Italian sausage links roasted with whole garlic cloves, butternut squash and cauliflower with smoked paprika and chili flakes. The perfect one-dish comfort meal.
When the weather cools down, I love roasting vegetables to coax out as much flavor as possible. Slow roasting allows the natural sugars to develop resulting in a decadent, caramelized flavor that perks up anything from parsnips to sweet potatoes.
Garlic Roasted Italian Sausage with Winter Vegetables is a one-post dish with minimal clean-up that is jam packed in health benefits:
- One serving provides 600% of your daily requirement for Vitamin A which improves immunity, promotes soft skin, lowers cholesterol and more.
- Protein-packed and full of fiber: this is a satisfying dish that will give you lasting energy so that you don’t crash in an hour. (Leave that to the cookies.)
- Loaded in Vitamin C: each serving offers over 250% of your daily requirement which not only boosts immunity but also fights cancer, lowers blood sugar and reduces the risk of eye disease.
Roasting garlic whole in the clove results in a creamy, mellow garlic flavor that is delicious eaten whole. Want to get crazy? Throw in an extra head and spread the roasted garlic on crusty bread.
We had butternut squash and cauliflower on hand but this recipe would be great with acorn squash, Brussels sprouts or delicata squash.
Your fork is waiting.
Garlic Roasted Italian Sausage with Winter Vegetables
Ingredients
- 8 cups butternut squash (peeled and cubed)
- 8 cups cauliflower florets
- 4 Italian chicken sausage links
- 1 cloves head garlic (about 12 whole – skin on)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon red chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
- Scatter the butternut squash cubes, cauliflower and whole garlic cloves along the bottom of a large rectangular baking dish or roasting pan.
- Drizzle the vegetables with olive oil, smoked paprika, salt and chili flakes and lightly toss to make sure evenly coated.
- Using a fork or knife, poke a few wholes into the sausage links so that the juices can release as it cooks. (Adds flavor for the veggies!)
- Place sausage links on the bed of veggies and roast for 45-55 minutes (or until browned) turning once halfway through.
Disaster! I took mine out of the oven when the cauliflower started to burn/dry-out. However, neither the garlic nor the small cubes of squash were cooked through at that point. I was left with dry, variously undercooked veggies, with little flavor- requiring butter for rescue!
What went wrong? Should I have left it in longer, despite the damage to cauliflower?
Thanks
Hi Michelle – First, I’m so sorry this didn’t work out for you!! We eat this meal at least once or twice a month and it’s one of my husband’s favorites. Second, did you make any alterations to the recipe? 45-55 minutes of cook time should be more than enough to roast cloves of garlic and cauliflower florets. I am assuming you cut them into smallish pieces? Let me know -I want to make this a success for you!!
This was amazing! I had some chicken sausage and was trying to think of a way to make a meal without using pasta. My new favorite dish. Thank you!
Oh I’m so thrilled to hear!!
So I found this recipe on Pinterest and had to try it. Let me tell you, it was the most satisfying meal that I’ve had in a long time. We used regular sausage instead of the chicken, because that’s what we had it on hand. We also dipped some crusty Italian bread in the pan juices. It was awesome. Looking forward to making this again! Thanks so much :)
You made my day!! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it!! Let me know if you try anything else!
Is the sausage the type that is raw or pre-cooked? Thanks!
It is raw! :)
Can you use regular Italian sausage? I ask because most of the chicken sausage that’s sold in my neck of the wood tastes kind of funky (at least I think so).
Yes any type of sausage works! Just adjust the cooking time!
What brand of chicken sausage do you use? It looks delicious! We tried chicken sausage from a local grocery story and it was not that great.
I can’t recall the name but it’s organic and is right by the organic chicken. Sorry I’m not more of a help!!!
Made this for dinner tonight. LOVED every bite!!! Thank you for sharing such YUMMY food!
So thrilled to hear! Thanks so much for the kind words!! Let me know what else you make. :-)
This looks delicious! I have a question about the garlic – after it’s cooked, do you squeeze the garlic out and stir it up into the rest of the dish? Or just leave it inside the skins and eat it?
Great question, Jenny! We usually keep it whole and squeeze the garlic out of the skin as we eat. (My husband loves doing this – lol.) But if you have kids that wouldn’t know to do that, simply squeeze it out for them. By roasting it in the skin, it becomes mellow and slightly sweet. Enjoy!
Yum, this looks delicious, Liz. :) Wish we were having this for dinner tonight!
Um, yes please. This is my kind of easy healthy eating!
Mine too!! Now if only you lived next door and we could enjoy it together!!
This looks amazing Liz!!! Comfort food is my favorite.
Thanks sista!! My husband could eat sausage every day so this was a good happy medium. :)
I wish I would have eaten this last week, maybe I wouldn’t have caught the flu bug. This is on my to make list when I am feeling better, looks fantastic!
Our son had the flu recently- no fun at all!! Feel better soon!
This looks delicious and perfect for the cold! I like that you added in butternut squash–my favorite! Hope you had a nice holiday.
Butternut squash is one of my favorites too!! Hope you had a great Christmas Julia!!
LOVE roasted garlic! This dish sounds great – Winter vegetables are one of our favorite!
I love roasted garlic too and so does my hubby!! I hope you enjoy!! :-)
We have been keeping chicken sausage on hand like it’s going out of style. We love it. And these veggies are perfect. Love this!
I need to get better at keeping more meat in the freezer for meals like this – it’s always good to have on hand!!
mmm this looks so filling and pretty too!
It is very filling!! We had more than enough for lunch the next day which is always a perk. ;-) Hope you had a great Christmas!!