This sausage pasta bake is the perfect easy dinner recipe for busy weeknights. Made in only 30 minutes, it's quick and convenient, but also tastes amazing!
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Why you'll love it
- Easy to adjust to suit your preferences.
- Quick and easy recipe, perfect for busy weeknights.
- Stores, refrigerates and reheats well. A great meal prep option!
- You only need a few, affordable ingredients.
- Loved by kids and adults alike.
- This is a really filling pasta casserole, so you don't need any side dishes.
🍲 More CASSEROLE RECIPES from Hint of Healthy
Ingredients
Sausage: In this recipe you can either use sausage meat, raw sausages or cooked sausages. Sausage meat must be cooked. If you use raw sausages, you can remove the sausage casings, and only cook the meat. For cooked sausages, you can slice them rather than mash them up.
Pasta: Short types of pasta are perfect for pasta bakes. Rotini, fusilli or penne are all great options.
Shredded cheese: Use your favorite meltable cheese. I use shredded mozzarella, but cheddar or any other cheese works just as well. You can also use a combination of cheeses.
Onion + garlic: + sun dried tomatoes Added for texture and flavor.
Pasta sauce: Use your favorite sauce. I love my Healthy Spaghetti Sauce, but jarred pasta sauce works perfectly.
Red pepper + spinach: These add flavor, color and nutrients to the dish. Omit or substitute these as you please.
Seasoning: Use Italian seasoning, dried oregano, salt and pepper. These add flavor to the dish. You might want to adjust the seasoning based on what's in your pasta sauce.
If you love sausage recipes, you might also like my Baked Italian Sausage, Air Fryer Sausage or Sausage Meatballs.
Instructions
- Boil pasta: Boil the pasta in a pot of water following package instructions. Drain off any excess cooking water.
- Cook sausage: Meanwhile, remove the sausage meat from the casings, and add to a skillet. Cook for a few minutes while using a spatula or two forks to split the meat into small chunks. The texture should be similar to ground meat. Add diced onion and sauté for another minute.
- Sauté veggies: Add diced sun dried tomatoes, and grated garlic to the skillet, along with the seasoning and spinach. Cook for a few minutes while turning the spinach to wilt it faster.
- Combine ingredients: Combine the cooked pasta, the sausage mixture, diced red pepper and pasta sauce in a casserole dish. Stir until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Top with shredded cheese.
- Bake the casserole: Bake at 400 F / 200 C for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is slightly golden on top.
- Serve: Leave the casserole to rest for at least 5 minutes, and serve it as is or paired with your favorite side dish.
Top tips
- The trick to stringy melted cheese: shred your own cheese! Store bought shredded cheese doesn't melt as easily. I always shred my own cheese as it looks and tastes much better.
- Feel free to add any vegetables that you like. This recipe is perfect to use any leftovers from the back of the fridge.
Serving suggestions
Serve sausage pasta bake for lunch or dinner. The casserole is a complete meal on its own, but you can serve it with a side dish if you prefer.
- Air Fryer Garlic Bread - Amazing crispy garlic bread you can make in 5 minutes.
- Olive Salad - A simple, tasty Mediterranean side salad.
- Tomato and Cucumber Salad - Refreshing and easy side salad.
- Instant Pot Broccoli - Steamed broccoli is a great side dish.
- Air Fryer Asparagus - Serve the pasta bake with simple roasted asparagus.
Variations
Vegetarian sausage casserole: Use vegetarian sausages! Most vegan sausage alternatives are easy to crumble up, and taste just as good.
Extra vegetables: Add any extra veggies that you like. Carrots, celery, mushrooms, cauliflower, eggplant, extra peppers and cherry tomatoes are all great options.
Gluten free: For a GF option, make sure to use gluten free pasta and sausages.
Leftovers
Store leftover sausage pasta casserole in a refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months. Thaw frozen casserole in a refrigerator overnight before reheating it.
This recipe is perfect for meal prep, or as a freezer meal. Make a big batch, and enjoy leftover casserole for multiple future meals.
Reheat the pasta bake in a microwave for a few minutes, or in an oven, and serve it warm.
🍲 More CASSEROLE RECIPES from Hint of Healthy
Frequently asked questions
Technically, yes, but the sausages are a lot more flavorful if they are cooked first. Cooking them before you add them to the sauce also makes it easier to ensure that they are cooked through.
You can use any sausage for pasta bake. Choose plain pork or chicken sausages, or Italian sausages if you prefer.
This pasta bake requires you to cook the pasta before baking it in the oven. This method is much faster than cooking dry pasta in the oven.
You might also like these recipes
- Healthy Tuna Pasta Bake
- Chicken and Leek Pasta Bake
- Chicken and Bacon Pasta Bake
- Slow Cooker Sausage Casserole
- Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake
- Minced Beef Pasta Bake
- Instant Pot Tuna Casserole
- Broccoli Sausage Casserole
If you make this recipe, make sure to post a photo to Instagram with #hintofhealthy! Follow Hint of Healthy on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest for more healthy recipes.
Recipe
Sausage Pasta Bake
Equipment
- Casserole Dish
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare the ingredients: peel and dice the onion. Grate or finely dice the garlic. Dice the sun dried tomatoes. Wash the spinach. Remove the sausage meat from their casings.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F / 200 C.
- Boil the pasta in a pot of water following package instructions. Drain off any excess cooking water.
- Meanwhile, remove the sausage meat from the casings, and add to a skillet. Cook for a few minutes while using a spatula or two forks to split the meat into small chunks. The texture should be similar to ground meat. Add diced onion and sauté for another minute.
- Add diced sun dried tomatoes, and grated garlic to the skillet, along with the seasoning and spinach. Cook for a few minutes while turning the spinach to wilt it faster.
- Combine the cooked pasta, the sausage mixture, diced red pepper and pasta sauce in a casserole dish. Stir until the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Top with shredded cheese.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and is slightly golden on top.
- Leave the casserole to rest for at least 5 minutes before you serve it.
Video
Notes
- Store leftovers in a refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.
- If using raw sausage: remove casings, and smash the meat with a spatula to create a ground up texture.
- If using cooked sausage: slice or dice the sausages.
Des
Yum! This looks so delicious and tasty!