Baked Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce

This hearty Baked Penne Pasta is perfect for a hungry crowd or to take to a potluck. If you want an ever more frugal recipe, check out my Bucatini Cacio e Pepe recipe!

Packed with ground beef, Italian sausage, veggies, bits of velvety cream cheese, and shredded cheese, this pasta bake is the ultimate comfort food!

I don't know about you, but every now and then I crave a good pasta dish. This Baked Penne Pasta recipe hits the spot. It's easy to throw together at the last minute and trust me, your family will thank you!

Jump to:

• 🧐 Why This Recipe Works
• 🛒 What Goes Into This Recipe
• 🔖 Ingredient & Substitutions
• 🍝 How to Make Baked Penne Pasta
• 🤷🏻‍♀️ Recipe FAQs
• 👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tips
• 🍕Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

🧐 Why This Recipe Works

• The ingredients are similar to lasagna (pasta, sauce, meat, and cheese) but it's way easier to prepare than lasagna.
• This is one of those recipes that you can prepare at the last minute to take to a sick friend or when you have unexpected guests.
• Leftovers may taste even better!

🛒 What Goes Into This Recipe

🔖 Ingredient & Substitutions

• Meat — Besides ground beef, I like to add Italian sausage to my pasta sauce. I think it really adds to the flavor. You can either use mild or hot sausage, but you know which one I'll be using... Feel free to substitute ground turkey for the beef.
• Pasta — I'm using penne pasta but you may substitute with ziti pasta.
• Red Wine — Red wine is always included in my pasta sauces. I like using deep red wines, like burgundy or chianti but any red blend is fine. If you need to, you can leave it out!
• Cream Cheese — Some pasta recipes call for sour cream, but I prefer cream cheese. It adds an irresistible creaminess to this dish. Feel free to add more if you like. You can, however, substitute ricotta cheese.
• Mushrooms — Use your favorite mushrooms. I used gourmet dried mushrooms. If you do the same, just soak them according to the directions on the container. Be sure to reserve the liquid, you'll need it later in the recipe!
• Pasta Sauce — Instead of jarred spaghetti sauce, I like using pasta sauce and adding my own touches including tomato paste, wine, and plenty of garlic and herbs. You can also use tomato sauce.
• Shredded Cheese — You can use mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, or your favorite cheese mix. You may also want to sprinkle the whole casserole with parmesan cheese.

🍝 How to Make Baked Penne Pasta

Step 1: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. You can add up to 1 tablespoon of sea salt to the water. This will be used for cooking the pasta.

Prepare Pasta Sauce

Step 2: Remove sausage casing and add the sausage to a large stockpot along with the ground beef, onion, green pepper, garlic, and mushrooms. Add salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper, basil, oregano, and Italian seasoning. Cook over low to medium heat until the meat is no longer pink.

Step 3: Add tomato paste, ¾ cups water (or ¾ cup liquid from soaked mushrooms), red wine, and pasta sauce to the same pot. Mix the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Cook Pasta

Step 4: Meanwhile, add the pasta to the pot of boiling water. Stir to discourage the pasta from sticking together. Cook for 12 minutes, then drain.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Assembly

Step 5: To assemble the baked penne pasta, spray the bottom of a deep lasagna pan or baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Add a cup of pasta sauce, followed by some of the cooked pasta. 

Step 6: Distribute some cubed cream cheese and shredded cheese over the pasta along with more pasta sauce. Repeat with the remaining pasta mixture, making sure the pasta is completely covered with the sauce. You'll want to end with one cup of shredded mozzarella or other shredded cheese.

Step 7: Cover the baking dish with foil that's been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Bake the penne pasta for 30 minutes.

Serve the Baked Penne Pasta with some garlic bread, and a Green Salad.

🤷🏻‍♀️ Recipe FAQs

👩🏼‍🍳 Pro Tips

• I always have a large container of dried gourmet mushrooms on hand. The best part about using these mushrooms is that you can use the mushroom broth (the liquid that the mushrooms are soaked in) to enhance the flavor of the sauce.
• Be sure to spray the foil prior to covering the pasta with it. This will keep the cheese from sticking to the foil.
• When preparing this easy baked penne pasta you can sneak in extra veggies too, for example, zucchini.
• When reheating the Baked Penne Pasta, add a small amount of liquid/broth. This helps to rehydrate the pasta and keeps it from being dry.
• This baked penne recipe also freezes well, just in case you have leftovers.

🍕Related Recipes

You may also be interested in trying this delicious pink pasta  and this hearty buffalo chicken pasta bake recipe!

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📖 Recipe