Easy Jalapeño Sausage Skillet (One Pot 20 Minute Meal)

Inside: A ridiculously easy, cheesy pasta skillet you’ll quickly fall in love with. A one pot meal with all fridge and shelf-stable ingredients that’s the perfect “emergency” 20 minute family dinner.

Anyone else’s kids incredibly picky? We’ve got all the neurodivergent eating habits over here, and hyperfixation foods abound – especially with seven of us.

I used to get so frustrated with the hyperfixation foods. A food would be “in” for a couple weeks, only to be abandoned overnight one day. 

…until I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD, started to be able to choose my own food again after years of eating kid leftovers, and realized that I do, in fact, also have hyperfixation foods. 

Currently, it’s plain bagels with strawberry cream cheese. The few weeks before that, it was a scrumptious raspberry walnut salad (recipe to come).

Well, it was scrumptious up until a few days ago, when all of a sudden I couldn’t bring myself to make it anymore.

But I digress. This jalapeno sausage skillet is one of the few meals my youngest two picky eaters both love, and it keeps them fed for days. 

It’s gloriously easy, made from pantry staples and long-lasting fridge ingredients and all I have to do is microwave the leftovers. 

So.brilliant.

(And if they ever stop eating it, you will find me sobbing into my pillow.) 

You Might Also Like: Easy Costco Chicken Sausage Stir Fry

Easy Jalapeno Sausage Skillet 

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If you came here from Pinterest and couldn’t care less about me or hyperfixation foods, I totally get it. Let’s get into the recipe.

To give credit where credit is due, this recipe was inspired by Plain Chicken’s Spicy Sausage Skillet.

But with only eight ounces of pasta in the original, it wasn’t going to go very far with our big family, plus it was way too cheesy for our taste.

So I doubled the pasta and adjusted the ingredient ratios to fit our tastes. 

Ingredients in no particular order include…

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Barilla’s Campanelle Pasta

You can change this one if you want to – I won’t stop you. 

But having substituted other pastas like shells or rotini, we keep coming back to the Campanelle and stock up when it’s on sale. 

It’s just that good and worth the splurge. 

Penne, cavatappi or ziti might be closer to the Campanelle if you can’t find it OR don’t want to pay double for pasta. 

Rotel

I stock up when this is on sale for half price (are you sensing a theme, here?), getting ten at a time, since it’s also in the super easy chicken tortilla soup we love.

You can use whatever flavor you like. I tend to go with mild, but you can up the spice if you want to make it a truly spicy skillet.

Jalapeno Sausage

You can use whatever brand is on sale. We stock up when they are around $3 a pack.

I use all six links in a package for this recipe, chop them into ½ inch rounds and saute them in olive oil before dumping all of the remaining ingredients except the cheese.

Chicken Stock

Recently, our store has been out of store brand chicken broth, so we’ve switched to chicken stock. 

I can’t go back! It’s a noticeable difference in almost every recipe.

Monterey Jack Cheese

You could substitute colby jack cheese if you like, but I’d steer clear of cheddar. The mild flavor of a jack cheese is ideal.

Skip the pre-shredded stuff for this recipe. It’s worth taking the time to shred a block of cheese.

Heavy Cream

One of our Costco staples because it’s SO much cheaper, heavy cream helps thicken the sauce. 

This recipe calls for a cup of heavy cream. You could reduce it to ¾ cup if you like. 

Related: 25 Easy Dinner Ideas from Costco (Low Prep & Delicious)

Spices

Throw in a blend of classic spices like garlic powder, salt and pepper.

But minced onion is the real star of the show, especially since you don’t need a fresh onion on hand.

Optional Healthy Add-Ins

If you want to try to hide veggies in this thing, you could. I don’t because the kids would revolt, but you certainly can.

Frozen corn, peas or fresh spinach chopped small would be great. 

If you use frozen veggies, add them in at Step 2 AFTER bringing it to a boil. 

If you go with spinach, add it before the cheese on Step 3 with the heat still on low, letting it wilt before you turn off the heat and add in the cheese.

Easy Jalapeno Sausage Skillet

You'll fall in love with this delicious cheesy Jalapeno sausage one pot meal. It's so easy, you'll start keeping the ingredients on hand all the time – the perfect "emergency" dinner!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 2 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Equipment

• 1 12-Inch Deep Skillet
• 1 Spatula Turner

Ingredients

  

• 1-2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 package Jalapeño & Cheddar Smoked Sausage, Sliced into 1/2 Inch Rounds (6 links in a pack)
• 1 16 oz box Barilla Campanelle Pasta
• 1 can Rotel (type doesn't matter)
• 1 32 oz carton Chicken Stock
• 1 cup Heavy Cream (3/4 cup is fine)
• 1 heaping tbsp Minced Onion Flakes
• 1 tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 8 oz block Monterey Jack Cheese, Shredded

Instructions

 

• Pre-heat skillet to medium high heat. Add olive oil and saute chopped Jalapeño sausage a few minutes until browned.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the skillet EXCEPT Monterey Jack cheese. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil; then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook 10-12 minutes, until pasta is desired tenderness AND sauce has been mostly absorbed by the pasta (1/4-1/2 inch of liquid should be left in the pan).
• Turn off the heat, add the cheese and stir. Allow the cheese to melt and the sauce to thicken. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

If adding frozen vegetables, add in Step 2 after bringing to a boil.

If adding chopped fresh spinach, add BEFORE the cheese in Step 3. Keep the heat on, stir the spinach into the pasta and allow to wilt. Then turn off the heat and add the cheese.

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