How To Make Baked Pasta With Sausage:
- Cook penne pasta in a large pot of salted water according to the package directions, just shy of al dente . In the meantime, in a large skillet cook Italian sausage, breaking it up with a wooden spoon, until golden brown and cooked through.
- Add sliced garlic, and cook until fragrant. Pile in baby spinach and cook until wilted, then add 24-ounces of your favorite marinara sauce.
- Stir in the cooked pasta and ½ cup of water, then remove the pan from the heat. Stir together fresh ricotta, parmesan, egg and basil, then dollop the mixture over the pasta mixture. Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese over top.
- Bake the pasta in a 450 degrees f oven until it’s bubbling and the cheese is golden in spots, about 5-10 minutes.
How To Make Baked Ziti Ahead
The dish can be assembled, covered, and refrigerated for up to 2 days in advance, or frozen for up to 3 months. If frozen, defrost in the refrigerator overnight, and bake, covered tightly with aluminum foil, in a 425°F oven for 25 minutes. Then uncover and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is lightly browned and the pasta is hot throughout.
Baked Cheesy Sausage And Ricotta Pasta
My hope is that this post finds all my fellow foodies had a Christmas filled with love, joy and many blessings to cherish into 2021. My husband and I spent a day of watching football, movies, texting and phone calls to friends and loved ones. Like most of us the holiday was different and even food took a non-scripted turn. I made Baked Cheesy Sausage and Ricotta Pasta. Not a norm in my family, however, the meal was delicious. A grateful change in tradition I call it.
Read Also: Baked By Melissa Discount Code
Why This Recipe Works So Well:
If you’re a lover of delicious easy Italian food baked in one cheesy casserole, you’re gonna love this Baked Ziti recipe!
- Tasty Italian sausage gets cooked with onion and garlic and then smothered in sauce to bring all the flavors together.
- The ziti pasta is tossed in some of that sauce so that it gets absorbed into each noodle.
- The pasta, sauce, and cheese are layered perfectly so that each bite has a little bit of everything!
Pair this tasty meal with a homemade Caesar salad and some garlic bread and you’ll have a complete dinner!
How To Make This Italian Sausage Pasta Recipe:
Don’t Miss: Where To Sell Home Baked Goods
Cooking Tips For Best Results:
- I highly recommend using the highest quality ingredients. Whole milk ricotta and mozzarella taste the best. Real Italian parmesan that you grate yourself will give you the best results. Be sure to use your favorite marinara sauce too.
- Make ahead directions: You can make this recipe all the way up to the point where the Baked Ziti is put into the oven. Instead, you can cover and refrigerate or freeze until ready to eat. If you freeze, be sure to thaw to room temperature before baking.
- Storage: Keep leftover Baked Ziti in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Best if eaten within a few days.
- Reheating: You can reheat in the microwave on 50% power until heated through or you can reheat in the oven, covered, until the cheese is melted.
Save This Recipe For Later On Pinterest:
So, after dating for a few months, Chris’ reaction to my excitement at making an upcoming lasagna recipe was understandably not amused.
And, whereas I could step up to the challenge of eating lasagna leftovers for a week, that’s a lot of leftovers even for me. So, we agreed to make a pact — I would make him lasagna with ricotta cheese if he agreed to at least give it a fighting chance.
The result? Raving success. Well, enough success for someone who hadn’t eaten lasagna for 30+ years.
And — most importantly– music to my lasagna-loving ears. Chris offered to eat lasagna occasionally but only if it was made with ricotta. I willingly agreed.
Given that the offer was conditional and that I get bored making the same thing, you better bet that I set out to find other ways to create the same lasagna experience.
This sausage baked Italian pasta is a byproduct of that brainstorming session. With saucy pasta, creamy ricotta, chunks of hearty sausage, and a robe of melted mozzarella, this pasta dish is reminiscent enough for my lasagna fix without triggering any anti-lasagna sentiments from my favorite loved one. I may have even heard a few “yums” during dinner… Success!
You May Like: Are Baked Beans Gluten Free
Get The Latest Recipes Delivered To Your Inbox:
Thank you!
You have successfully joined our subscriber list.
This hearty and delicious baked pasta with sausage and ricotta is a wonderful meal, with tons of flavour and just enough cheese to satisfy!
I have mentioned before that I live in a small town, so my regular grocery stores are well, small town grocery stores 🙂 Things take a little longer to show up here. One of the new things that has me excited lately, is the appearance of store-made loose sausage. With a variety of flavours, I can kick that removing the sausage from the casing thing to the curb at last!
The other nice thing about loose sausage is that I can buy two varieties and combine them in one dish. Like this dish, where I used a combination of mild and hot Italian sausage. It satisfies both my heat-loving husband and my a-little-but-not-a-lot heat loving self.
For this baked pasta dish, the sausage is browned and then combined with a super quick tomato sauce. It all gets combined with cooked rigatoni and finished with dollops of a ricotta and mozzarella cheese topping. Then 30 minutes in the oven and dinner is served. Lovely served with crusty bread and a salad.
How To Make Baked Rigatoni With Ricotta & Sausage
This baked rigatoni recipe starts with a quick & hearty meat sauce. Similar to the one used for our Spicy Italian Sausage & Peppers Pasta, this sauce is designed to achieve deep, rich, restaurant-worthy flavor in a very short amount of time its so much better than jarred marinara sauce!
Full Recipe Directions, including step-by-step photos, are included in the Recipe Card, below.
Brown the veggies & sausage. Cook bell pepper & onion until fragrant, then add in sausage, breaking it apart into fine crumbles as it browns. Why? This step is all about flavor! Browning is such an important process that creates a foundation of rich flavor for any homemade sauce.
Build the meat sauce. Stir in garlic, herbs, & tomato paste, cooking a few minutes longer, then deglaze the pan with white wine. Build the sauce by adding in crushed & diced tomatoes, spinach, & a little grated parmesan, then bring everything to a simmer.
Boil the rigatoni. While we normally recommend cooking pasta to al dente, its best to cook to just under al dente for this baked rigatoni recipe, draining it about 2 minutes before the time indicated on the package directions. Why? The rigatoni will continue to cook as it bakes in the oven! Cooking just under al dente prevents it from turning to mush as it bakes.
Don’t Miss: Personalized Boxes For Baked Goods
Cheesy Baked Pasta With Sausage And Ricotta
This excellent baked pasta from NYT Cooking combines sausage with spices, tomatoes, pasta and lots of cheese. Brown the sausage and add spices. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer. Add the pasta, then remove from heat and top with the cheese. Bake until the pasta is cooked and then run under the broiler for a few minutes to brown the top.
Serves 4.
Avoiding Additives and Preservatives
I used Free From hot Italian sausages and Unico tomatoes. Check the spices to make sure they dont contain colour or anti-caking agents. Look for fresh mozzarella and ricotta without additives or preservatives. Genuine Parmesan cheese is additive-free look for the name stamped on the rind. For more recipes using all-natural ingredients, visit Eye For a Recipe.
Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- ¾ pound bulk hot or mild Italian sausage
- 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed
- Pinch of red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving
- 1 can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
- 1 can crushed or strained tomatoes
- 12 ounces dried pasta, such as small shells, farfalle or other shaped pasta
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-size pieces
- 6 ounces whole-milk ricotta
- cup grated Parmesan
- ¼ cup basil leaves
- Black pepper, for serving
Preparation:
From NYT Cooking
Cheesy Baked Pasta With Italian Sausage
This cheesy baked pasta takes the components of lasagna and makes it into an easier and simpler dish! This is a great make ahead dish that can be doubled or tripled to feed a crowd.
- 8ozmedium pasta shells
- 3garlic clovesminced
- ½cupshallots, minced
- 12ozItalian sausage, removed from casing
- 28 ozcan crushed tomatoes
- 1Tablespoontomato paste
- 1 ½Tablespoongranulated sugar
- ½teaspoonkosher salt, or more to taste
- ½teaspoonfreshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
- pinch of red pepper flakes, optional
- ¾cuplow fat cottage cheese, small curds
- 6 ozmozzarella cheese, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1cupshredded mozzarella cheese
- chopped Italian parsley, to garnish
Recommended Reading: What Happens When You Get Baker Acted
Baked Pasta With Italian Sausage
I could eat lasagna everyday and probably never tire of it. Thanks to Garfield, I learned about the delicious, cheesy, and satisfying dish that is lasagna.
He also taught me to love pizza, hate Mondays, and take frequent naps.
However, Garfield failed to mention how much work is involved in making lasagna from scratch. For the most part, lasagna is too time consuming for something that I would quickly inhale and devour.
Thats why I must introduce you to the lazy mans lasagna- cheesy baked pasta! It takes the components of lasagna and whips it into an easier and simpler dish!
I made the meat sauce using Italian sausage, but you also use ground beef or pork.
While you could use any kind of pasta youd like- ziti, macaroni, rigatoni, etc. I chose to use these medium shells. I find them perfect because little bits of sausage and sauce get trapped inside the shells.
Prepare The Baked Ziti Casserole:
You can layer in any order you choose, but here’s how I made my Baked Ziti.
- Add a layer of sauce to the bottom
- mix pasta with more sauce
- add a layer of ricotta
- more pasta and sauce
- top with mozzarella and parmesan
Read Also: Baker By Ted Baker Baby Girl
Making The Sauce With Italian Sausage
If you want to keep things totally simple and vegetarian here, you can make a sauce with canned tomatoes, some aromatics, and some cream. Baking ziti in the oven gives you plenty of textural and flavor contrast in the form of crisp browned bits along the top edges of the baking dish. Skillet baked ziti doesn’t have this advantage, so I like to up the flavor and texture by starting my sauce with some Italian sausage that I cook in a mixture of olive oil and butter just until its pink color goes away.
Next I add my aromatics: onions and garlic, cooked until soft and fragrant, followed by some dried oregano and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Finally, I add a mixture of crushed canned whole peeled tomatoes , heavy cream, and a touch of chicken stock or water.
What Youll Need To Make Baked Ziti With Sausage
Before we get to the step-by-step instructions, a few words about the ingredients:
- Ricotta cheese is a traditional addition to baked ziti, but I leave it out because it has a tendency to get dry and grainy when baked. I use heavy cream to add richness instead.
- For the mozzarella cheese, I recommend using whole milk mozzarella it melts beautifully. You can purchase a plastic-wrapped brick of mozzarella and shred it yourself. Or, to save time time, use pre-shredded mozzarella just be sure it is made from whole milk. Avoid fresh buffalo mozzarella, which is best suited for salads.
- Many grocers sell bulk Italian sausage , which is simply ground sausage without the casings. If you cant find it, you can ask your butcher to take the meat out of the casings or do it yourself.
Recommended Reading: Aldi Mama Cozzi Take And Bake Pizza
Baked Pasta With Sausage And Spinach
Cheesy baked pasta made with Italian chicken sausage, mozzarella, ricotta, Pecorino Romano and spinach . Perfect to feed a hungry family!
Provided by Gina
Total TimeCalories
- To heat: Thaw. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more.
SAUSAGE RECIPES – TESCO REAL FOOD
From
DELICIOUSLY CHEESY BAKED ZITI RECIPE – FOOD.COM
FromTotal TimeCalories
- To heat: Thaw. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more.
ITALIAN BAKED PASTA RECIPE – BETTYCROCKER.COM
From
BAKED RIGATONI WITH SAUSAGE RECIPE | GIADA DE LAURENTIIS …
FromReviewsTotal Time
- Dollop the ricotta cheese mixture evenly over the top. Nestle the ricotta mixture into the pasta and cover with some of the pasta. Sprinkle with the mozzarella and remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 20 minutes. Allow to sit for 5 minutes before serving.
SAUSAGE RECIPES – TESCO REAL FOOD
From
OUR BEST BAKED PASTA DINNER RECIPES OF ALL TIME | ALLRECIPES
From
30 SAUSAGE PASTA RECIPES TO MAKE FOR DINNER | ALLRECIPES
From
10 BEST ITALIAN BAKED ZITI WITH RICOTTA CHEESE RECIPES …
From
20+ EASY BAKED PASTA RECIPES – BEST RECIPES FOR PASTA BAKE
From
OUR BEST BAKED PASTA RECIPES | RECIPES, DINNERS AND EASY …
From
75 PASTA CASSEROLE RECIPES FOR YOUR 13X9 | TASTE OF HOME
From
10 BEST MAIN DISHES WITH RICOTTA CHEESE RECIPES – YUMMLY
From
CHEESY BAKED EGGS – ALLRECIPES
From
How To Get The Cheesiest Skillet Baked Ziti
I drain my soaked pasta, then add it to the pot. At this stage, the pasta is already rehydrated all we need to do is set its structure by cooking it, so it’s essential to work pretty quickly. After the pasta come a few dollops of high-quality ricotta , followed by some cubes of low-moisture mozzarella. I like to stir the cubes into the pasta so that they melt as the pasta cooks, creating pockets of gooey, stretchy cheese in the finished dish.
After stirring it all together, I finally top the dish with some more of my crushed tomatoes, a few more dollops of ricotta, some more cubes of mozzarella, and a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan. I reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting, cover the pan, and let it cook for just three minutes, at which point the pasta is ready. Letting it rest off-heat for about five minutes longer ensures that the cheese is nicely melted.
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
Top it off with a grating of more fresh Parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley, and we’re ready for dinner. Now that’s what I call pronto!
Serious Eats / J. Kenji López-Alt
Just look at those cheese strands! Look at them! The only downside of this whole thing is that it turns a rare treat-style dish into easily achievable weeknight fare. Looks like I’m gonna have to start exercising a bit more this winterand no, Super Mario doesn’t count as exercise.
Don’t Miss: Honey Baked Ham Order Online
Ingredients In Baked Ziti
This recipe is a pretty basic version, but everyone who makes baked ziti has their own unique tricks and twists to it. Some vary the cheeses, some the meat, some make meatless versions, and some people leave out the tomato sauce for a truly cheese-tastic casserole.
This version uses bulk Italian sausage, as well as a key fresh herb. In summer, that would be basil. In winter, rosemary. You could also easily use savory, sage, thyme, or parsley.
Aside Baked Ziti: Baked Rigatoni Is The Ultimate Pasta Bake
I jokingly refer to this baked rigatoni recipe as Better Than Baked Ziti. Theres something about cheesy pasta bakes that Ive always found absolutely crave-worthy. But, time & again baked ziti lets me down. In my experience, its often dry & overcooked all at once.
So, I got to work to create a recipe to satisfy my idea of the perfect pasta bake, & this baked rigatoni recipe is the result! There are 3 key factors that take this rigatoni bake to the next level:
Read Also: Honey Baked Ham Stockbridge Ga