My daughter thinks the name Pasta Bake sounds too boring for such a delicious meal and keeps suggesting alternatives like “cheesy, tomatoey divinity”. My youngest son calls this dish a Pasta Melt because of the melted cheese on top. No matter what name this casserole goes by, it is sure to be a hit with your kids!
When I make my homemade spaghetti sauce, I often make a double batch. Then I use the leftover spaghetti sauce to make a Pasta Bake.
When you make this pasta bake, the noodles are put in the casserole dish uncooked. You add 2 1/2 cups of water to the casserole dish, which might seem odd, but the extra water is absorbed by the noodles while the casserole is baking. This eliminates the step of cooking the noodles before adding them to the pasta casserole.
Pasta Bake Recipe
This is an easy pasta casserole made with uncooked noodles, spaghetti sauce, and cheese.
Ingredients:
- 16 ounces rotini noodles, uncooked
- 3 1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce (Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe)
- 2 1/2 cups water
- ½ pound of cooked ground beef/turkey (optional)
- 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon parsley (optional)
Directions:
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- If you are going to include meat in this dish, brown it in a skillet.
- While the meat is browning, place the uncooked pasta noodles in a 13×9 baking dish.
- After the meat is finished cooking, stir in the spaghetti sauce.
- Pour the spaghetti sauce mixture over the noodles. Then pour the water over the noodles. Stir to ensure the noodles are coated.
- Then pour the water over the noodles. Stir to ensure the noodles are coated.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top. The sprinkle parsley over the cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the noodles are al dente. Remove the foil and bake for 5 – 10 minutes more uncovered or until the cheese is completely melted.
Printable Recipe for Pasta Bake
Pasta Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 ounces rotini noodles uncooked
- 3 1/2 cups of spaghetti sauce Easy Homemade Spaghetti Sauce Recipe
- 2 1/2 cups water
- ½ pound of cooked ground beef/turkey optional
- 1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon parsley optional
Instructions
- If you are going to include meat in this dish, brown it in a skillet.
- While the meat is browning, place the uncooked pasta noodles in a 13x9 baking dish.
- After the meat is finished cooking, stir in the spaghetti sauce.
- Pour the spaghetti sauce mixture over the noodles. Then pour the water over the noodles. Stir to ensure the noodles are coated.
- Sprinkle cheese over the top. The sprinkle parsley over the cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 30 minutes or until the noodles are al dente. Remove the foil and bake for 5 - 10 minutes more uncovered or until the cheese is completely melted.
Nutrition
Heather Villalon says
Can I make this ahead of time? Took cook later for dinner. My maid is coming and I need to cook early. Thx
Heidi says
Can I make this recipe with uncooked gluten free noodles or do they need to be cooked first?
Alea Milham says
Yes, you can use uncooked gluten-free noodles.
Holly says
Made this with sausage instead and wow! Not only easy but delicious!!! Thank you 🙂
Amanda M says
Making this right now. Very surprised the noodles cooked in the time recommended. I’ve made lasagna casseroles where you don’t cook the noodles first and liked this recipe. I added some dollops of ricotta cheese to the top. Finishing off last 5-10 mins in the oven. Looks good so far. I really like recipes like this! Thanks!
Amanda M says
Update: Hubs went BONKERS over this! He doesn’t like pasta dishes swimming in sauce and cheese. He said this one is a keeper!. High praise. I was going to freeze the portion of the casserole we didn’t eat but we ate the leftovers the next night for dinner. Easy, cheap meal, would feed 8-10 people rounded out with garlic bread and a salad. Thank you again for a great recipe.
Pat Williams says
Amazing recipe – I made a half recipe, using fine spaghetti-broken in smaller length – turned out well.
Added jarred sauce and water. Added one can of drained mushrooms.
To me Red sauce need a bit of Fennel added – not much is needed to give dish an Italian touch.
So easy to be so good….
Amy D says
I made this for dinner. It was so easy, quick and delicious. I made the homemade sauce too. We will be eating this again.
Caroline Flick says
My kids and grandkids are hard to please. They all loved it. Added seasoning to beef and turned out great. Trying with penne pasta next.
Rose says
Great recipe for busy weekday night. I sautéed chopped onions and then added the meat, which i also seasoned with salt and pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, oregano and basil. Will definitely make it again.
Sarah says
How do I save my pasta !!? It dried out. I didn’t put enough sauce , is there a way I can just add more if it’s already finished cooking or did I just mess this recipe up !?? HELP !!
Alea Milham says
Add more sauce and more water.
Kristi says
This 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!!
Kristi says
Sounds super easy and tasty. I might do this tomorrow, too! I’ll try it with my Einkorn Penne pasta. 🙂
Andrea Maddiex says
Absolutely LOVE the frugality of your recipes! 🙂
Amanda says
I just made a bunch of pans of Mexican Lasagna this way, it is great!
Rebecca says
It's great to find more recipes that require the noodles to be boiled in the sauce. I make lasagna and beef stroganoff this way.