Spaghetti with Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Spaghetti with Red Wine Tomato Sauce is the booze-soaked, trendy relative of pasta marinara you never knew you wanted.

This luxuriously bold red sauce is built from a delicious foundation of crushed and fire-roasted tomatoes and bathed in a generous splash of full-bodied red wine that cooks down to a lightly sweet and beautifully rich pasta sauce. The perfect pairing to this red wine tomato sauce is pan-browned chicken sausage, mushrooms and kale, piled high on a mountain of tender spaghetti.

Bon appetite.

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What’s wonderful about this dish is that it is delightfully simple.

The red wine tomato sauce takes just a handful of ingredients, which you can throw together in a sauce pot and simmer for as little as 30 minutes–or for all afternoon if you want. The longer the sauce simmers, the richer the flavor.

And the sausage, mushroom and kale mixture comes together lickety-split, so you can fire up your skillet just minutes before you’re wanting dinner.

Ingredients we love

“Full-body” red wine

I am decidedly NOT a wine snob, connoisseur, or sommelier. (And yes I did have to google how to spell that last one.)

I don’t get the obsession with Napa or Sonoma–I like Texas wine country.

Vintage? The newer the better, because less odds of tasting like grape vinegar, am I right?

And I think a fine wine comes from the wine/beer section of the local Kroger and barely crosses over the double digit cost barrier.

If I’m being completely honest, my usual go to is Two Buck Chuck or Barefoot wine, Yellowtail if I’m feelin’ fancy.

So, don’t be too impressed when I throw around a term like “fully body.” I definitely did my research before choosing the wine I thought would work best for this sauce.

Full body wines have the highest alcohol content (>13.5%). They have richer, more complex flavors. And they pair fantastically with fattier foods, which is what makes them perfect for pairing with chicken or turkey sausage made largely from dark meat.

Side note: If you’re interested in learning more about full body red wines, check out Wine Folly’s “Defining Full Bodied Red Wines.“

The best full body wines for this red wine tomato sauce are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, or Malbec. I almost always use Cabernet Sauvignon. And my preferred brands are Dark Horse and 19 Crimes because they taste good (to me) and are more reasonably priced.

My one rule: only cook with wine you’d drink. 😉 So please skip over the nondescript red cooking wine you might have stashed in your pantry. This dish deserves that extra splash of special. And so does your wine glass, I mean, since you’re pouring anyway…

Chicken or turkey sausage

If you’ve tried any of my many sausage-based dishes–like Sausage Pizza Zucchini Boats, Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Miso Butter Farro, or Spicy Sausage Chickpea Soup–you’ve probably noticed that I largely rely on chicken or turkey sausage.

That’s because chicken and turkey sausage pack the same delicious flavor as pork sausage at a substantial fraction of the fat content (especially saturated fat). No sacrifice in flavor for low-fat content. Plus these alternatives are becoming more available in big box stores, like Sprouts, Kroger, and Walmart.

I love Sprout’s Italian chicken sausage and Honeysuckle White Italian turkey sausage. Having tried about every other brand of chicken/turkey sausage on the market, trust me when I say these are the BEST swaps for typical Italian pork sausage.

Kale

Kale is one of my go-to leafy green mix-ins for stove-top recipes. It is a nutrient-dense powerhouse, packing in everything from vitamin A, C and K, to antioxidants, and minerals. Kale has nutrients linked to healthy eyes, cholesterol levels, and immune system, and may even lower the risk of developing certain cancers (1). No wonder it’s the reigning king of superfoods.

It’s perfect in this recipe because it provides a nice crunch to every bite and brightens the plate.

Looking for more ways to incorporate kale in your diet? Try these simple recipes on for size: Sweet Potato and Peanut Stew, Chocolate Cherry Smoothie, Mint Chocolate Chip Smoothie.

Mushrooms

Mushrooms give a little extra depth to this dish. For this recipe, cremini (also called “baby bella”) mushrooms work really well. They are a little firmer and retain more of their chewy texture when dunked in sauce. You can also use portobello or white/button mushrooms if you can’t find cremini mushrooms.

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Making Spaghetti with Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Step 1: Make the Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Using a large sauce pot or Dutch oven, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, add the garlic and onions to the pan. Saute 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion become translucent.

Empty both cans of tomatoes into the pot and pour in the wine. Mix to combine. Season with salt, pepper, and basil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook covered for 30 minutes to 1 hour–or as long as you want. This sauce just gets more delicious the longer it is simmered. Stir on occasion.

Step 2: Cook Pasta

Bring a large sauce pot or stock pot of water to a boil. Add the spaghetti and cook 7 to 8 minutes, or until tender. Drain the pasta and set aside, tossing lightly with olive oil to prevent sticking.

Step 3: Brown Sausage and Saute Mushrooms and Kale

While the pasta water boils, heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat. Add the ground sausage to the pan and break apart into chunks. If you have links, cut the links in half lengthwise and remove the ground sausage from the casing.

Leave the sausage pieces untouched in the pan for 3 to 4 minutes, or until one side browns. Use a spatula or wooden spoon to scrape up the pieces and try to turn the pieces over to brown the other side, another 3 to 4 minutes.

Once the sausage is browned, add the mushrooms and cook 3 to 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms begin to release their liquid. If the pan is dry, add a tablespoon of water to prevent burning.

Add the chopped kale to the pan and cook another 2 to 3 minutes, or until kale wilts slightly. Remove the pan from heat.

Step 4: Serve Spaghetti with Red Wine Tomato Sauce

Divide the spaghetti among plates. Top with a generous scoop of red wine tomato sauce and sausage-mushroom mixture. Garnish with Parmesan cheese, if desired. Enjoy!

Make sure you try out these other pasta and sauce favorites from the blog:

• Chunky Marinara Sauce
• Spaghetti Pomodoro
• Bruschetta Breaded Chicken
• Roasted Red Pepper and Sausage Skillet

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