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Written by Martin Seymour | Editor, The Mayfair Foodie | About Me
Updated April 2026
Sausage and fennel pasta is a 20-minute Italian-inspired dish combining crumbled Italian sausage, caramelised fennel, white wine, and penne. The fennel softens as it cooks, losing its raw aniseed edge and becoming sweet and mellow—a perfect match for rich, savoury sausage meat. It’s simple comfort food that works brilliantly for midweek suppers
1 My version of a Jamie Oliver classic recipe
Some recipes you try become favourites, and sausage and fennel pasta has certainly become a staple in my household. I think we’ll be making it a couple of times a month.
It’s so simple to prepare, yet the flavour is incredible—definitely a comfort food dish.
I used to order a similar dish at Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant group, which sadly closed down in 2019. I’m not sure how my recipe differs from Jamie’s version, but I believe my recipe works just fine. The balance of sausage meat, white wine, and fennel work really well together. When it comes to sausages, I prefer to use Italian sausage, but I have also used Cumberland or caramelised onion sausage. Whatever you do, choose the best quality, as it makes a big difference. Regarding the pastas I used Penne but have used spaghetti or linguine in the past. I think penne works best as it is a simlar size to the chopped fennel and onion.
I would serve it with a few salad leaves and lots of grated parmesan cheese.
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2 How to prepare fennel
If you’ve never worked with fennel before, don’t be intimidated—it looks stranger than it is. Here’s how I tackle it:
Start by cutting off the stalks where they meet the bulb. Those feathery fronds on top? Don’t bin them. Give them a rough chop and scatter over your finished pasta—they add a lovely fresh aniseed note.
Next, slice the bulb in half lengthwise and peel away any bruised or wilted outer layers (there’s usually one or two). You’ll notice a tough core at the base—I cut this out in a V-shape, though if it’s a young, tender bulb you can often leave it.
Now for the chopping. For this pasta, I cut the fennel into medium-sized pieces, roughly the same size as a penne tube. This way everything cooks evenly and you get a bit of fennel in every forkful. If you prefer a milder flavour, slice it thinner—it’ll soften more and almost melt into the sauce.
One more thing: fennel has a subtle aniseed taste when raw, but cooking transforms it into something sweeter and milder. That’s the magic of this dish—the caramelised fennel against the savoury sausage meat is what makes it so moreish.
Check our more easy-cook recipes on our website here.
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3 Recipe-Ingredients and Method
Sausage and Fennel Pasta
Ingredients
- 4 Good quality sausages (removed from the skin)
- 200g of Penne dried pasta
- 1 bulb of fennel
- 1 Red onion
- 1 Glass of wine
- 1 Knob of butter
- 1 pinch of chilli flakes
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Firstly, remove the sausage meat from the skins. Chop the fennel and onion into medium-sized pieces, roughly the size of a penne pasta tube.
Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the sausage meat and break it into smaller pieces. After a minute, add the fennel and onions. Sprinkle in some chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper. Cook for 8-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the pasta to a saucepan of salted boiling water.
Next, add the wine to the pan with the sausages, fennel, and onions, allowing it to reduce by half. If you are not using wine, add a little water from the pasta instead.
Finally, when the sausages are cooked, add a knob of butter to thicken the sauce.
When the pasta is cooked drain and add it to the frying pan, ensuring that the pasta is well coated with the sauce. Sprinkle with fresh parmesan and serve with a green salad.
