One Pan Orecchiette Pasta

Every year when it's time to go back to school I get inundated with requests from students to post recipes that are super-easy, cost pennies, and require a bare minimum of kitchen equipment. This delicious orecchiette pasta recipe only has a handful of ingredients, is very cheap to make, and most importantly: only uses one pan or pot for the entire procedure.

• Preparation Time: 15 mins
• Cooking Time: 25 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins
• Calories: 662 Calories

Ingredients

• salt to taste
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ½ onion, diced
• 8 ounces spicy Italian sausages, casings removed
• 3 ½ cups low-sodium chicken broth, divided, or as needed
• 1 ¼ cups orecchiette pasta, or more to taste
• ½ cup roughly chopped arugula, or to taste
• ¼ cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir onion with a pinch of salt in hot oil until onion is soft and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir sausage into onions; cook and stir until sausage is broken up and browned, 5 to 7 minutes.

Step 2

Pour 1 1/2 cups chicken broth into sausage mixture and bring to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add orecchiette pasta; cook and stir pasta in hot broth, adding remaining broth when liquid is absorbed, until pasta is cooked through and most of the broth is absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Step 3

Stir arugula into pasta-sausage mixture until arugula wilts. Ladle pasta into bowls and dust with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.