Broken Noodles with sausage and kale is a favorite pasta dish in my house and that says a lot since we eat a lot of pasta. The broken noodles part of this recipe is actually lasagna noodles broken in half and quarters.
It started as a way to use up multiple boxes of leftover lasagna noodles (you know when there was 2-3 leftover in each box). Do you ever wonder what to do with broken or leftover lasagna noodles? This recipe will help you with that!
The texture of the thick broken lasagna noodles mixed with the salty bites of sausage and then mixing in mushrooms and kale, makes this such an amazing meal. It is such a great combination of ingredients.
Honestly, what is not to love about sausage, kale and mushrooms with large pieces of pasta to go with them. The lasagna noodles in this dish add that smooth buttery texture to each bite almost reminding me of egg noodles or expensive homemade pasta!
It is so good! I actually now buy whole boxes of lasagna noodles just to make this since I sometimes don’t have the patience to wait until I have enough leftover noodles in the pantry.
Tips to make this dish even more amazing
- When cooking the sausage, let it cook on medium heat for a long time to get the sausage nice and crispy!
- Add wine instead of vinegar to deglaze the pan. It will add a wonderful flavor to the pasta. You could even use vermouth or a sweet cooking wine.
- Serve with Parmesan cheese. The more the merrier.
This pasta dish makes really great leftovers too. Depending on how much your crew eats, you may want to plan to make extra of this dish if you want leftovers.
Unfortunately, there are never leftovers of this in our house. It gets eaten up in one setting.
For more pasta recipe ideas:
Give this dish a try and I am sure you will love it!
Broken Noodles with Sausage, Kale and Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 package of lasagna noodles broken into chunky pieces do not use the pre-cooked lasagna noodles
- 4 Italian sausage links with the casings removed to remove casings, just take a sharp knife and gently cut along the long side of the sausage to create a cut line. From here you should be able to pull the casing off of the sausage meat. Discard the casings.
- 2 small bunches of kale leaves with the leafy part cut off of the stems and then cut thin (discard stems since they are tough)
- 1 small pint of baby bella mushrooms or button mushrooms
- 1 shallot diced or small onion
- 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar dry vermouth or white wine
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 4 tbsp of olive oil
- 3 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp of dried thyme or 1 1/2 tsp of fresh thyme
- big pinch of coarse salt
- Parmesan for serving optional but recommended
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. This is for your pasta.
- Now grab a large heavy bottom saute pan, add 2 tbsp of your olive oil and heat over medium heat.
- When pan is heated add your sausage and brown them while breaking them up into little bits.
- Once browned, remove the sausage from the pan on to a large plate covered with aluminum foil until later.
- With the same pan that you cooked the sausages in, add your mushrooms and shallots and saute for about 4- 5 minutes letting them soak up all of those yummy drippings from the sausage, about 4-5 minutes.
- Now add your kale and saute for about 5-6 minutes until you start to see the kale soften and break down.
- Once the kale cooks down, go ahead and add your garlic and saute for another couple minutes so the garlic can release it’s flavor but not burn.
- Once this is all cooked remove the veggies from the pan, add it to the plate with your sausage and return the pan to the burner.
- Melt your butter on medium heat.
- Once butter is melted, add your balsamic vinegar and thyme and with a whisk or with a fork stir it around and scrape up all of the yummy brown bits in the pan. Do this for about 3-5 minutes or until you see the balsamic reducing being careful to stand back a bit since cooking vinegar can clear those sinuses 🙂 You want to cook out the acidity of the balsamic a bit and bring out it’s sweetness.
- Now go ahead and add back to the pan the sausage and veggies and toss it well so all of the sauce coats it evenly. Cover and turn heat to lowest setting to keep warm.
- Now your pasta water should be boiling so add your broken lasagna noodles and cook until al dente from your pasta’s directions.
- When they are nice and al dente, take a mug and scoop out some of that pasta water (in case your sauce needs thinning later) and then drain your pasta.
- Add your pasta back into the pasta pot after it’s drained and add the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil so your noodles do not stick!
- Now add your sausage, veggies and sauce to that pot too, tossing it all together. If your pasta looks to dry just add a 1/4 cup or so of your reserved pasta water.
- To serve:
- Pour your pasta into a large serving platter making sure to get all of the bits out of the pot. Serve it with some freshly grated parmesan on top and at the table and enjoy!
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