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Hearty Baked Penne Pasta

★★★★★ 5 /5 Updated: 8/10/22
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Baked Penne Pasta has it all.

Delicious dinner recipe? Check. Freezer friendly? Check. Makes a lot of leftovers? Check. Approved by all ages in the family? Check. Feeds a large group of people? Check. Easy to make? Check!

Baked Penne Pasta in a baking dish
Contents hide
Video Tutorial: Baked Penne Pasta
Ingredients Needed
How to Make Baked Penne Pasta
Pro Tip
Variations of This Recipe
How to Freeze Baked Penne Pasta
Freezer Meal Quick Start Guide
What to Serve with Baked Penne Pasta
Baked Penne Pasta
Did you make this?
Looking for more ground beef recipes?

This Baked Penne Pasta Recipe is an easy, kid-friendly dinner idea. It makes a HUGE batch, so it’s great for large groups too. In addition to that, you can turn it into a freezer meal.

Video Tutorial: Baked Penne Pasta

Watch how easy it comes together!

Ingredients Needed

As you can see from the video above, Baked Penne Pasta is made in a few stages. Here is what you’ll need for each step.

Ingredients for the Meat Sauce

  • Olive oil
  • Diced onion
  • Minced Garlic
  • Ground beef (or one pound ground beef & one pound Italian sausage) Here is where you can find meat you can trust.
  • 1 can whole tomatoes, with juice
  • Canned tomato sauce

The Rest of the Ingredients

  • Seasonings
  • Whole wheat penne pasta
  • Whole milk ricotta cheese
  • Mozzarella cheese, grated
  • Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg
Ingredients for Baked Penne Pasta

How to Make Baked Penne Pasta

Make the Meat Sauce

After sautéing some diced onion and garlic, you will brown your ground beef. (Here is where you can find meat you can trust, btw.)

Browning ground beef

After the ground beef is browned, drain off some fat and add in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning.

Let it simmer on low for about 25-30 minutes.

Making tomato sauce

After that, remove 3 to 4 cups of the sauce to a different bowl to cool down. You’ll see why in a bit.

Cook the Pasta

After you get that sauce a-simmerin’, start multitasking.

Start to boil your pasta. Follow the instructions on your box for cooking it al dente.

Once it’s cooked, drain.

Make the Creamy Filling

While pasta is boiling you can whip together your creamy cheese filling.

In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients for the filling: ricotta, egg, mozzarella, parmesan, salt, and pepper. Give it a good stir.

Mix the Pasta with the Creamy Filling

Add the cooked and drained pasta into the large bowl with the cheese mixture.

After the pasta and cheese mixture is combined, add in that cooled pasta sauce.

Once you’ve mixed that together, you have a delicious, gooey mess.

Assemble the Casserole

Pour the pasta into a baking dish. 

Pasta in a 9x13 dish

Now top it off with remaining pasta sauce.

Pasta & sauce in a 9x13 dish

Now finish it off with a layer of mozzarella.

Cheese on top of pasta in a 9x13 dish

You know what comes next… bake it!

Baked Penne Pasta in a 9x13 dish

Pro Tip

This recipe makes a HUGE batch. If you have a lasagna dish, use that. If not, you might consider splitting the batch between two 9×13 dishes.

Freeze one for later!

Variations of This Recipe

  1. Use cooked and diced chicken or ground turkey! It could be a great way to use up a rotisserie chicken.
  2. Add veggies! Try I love to toss in raw spinach, sautéed mushrooms, cooked zucchini, or sautéed bell peppers.
  3. You don’t have to use penne pasta. You can substitute with another similar short pasta shape.

How to Freeze Baked Penne Pasta

Freeze For Later: Follow the recipe right up until baking it. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, foil or a lid. Freeze.

Prepare From Frozen: When ready to cook, you have two options:

  1. Thawed: Thaw in the fridge (may take up to 48 hours) or thaw in the microwave on defrost setting. Bake at 375 degrees F according to Step 11 in the recipe.
  2. Frozen: If cooking directly from frozen state, cover with foil. Place the frozen casserole in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Once it comes to temperature, bake for about 1 hour and 20-40 minutes, until heated through and bubbly. Remove the foil the last 20 minutes.
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What to Serve with Baked Penne Pasta

This recipe plays nice with others. Here are some side dish ideas:

How to Cook Corn on the Cob in the Microwave

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans

cheese sauce being spooned over steamed broccoli

Cheese Sauce for Broccoli

shaved brussels sprout salad

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

Baked penne pasta next to a green salad

Goodness, I need to make a batch after writing this post. I’m hungry!

Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!

★★★★★ 5 from 6 reviews

Baked Penne Pasta

Freezer Friendly Baked Penne Pasta Recipe. Easy, kid-friendly dinner idea. Great for large groups too.

Yield: 10–12 1x
Prep: 45 minutesCook: 20 minutesTotal: 1 hour 5 minutes
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Units:
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Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 pounds ground beef (or one pound ground beef & one pound Italian sausage) Here is where you can find meat you can trust.
  • 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, with juice
  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans tomato sauce
  • 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • Salt and Pepper, to taste
  • 1 pound (16 ounces) whole wheat penne pasta
  • 1 tub (15 ounces) whole milk ricotta cheese
  • 1–1/2 pounds mozzarella cheese, grated
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1 egg

Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.

Instructions

Make It Now:

  1. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add diced onions and garlic and saute for several minutes, or until starting to soften.
  2. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain off fat, leaving a bit behind for flavor and moisture.
  3. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Stir and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes.
  4. After that time, remove 3 to 4 cups of the sauce to a different bowl to cool down.
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  6. Begin to boil your pasta. Make sure to undercook it a tad–especially if freezing!
  7. In a separate bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, 2 cups of the grated mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, and a dash of salt and pepper.
  8. Drain the pasta and rinse under cool water to stop the cooking. Pour it into the bowl with the cheese mixture and barely mix it together.
  9. Add the cooled meat sauce that you set aside earlier and toss to combine.
  10. Dump the pasta mixture into a large greased casserole dish or lasagna dish. (NOTE: I ended up using a 9×13 AND a 9×9 dish to fit all of it!) Spoon the remaining sauce over the top, then top with remaining mozzarella cheese. (Freezing instructions begin here.)
  11. Bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving. Hint: Sprinkle chopped parsley over the pasta before serving!

Freeze For Later: Follow the recipe through Step 10. Cover tightly with plastic wrap, foil or a lid. Freeze.

Prepare From Frozen: When ready to cook, you have two options:

  1. Thawed: Thaw in the fridge (may take up to 48 hours) or thaw in the microwave on defrost setting. Bake at 375 degrees F according to Step 11 in the recipe.
  2. Frozen: If cooking directly from frozen state, cover with foil. Place the frozen casserole in the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Once it comes to temperature, bake for about 1 hour and 20-40 minutes, until heated through and bubbly. Remove the foil the last 20 minutes.

Equipment

9×12 Glass Baking Dish with Lid (Freezer Container)

Buy Now →

Cast Iron Skillet

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Notes/Tips

Where We Get Our Beef: We get our beef from ButcherBox. The beef is grass-fed and curated from trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, chicken, and wild salmon–and have used it for years ourselves.A woman standing on her front porch holding a box from Butcher Box meats.

© Author: Thriving Home
Cuisine: Italian Method: Baking

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Polly Conner

Polly Conner

As co-founder of Thriving Home, Polly’s passionate about helping busy parents get dinner on the table. With a house full of kids, dogs, and (usually) a DIY project in the works, she knows firsthand how every minute (and every dollar) counts. As a business owner, she enjoys wearing multiple hats and serves best as a project manager for Thriving Home.

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  1. AvatarCindy says

    Posted on 7/7/22 at 9:55 am

    The recipe calls for 2-14.5 oz. cans of tomato sauce? Is this spaghetti sauce? And are we to use BOTH the large jar of canned tomatoes AND the tomato sauce?

    Reply
    • Rachel TiemeyerRachel Tiemeyer says

      Posted on 7/7/22 at 10:11 am

      Tomato sauce is sold in cans and is thinner and has fewer ingredients than marinara/spaghetti sauce.

      Yes, use both the canned tomatoes and the tomato sauce for this recipe.

      Reply
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