and I like some heat so we used hot Italian sausage. If I was doing this for our friends I would use mild Italian sausage. I had never used fennel in cooking and wasn’t even sure what part of the fennel to chop but I must have done it right. I should have had another bottle of wine. We drank the white wine while I was chopping everything! 😀
Any chance I could use beef brone broth in lieu of Chicken stock or would it change the flavor too much?
That would be fine!
I’m popping in from 2026 because I have made this countless times over the years, and I owe you a 5-star rating and a thank you. This is not only delicious but a joy to make! I always pour myself a glass of the “cooking” wine and put on music while I’m making this, and it feels so special. This week I’ve been a bit overwhelmed, but I decided to slow down and make this on a weeknight. It was just what I needed, and I swear this gets better every time (or maybe I just keep adding more fennel seeds). What I’m trying to say is… this is my emotional support recipe! Thank you!
Delicious 😋 and easy 😋
Absolutely delicious!!! Only change I made was using two stalks of celery instead of 2 cups.
I made for the first time tonight. I love fennel so much. I did 1.5 tsp of the seeds and it wasn’t too much. Do add some of the starch water even if you don’t think you need to bc it does thicken up. 5 star recipe.
I was skeptical of eating that much celery with pasta but it turned out great! I think the size of rigatoni to the kale/sausage mixture was a bit odd so I may try again with less pasta or a different shape.
My cousin made this ONCE for Easter and I snagged the recipe and have been making this regularly for my family! It’s so so good and became one of my favorite meals I look forward to cooking AND eating! You literally can not go wrong with this delicious delicious meal.
My family LOVES this recipe. But my sauce is never thick. It’s pretty runny. Is there a way to help it “cling” to the pasta and not be so thin?
Hi! How much of the pasta water are you adding at the end? We recommend just enough to make it coat the noodles nicely.
OMG! Normally I make this lighter with just pasta water and spices but this was SO GOOD that I will make it this way going forward
Can I freeze this dish? Thanks
Yes!
My family – 2yr old included – loved this one. I didnt have heavy cream, so I substituted half-and-half – also didn’t have any celery lol so I added an extra half yellow onion, and it turned out great!
OK, so for whatever reason I wasn’t expecting this to be all that great. I thought it would be tasty but I just didn’t have super high expectations. OMG was I wrong! This was simply delicious. I’ll definitely add this to the rotation. The kale and the fennel gave it a remarkable flavor. Thanks so much!
This is a question. We love this recipe and make it often but are hoping to freeze it as we are making meals for my parents. Do you have any tips for this?
We’d freeze it in an airtight container, and recommend defrosting the pasta before enjoying!
This dish is excellent! I made it for Valentine’s Day and it was simple to make and such a treat! Thank you!
This was an excellent recipe and so delicious! Flavors were perfect and it was just the right amount of creaminess! I used an Italian chicken sausage from TJ’s and followed everything else in the recipe. Will definitely be making this again!
A recipe our whole family loves.
I make this recipe ALL the time since seeing it on your IG a few years ago! It’s SO good.
This is my go-to meal when I’m hosting, as it easily feeds a crowd! Though I’m just as happy to eat the leftovers all week long.
I just have to say this date night rigatoni is an absolute staple in my relationship. Every time we have an at-home date night my boyfriend asks for this recipe. It is sensational. We’ve found it works great with the spicy chicken sausage from Whole Foods too. Pinch of Yum, you never miss! <3
Recipe did not come out good.
Our family’s favorite new Christmas Eve meal! I made this tonight. Everyone raved about it…saying they like to better than our usual pasta alla vodka. So good! Another amazing POY recipe!
I cannot recommend this recipe enough. I have made it several times in every variation. It’s perfect for date night but I also make it for friends and family. It’s incredibly delicious!
My suggestions are: don’t skip the wine. It adds a delicious depth of flavor. You can use light cream or half and half, but it won’t be as good. Spinach is just as good as kale and penne is just as good as rigatoni. You’ll come back to this one again and again!
Does anyone have any experience while using whole wheat pasta in this dish ?
Should work just as well!
So delicious! Thanks for sharing!!