Sausage Pesto and Veggies: This one-pan meal is so simple to make with just eight ingredients. It’s bursting with flavor and perfect for a weeknight dinner.
Pair Sausage Pesto and Veggies with an easy salad such as this strawberry salad or this Italian salad. This meal reheats well and works as a healthy weekly meal prep option.
I’m kind of stuck on green herby sauces lately, as evidenced by this Pesto Chicken, this Chimichurri Chicken, and this Shrimp Couscous. And today, we’re adding another dinner covered in a green herb sauce (pesto) to the collection! With less than 10 ingredients, one dirty sheet pan, and overall healthful ingredients — this is my latest weeknight dinner win.
Because with three kids now, and about a million more things to do than hours in the day, the weeknight dinner struggle is real.
And this meal is a lifesaver! I’m fairly certain you can fully prepare this meal quicker than waiting in a dinner rush fast food line, AND it’ll be better for you. If I haven’t convinced you yet, let’s talk about the delicious components that make up this easy Sausage Pesto and Veggies.
Ingredients In Sausage Pesto And Veggies
- Smoked chicken sausage: Use a flavored smoked chicken sausage (such as roasted garlic or Italian-seasoned) to amp up the flavor without adding much extra seasoning. Any smoked sausage will work in this meal, but we prefer the chicken sausage.
- Sun-dried tomatoes with herbs: I took a picture (above) of my current fave sun-dried tomatoes (not sponsored). They’re thinly sliced and seasoned perfectly, so they add a lot to this meal while keeping the ingredient list short. We also use the oil they’re soaked in to cook the veggies in, so you don’t even have to get extra oil on your grocery store run. Win-win!
Quick Tip
Just about any type of sausage will work for this recipe, including smoked beef sausage (kielbasa style). If you choose to go with crumbled breakfast sausage or chorizo, you may want to brown the meat separately to keep all the grease out of the final product. Add to the pan when you add the asparagus.
Ingredients Continued
- Gnocchi: Have you heard about the viral sensation known as cauliflower gnocchi? I’m a huge fan (again, not sponsored). The gnocchi can go from the freezer to the oven without thawing. Sorry to shout, but this is important for one-pan dinner dreams.
- Asparagus: We cut it into 2-inch pieces so it will be roasted in about 7-10 minutes.
- Pesto: the last “main” ingredient is pesto! (There are a few spices plus the obvious salt and pepper.) To stay true to our ridiculously easy weeknight dinner prep, we’re using a good store-bought pesto. Pick freshly made pesto in the refrigerated section of your grocery store and be forever changed. Fresh basil pesto is the way to go for this Sausage Pesto Dinner. (Buitoni® makes a fresh refrigerated pesto I love and Kroger stores sell a freshly made basil pesto that is also great.)
Recipe Variations
- Switch up asparagus: As long as the veggie you’re thinking about can roast in about 20 minutes, you can add it to this recipe. Some ideas: Try chopped zucchini, chopped yellow onion, chopped broccoli florets, and quartered brussels sprouts. This chart is helpful for more ideas!
- Switch up the gnocchi: This recipe calls for frozen cauliflower gnocchi, but we’ve also tested it with regular frozen potato gnocchi. We’ve also tested this with shelf-stable gnocchi and it works. (Tasters all preferred frozen for flavor!)
- Different sauce: If you’re not a pesto fan, a good herb sauce would work great in its place. I’d recommend the basil sauce from this Caprese Salad.
Pesto Sausage Recipe Tips
- Use a large sheet pan. The more space the vegetables, gnocchi, and sausage have, the less crowded they are, and the better they roast in the oven. When vegetables are overlapping on a sheet pan, they end up steaming instead of roasting. This will make them taste soggy, not deliciously caramelized. I recommend using a 15×21-inch sheet pan for this recipe.
- Grate the Parmesan cheese with a microplane. It gives it the perfect texture and melts beautifully into the asparagus, sausage, and gnocchi.
Meal Prep
If meal prepping with this recipe, I recommend choosing a different vegetable than asparagus (like broccoli or bell peppers). I don’t find the asparagus reheats well with the other ingredients after a couple of days.
To meal prep: Store the pesto in a separate container. Warm the sausage, gnocchi, and vegetable portion in the microwave. Give the pesto a good stir and add it along with some Parmesan cheese before enjoying each day. This meal prep is best eaten within 3-4 days.
More Easy One-Pan Dinners
- Meatloaf Dinner mini meatloaves, potatoes, and green beans all made on one pan
- Healthy Italian Sausage and Veggies reader favorite
- Roasted Garlic Parmesan Chicken & Veggies easy and healthy
- Roasted Vegetables with a delicious seasoning mix
- Jambalaya one pan — even the rice cooks on the pan!
One Pan Sausage Pesto and Veggies
Equipment
- small bowl
- Sheet pan 15 x 21-inch
Ingredients
- 1 (13-ounces) package smoked chicken sausage
- 1 (12-ounces) bag frozen cauliflower gnocchi see note 1
- 1/3 cup finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes with oil
- 1 pound asparagus
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1 (5-ounce) container basil pesto see note 2
- Parmesan cheese fresh grated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Slice the chicken sausage into 1/4-inch pieces, on the diagonal. Snap the bottom end off the asparagus and slice into 2-inch pieces.
- Make a seasoning mix in a small bowl by combining paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Put chicken sausage, frozen gnocchi (see note 1), half of the seasoning mix, and 1 tablespoon oil from the sun-dried tomatoes on a sheet pan. Toss until combined.
- Bake for 12 minutes at 425 degrees.
- Remove pan and flip sausage and gnocchi using a metal spatula, then push them to one side of the pan.
- Add the asparagus pieces, 1 tablespoon oil from the sun-dried tomatoes, and remaining seasoning mix to the hot pan. Use tongs and toss to combine. Return to the oven for another 7-10 minutes. Asparagus, gnocchi, and sausage should be crisp on the outside, soft and tender inside.
- On the hot sheet pan, add the chopped sundried tomatoes. Toss everything together. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a few spoonfuls of pesto per plate (see note 2). Enjoy immediately.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was so delicious! The flavors are my favorite with the sun dried tomatoes, pesto, and parm cheese. I couldn’t find the frozen cauliflower gnocchi so I bought delallo brand dried and used broccoli. I boiled the gnocchi while the sausage and broccoli cooked, for just 3 min. and then tossed it in the remaining spices and sundried tomato oil. Then cooked it 10 more minutes and it was perfect–crispy outside and soft on the inside. This is definitely a keeper–thank you!
Delish! I’m so thrilled you enjoyed! Thanks Elena! 🙂
This was a big hit with my husband and me! We’ve never had cauliflower gnocchi before and are definitely converts.
Yay! Cauliflower gnocchi is truly where it’s at! Thanks Jen! 🙂
Frozen gnocchi isn’t available at my local Kroger store, so I bought delallo mini gnocchi, cooked them according to pack directions, and then added them to the oven with the asparagus. Took a bit longer and more than one pan, but if you don’t have/can’t find frozen gnocchi you can use regular just fine to achieve chewy golden baked gnocchi!
Yeah mine didn’t have frozen gnocchi either, but I just tossed them in about halfway through baking and it worked out great!