Italian Sausage Baked Rigatoni is loaded with savory sausage, tender pasta, and rich marinara sauce, all blanketed under a golden, bubbly layer of melted cheese.
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Rigatoni is a wonderful dish to serve at gatherings or when feeding a crowd yet it's simple enough to make for a weeknight dinner. Leftovers are even more amazing too! This easy baked rigatoni recipe is great with fresh made garlic bread or some crusty bread, and a big green salad.
Why This Recipe Works
This hearty dinner comes together in just over an hour and is something that the whole family enjoys. No complaining when this is on the menu! Especially served with my New York Cheesecake!
Rigatoni noodles with a hearty meat sauce and tons of cheese- what's not to love?!? It's an easy recipe with the BEST flavor! If you want a little more kick try my Cajun Chicken and Sausage Pasta!
Let's Gather the Ingredients
- Rigatoni Pasta: other tube pasta choices can be used like penne pasta or ziti if needed
- Olive oil
- Hot Italian sausage: you can use regular Italian sausage if you don't want the spicy heat from the spicy Italian sausage. Additionally, you can swap the sausage for ground beef or ground turkey.
- Diced onion
- Tomato Sauce: marinara or spaghetti sauce works nicely
- Minced garlic
- Cottage cheese: creamy ricotta cheese could be used instead
- Cream cheese: softened at room temperature
- Fresh mozzarella: and fresh parmesan cheese
- Basil
How to Make Italian Sausage Baked Ziti
- Step 1: In a large bowl, add cottage cheese, cream cheese, some mozzarella cheese, and basil. Mix until combined and set aside.
- Step 2: Add oil to a large skillet and cook diced onion. Add sausage and cook, stirring occasionally, until the sausage is cooked through. Drain off any excess fat.
- Step 3: Toss in minced garlic and cook for a few extra minutes.
- Step 4: Pour sauce into the skillet with the meat mixture.
- Step 5: Cook pasta a few minute minutes under al dente. Drain and add sauce mixture to the al dente pasta pot and stir to combine.
- Step 6: Transfer half of the pasta mixture to a casserole dish. Add some small scoops of the cheese mixture on top of the pasta mixture.
- Step 7: Add the rest of the pasta and remaining sauce mixture followed by the last few dollops of the cheese mixture.
- Step 8: Top with remaining mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered and garnish if desired before serving.
Recipe Tips
- Rigatoni is a great dish to serve to a crowd. While this recipe makes 8 servings, you can increase the amount of servings by doubling or tripling the recipe. Additionally, you could easily make an extra dish and freeze it for later. Great for meal prepping.
- While the spicy sausage brings a little heat, you can take it up a notch by adding some red pepper flakes to the sauce if desired.
- This pasta bake has a thicker sauce, if you want a thinner sauce, use less jarred sauce.
- If you find the top final layer of cheese is starting to brown before the dish is finished baking, you can tent the baking dish with foil if needed.
Recipe Faq's
This is a wonderful dish to make ahead of time to help save time around dinner hour. You can prep the whole dish, all the way through until it is time to bake, then instead of baking cover tightly and place in the fridge until ready to bake later.
Certainly. You can freeze ziti once you've assembled it before baking, or you can freeze it once you've baked it for up to 3-6 months. Don't forget to date it. When ready to bake later, thaw in the fridge overnight. You may need to add some extra baking time if still cold. You can bake from frozen and it will definitely need more time in the oven.
If freezing once you've baked it. First, let the ziti cool completely. Then you can portion it out into smaller freezer-safe containers, or freeze as a whole.
More Baked Pasta Dinners
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Spicy Italian Sausage Baked Rigatoni
Ingredients
- 16 oz dry ziti pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb Hot Italian Sausage
- 1 medium onion diced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 2-3 jars marinara/spaghetti sauce 24 ounces each (see notes)
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 8 ounce pkg cream cheese at room temperature
- 3 cups mozzarella
- Fresh Parmesan cheese
- Fresh basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Cook pasta 2 minutes under al dente according to package directions, drain and set aside.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet add onions and saute 2-3 minutes, add sausage and cook stirring occasionally, until cooked through about 12 minutes. Drain fat and add in garlic and cook another 1-2 minutes. Add in sauce and simmer for 10 minutes.
- In a medium bowl add cottage cheese, cream cheese, and 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil and mix until combined.
- Add meat mixture to pasta and mix until combined. In a 9x13 baking dish pour half the pasta mixture into the baking dish. Add small scoops of the cheese mixture on the pasta. Then add the rest of the pasta. Top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- Bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until bubbly
- Garnish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil
Can I substitute sour cream for cottage cheese,otherwise need to go out to buy cottage cheese.
Yes you can freeze it, glad you enjoyed it 🙂
Loved it...because it made a lot..it's just us two..can it be frozen?