My daughter thinks the name sounds too boring for such a delicious meal and keeps suggesting alternatives like “cheesy, tomatoey divinity”. I think readers are more likely to be repulsed by her suggestions, so I have yet to change the name to something more exciting.
Pasta Bake
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Alea
Recipe type: Main
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 lb. rotini or penne pasta noodles, uncooked (I use brown rice pasta)
- 3 cups of spaghetti sauce (Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe)
- 3 cups water
- ½ pound of cooked ground beef/turkey (optional)
- 1 -2 cups of your favorite cheese, grated
Directions
- If you are going to use include meat in this dish, brown it in a skillet.
- While the meat is browning, place uncooked pasta noodles in a 13x9 baking dish.
- In a large bowl combine the spaghetti sauce, water, and cooked meat.
- Pour spaghetti sauce mixture over noodles, mix enough to ensure the noodles are coated.
- Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the noodles are al dente. Spread cheese over the top and bake for 5 - 10 minutes more uncovered or until the cheese is completely melted.
- Let rest for several minutes before serving.
Notes
The extra water is absorbed by the noodles, which eliminates the step of cooking the noodles in this easy one dish meal.
I serve Pasta Bake with a garden salad.
Do you have any tricks for eliminating a step when you cook? I love finding ways to minimize cooking time, dishes, or both!
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Rebecca says
March 30, 2010 at 1:54 pmIt's great to find more recipes that require the noodles to be boiled in the sauce. I make lasagna and beef stroganoff this way.
Amanda says
April 1, 2010 at 4:14 pmI just made a bunch of pans of Mexican Lasagna this way, it is great!
Andrea Maddiex says
November 17, 2012 at 2:48 pmAbsolutely LOVE the frugality of your recipes! 🙂
Kristi says
February 24, 2013 at 5:36 pmSounds super easy and tasty. I might do this tomorrow, too! I’ll try it with my Einkorn Penne pasta. 🙂
Kristi says
February 26, 2013 at 5:17 pmThis was very tasty and everyone liked it, including my brother, whom we had for dinner last night. I made it with Einkorn (un-hybridized and considerably less gluten) pasta. It’s only a 12 oz. box, but I used the same amount of water and cooked it for 40 minutes. There was a tiny bit of water remaining at the end, but I let it sit for about 2 minutes and it was gone. Thanks for the recipe!!