Easy 30-Minute Pasta Frittata with Sausage and Parmesan
This Easy Pasta Frittata is done in 30 minutes and is so easy! The best part is that it uses mostly pantry ingredients (and sausage that you can freeze) so it's a good one to make when you haven't been shopping in a while! Swap out the veggies for whatever's in the fridge, and use leftover pasta if you have it!
In a large bowl, whisk together 8 eggs, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup chopped peppers, 2 tablespoons parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Set aside.
In a 10 inch nonstick skillet over medium high heat, crumble 8 ounces Italian sausage with half of a chopped onion. Break up the sausage and saute for about 4 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the onion is translucent. Add 2 cloves garlic and saute for 1 more minute, or until the garlic is nice and fragrant. Remove from heat and scrape the sausage into the bowl with the egg mixture.
Use a paper towel to wipe the grease out of the skillet.
Add 3 cups water to the same nonstick skillet and set over high heat. Add about 6 ounces of pasta.* It's easiest to get it all in there if you snap it in half first. Add 3/4 teaspoon salt and 3 tablespoons oil.
Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally so that pasta doesn't stick to itself. Boil for about 8-12 minutes, until all the water has evaporated and you can hear the oil start to sizzle.
At this point, reduce the heat to medium and stop stirring. Instead, use a rubber spatula to occasionally lift the edges of the pasta to prevent sticking. (see photo). You can dig the spatula all the way in toward the center of the skillet to make sure it's not sticking.
Continue over medium heat, lifting the edges every now and then, for about 5-7 minutes, or until the bottom starts to crisp and turn golden (see photo).
Once the bottom has crisped, use your spatula to push the pasta up the sides of the skillet so the entire surface is covered in pasta. (Keep the heat on medium)
Pour the eggs over the top of the pasta. Use tongs to lift up sections of the pasta (WITHOUT disturbing the crispy bottom) so that the pasta gets incorporated with the eggs, and the eggs flow toward the skillet. See photo.
Once you have combined the egg mixture and pasta using tongs, cover the skillet with a tightly fitting lid. The heat should still be on medium. Set a timer for 5 minutes and check it. You want the bottom crust to be golden brown (lift edge with spatula), the eggs on top to be just set, but the eggs in the middle will still be raw. Cook up to 3 minutes longer with the lid on if necessary. Remove from heat.
Get someone in the kitchen to at least provide moral support, because right now you have to invert the whole thing onto a plate. It's easier than it sounds, I promise. Put on some oven mitts, place a large plate over the skillet, and flip it over. Your frittata should now be on a plate, brown side up. Slide the frittata back into the skillet, raw side down. Tuck it all back into place with a spatula if necessary.
Cook over medium heat until the second side of the frittata is light brown, 2-4 minutes.
Slide onto a plate and cut into wedges to serve! I like to serve this with Raspberry Avocado Salad. Or a fruit salad would be good too!
Notes
*You can totally make this frittata using leftover pasta! Skip the water and salt and just add a couple tablespoons of oil into the pan over medium. When hot, add your already-cooked pasta into the pan (any kind of pasta is fine, it doesn't have to be spaghetti), spread it out, and pick up with step 6.
Source: this recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen: One Pan Dinners. I picked it up in the magazine section at the grocery store!