Creamy Italian sausage rigatoni
Beef mince seasoned until it tastes like a good Italian sausage, in a cream and parmesan sauce with rigatoni. Rich, but the chilli flakes keep it from being heavy.
Notable for: calcium, iron, B vitamins
Ingredients
- 750 gprime beef mince
- 200 grigatoni
- 200 glow-fat greek yoghurt
- 20 ggrated parmesan, grated
- 200 gbrown onions, fine dice
- 15 gcrushed garlic
- 5 gchilli powder
- 5 gsmoked paprika
- 5 gdried mixed herbs
- 10 mlolive oil
Method
Mix the beef mince with the chilli powder, paprika, mixed herbs and a good pinch of salt, then rest it for 10 minutes while you get everything else ready.
Heat the oil in a wide pan, add the beef in one layer, and leave it undisturbed for a couple of minutes before breaking it apart and browning it properly, about 8 minutes.
Add the onion and garlic to the same pan and cook for 6 minutes until soft.
Stir in the cream and bring it to a gentle simmer, then stir through the parmesan until it melts into the sauce.
Cook the rigatoni a minute short of the packet time, then finish it in the sauce with a splash of its cooking water.
Season to taste and serve with extra parmesan.
Season the mince like sausage, not mince
A proper hit of chilli, paprika and herbs rested into the meat for ten minutes before it hits the pan is what makes plain beef mince taste like it came out of a butcher's sausage grinder.
Storage
Keeps four days in the fridge and freezes well without the pasta.
Cook fresh rigatoni when you come back to a frozen portion of sauce.
Cost per serving is indicative, based on New Zealand supermarket prices as at September 2026. Batch prices your own week against your own store on the day. Nutrition figures, including calories, are estimates rather than label readings, so always check the packet if you have an allergy. "Notable for" reflects well-established qualities of the ingredients used, not a lab measurement of this exact dish.