AIP Creamy Italian Sausage Orzo
This Creamy Italian Sausage Orzo makes a perfect AIP dinner recipe! This AIP Pasta recipe is packed with veggies: onions, mushrooms, zucchini, and cauliflower, and covered in a dreamy creamy AIP sauce. This AIP Dinner recipe takes 25 minutes to make, and it is a one pan meal! This dish is AIP, Paleo, grain-free, and allergen friendly.
Ingredients
- 1 Small yellow onion
- 3 Cloves of Garlic
- ¼ lbs Italian sausage
- 1 Small zucchini about 1 ½ cups chopped
- 1 Cup Riced cauliflower
- 1 Cup Sliced mushrooms about 3 medium mushrooms
- ½ Cup Orzo pasta
- 1 ¼ Cup Chicken broth
- ¾ Cup Full fat coconut milk canned works best
- 2 Teaspoons Fresh thyme
- 1 Teaspoon Dried basil
- 1 Teaspoon Pepper
- ½ Teaspoon Salt if the chicken broth is low sodium use 1 teaspoon
- ½ Teaspoon Dried oregano
- ½ Teaspoon Dried sage
Instructions
- In a large skillet add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and set to medium heat on the stovetop.
- While the skillet heats, chop your onion into small pieces. Once the onion is chopped into pieces, add it to the skillet and let cook for about 2 minutes.
- Mince your garlic and add to the skillet along with the Italian sausage. If you are using garlic powder, wait and add the garlic with the rest of the herbs.
- Let the sausage cook for about 2-3 minutes with the onions and garlic.
- Chop the zucchini into thin slices and add them to the skillet. You may need to add more oil to the skillet when you add the zucchini. Let cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Chop the mushrooms and when the zucchini has cooked, add the mushrooms and riced cauliflower to the skillet. Add the herbs to the vegetables and let them cook for another 3 minutes stirring occasionally and adding oil as needed so the veggies do not stick to the bottom of the skillet.
- Next add the orzo to the skillet with ¾ cup of the chicken broth and ½ cup of the coconut milk. Let the orzo cook for 7 minutes stirring occasionally. The skillet should be at a low simmer. The orzo needs to cook for about 14 minutes in total.
- After 7 minutes the liquid should have cooked down. Add in the last ½ cup of chicken broth and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
- Finally add in the last ¼ cup of coconut milk and cook for about 2-3 minutes or until the orzo is cooked to your desired consistency. For the last 2-3 minutes stir the orzo constantly until it is cooked.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for later. This stays good for about a week in the refrigerator.
Notes
This recipe is specifically designed for orzo pasta, but you could easily use spaghetti, penne, or other types of pasta. If you use a different type of pasta, you may need to add more liquid (chicken broth or water) so that the pasta is covered and can cook evenly.
If you are trying to be AIP compliant, then you should use a cassava flour pasta. Jovial is the brand that I use and has great options. You can order it off of Amazon here. If you are only trying to be gluten free then in this recipe you can use your favorite brand of gluten free pasta.
You can easily substitute dried garlic and thyme in this recipe. For this recipe you will need ⅜ teaspoon of garlic powder to substitute for the 3 cloves of garlic. For the thyme, use about ¾ teaspoon dried thyme to substitute the 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme.
AIP sausage can be hard to find without additives or sugar. If you are trying to stay strictly AIP you can buy ground pork and season it yourself. For best AIP sausage, get ground pork that is between 20-30% fat and season it with a blend of salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, oregano, basil, and thyme.