Spicy Italian Sausage Baked Rigatoni

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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.

Spicy Italian sausage baked ziti in a casserole dish.

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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.

Table of Contents

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

All the ingredients needed for this pasta dish.

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 Pasta

Cheese mixture mixed in a bowl then sausage cooked in a skillet.

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.

Ziti pasta mixed together in a pot then placed into a baking dish.

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.

Italian sausage baked ziti on a plate with garlic bread.

Recipe Faq's

Can you make Baked Rigatoni ahead of time?

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.

Can you freeze Baked Rigatoni?

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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