Baked Penne is an easy, family-friendly meal packed with flavorful Italian sausage, marinara sauce, and loads of ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses!
Serve with a side of Texas toast and garlic butter to complete this comforting meal!
It's a beautiful thing in my house when we sit down to dinner and there's complete silence because everyone is happily eating their meal. Those are the golden recipes that get tucked into a special spot in my cookbook stash.
The recipes without fussing four-year-olds pushing away their plates or sassy 9-year-olds explaining why a flake of parsley is so very offensive and necessitates boycotting the entire meal. Ahh, those silent dinners are the best! This, my friends, is one of those recipes. This Baked Penne Rigate is a family-friendly, easy to prepare, delicious weeknight meal!
Ingredients
Don't you love an easy meal with no "fancy" ingredients? Me too!
- penne pasta
- ground Italian sausage
- marinara sauce
- parmesan, ricotta, and mozzarella cheeses
- eggs
- salt & pepper
Step by step
This recipe is so easy!
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Boil the pasta according to the package directions in a large pot. While the pasta is boiling, brown the sausage in a medium skillet and drain if necessary.
- In a medium bowl combine the ricotta, mozzarella, ¾ cup of the parmesan, salt & pepper, and eggs. Stir to mix.
- Add drained cooked pasta, sausage, and half of the marinara sauce to a 9 by 13 inch baking dish. Stir to mix.
- Cover the pasta mixture with the cheese. Bake 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and top with remaining marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. Bake an additional 15 minutes or until the parmesan is golden.
- Enjoy!
Variations and add-ins
You don't need much additional seasoning for this recipe because there is so much flavor in the Italian sausage.
You can change the flavor depending on which marinara you choose, or by adding in garlic, diced onion, red pepper flakes, dried oregano or basil...you really can make it your own!
Other add-in ideas:
- spinach
- substitute ground beef, turkey, or chicken (I would add the seasonings above in that case)
- diced tomatoes
- shredded veggies like zucchini or squash
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave.
If you try this recipe please comment and rate it below, I love hearing from you!
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Baked Penne Rigate
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 40 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8 1x
- Category: Entree
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
Baked Penne is an easy, family-friendly meal packed with flavorful Italian sausage, marinara sauce, and loads of ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses!
Ingredients
- 1 lb penne, cooked and drained
- 24 oz marinara Sauce, divided
- 1 lb mild Italian sausage, browned and drained
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 ¾ cup ricotta cheese
- ¾ cup + ½ cup Parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 large eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl combine mozzarella, ricotta, the ¾ cup Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and eggs.
- Stir until uniform.
- Pour noodles, half of marinara sauce, and sausage into a 9 by 13 inch baking dish.
- Stir to mix.
- Top with cheese mixture and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, pour over remaining marinara sauce and ½ cup of Parmesan cheese.
- Bake an additional 15 minutes or until cheese is golden.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
If the cheese is over-browning, cover with aluminum foil.
Keywords: baked penne
Melissa says
delicious!
★★★★★