Pasta alla Boscaiola (Creamy Italian Sausage Pasta)

Pasta alla boscaiola is a traditional Italian recipe made with mushrooms and sausage or pancetta. The perfect comfort pasta dish, this creamy rigatoni alla boscaiola recipe has porcini mushrooms, chestnut mushrooms, and Italian sausage for a flavourful feast that only takes 30 minutes to make.

It's an Italian comfort food that's part of my cold season routine every year. This creamy Italian sausage pasta is called pasta alla boscaiola in Italian, and it's a hearty, flavourful dish.

There are many ways to make pasta boscaiola (which means woodsman's pasta in English, an apt name considering all the mushrooms that go in), and not all versions contain sausage

Sometimes, you'll see boscaiola recipes made with pancetta, and some of them have a red sauce.

This recipe is a version of pasta alla boscaiola bianca, which has a creamy, white sauce with mushrooms that complements the flavour of the Italian sausage beautifully.

What do you need to make this pasta?

To make this creamy sausage pasta, you only need a couple of ingredients, the most important of which being the mushrooms (wouldn't be "boscaiola" without them).

I use rehydrated porcini mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms to make the boscaiola sauce, but feel free to use fresh porcini if you can find them (absolutely no chance of that here in Scotland) and other fresh mushrooms such as forestiere, portobello or even shiitake.

You only need three Italian sausages for this recipe (there's not much choice of Italian sausages in UK supermarkets, but I found the Italian-style sausages from M&S to work best here). You can also substitute the sausage for pancetta if you want.

This is a creamy sausage pasta, which means the calories are somewhat up the room (hey, we all need a treat every now and again).

The double (heavy) cream doesn't help, so if you want to cut down on calories a bit, you can use single cream (half and half) instead. Make sure you cook the sauce a couple of minutes more to allow it to thicken.

I like to use rigatoni for this recipe, but feel free to use any type of short pasta you have on hand; they all work great. Penne rigate are an excellent choice for boscaiola, as they do a great job at catching the sauce.

Recipe tips for the best boscaiola pasta

• Don't forget to reserve pasta water before draining. This is essential for this type of creamy sauce, as it gets absorbed very quickly when you add the pasta to the pan.
• Italian sausage may be tricky to cut into pieces after you remove the casings but don't worry about it, as you can always break it down with a wooden spoon as it cooks.
• The white wine is optional, but I highly recommend it as it enhances the flavour of the sauce.
• If you use pancetta instead of sausage, you may need to adjust cooking times, so use your best judgement.

If you liked this rigatoni alla boscaiola recipe, you might also like:

One-Pot Gorgonzola, Walnut and Spinach Pasta (Pasta Gorgonzola e Noci)

Creamy Lemon Salmon and Dill Pasta

15-Minute Creamy Boursin Pasta with Artichokes

Easiest Ever Creamy Prawn Linguine (Linguine con Gamberi)

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