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Easy Baked Penne – this easy pasta casserole is FULL of cheese! It’s accidentally vegetarian and no one will know it’s semi-homemade! This is one of the best easy baked pasta recipe I’ve ever made.
Easy Baked Penne Recipe
Years ago I had a friend who introduced me to this easy baked pasta recipe. She made it for a 4th of July barbecue one time and we sat eating it for hours. I’ve been making it for potlucks and family dinners ever since.
When I researched baked penne pasta recipes online before making it, I found that so many of them have meat in them. I thought that was strange, because I’ve only ever had THIS Baked Penne, which is vegetarian. My friend didn’t eat meat, so neither did her pasta recipe. As a result, I’ve always made this without meat. And you know what? I don’t miss the meat at all – plus I often serve it with a side of baked or grilled chicken or some meatballs for protein. After all, it makes a HUGE batch, so we’re often eating it at a potluck.
The recipe is easy, using just a handful of ingredients, and comes together in minutes. Plus, do you see how cheesy this baked penne is??? OMG.
Penne Pasta Bake Secret Ingredients
There are two secret ingredients in this baked penne pasta. Can you guess what they are? They’re two things I’d never seen in a pasta recipe before, but they make the end result so cheesy and creamy I just never leave them out.
By the way, these two ingredients, if they weird you out, are two things I never eat alone. I ONLY use them in recipes, like Cheesy Egg Casserole.
- The cottage cheese adds body (and protein) to the dish. You don’t taste it at all, plus it makes it even more cheesy. There’s TONS of mozzarella to make you forget about the cottage cheese, but this dish wouldn’t be as good without it.
- Sour cream adds so much creaminess to this easy baked penne recipe. This result is almost like a creamy tomato sauce.
- What other ingredients are there? Just pasta, spaghetti sauce, and garlic. You can use any jarred pasta sauce you like (I’ve used a variety of brands). OR, you can make your own red sauce.
- I always kick it up by adding TONS (5 cloves) of pressed garlic. If you’re not a garlic lover, you can leave that out, but it gives a wonderful flavor to the dish. (Plus, it wards off vampires.) Then you add tons of cheese and bake it up.
- Shredded Mozzarella Cheese for topping
How to Make Easy Baked Penne
- Boil the pasta in a large pot over medium heat until al dente. It will finish baking in the oven.
- Stir together the marinara sauce, cheeses, and garlic.
- Stir in the pasta and place it in the pan. Add more cheese and some ground black pepper.
- Bake until bubbly and golden. Serve with fresh basil.
Tip From Dorothy
Expert Tips
- If you want to add some meat you can use cooked ground turkey, ground beef, Italian sausage, or leftover cooked chicken.
- Turn this into baked ziti by using ziti shaped pasta.
- You can also sprinkle parmesan cheese on top along with the mozzarella.
- Store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container and reheat in the microwave.
Easy Baked Penne
Ingredients
- 1 12-16 ounce box penne pasta
- 1 24 ounce jar pasta sauce (and brand/flavor you like)
- 8 ounces cottage cheese , low fat is fine
- 8 ounces sour cream , low fat is fine
- 5 cloves garlic , pressed
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella , divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Cook pasta according to package directions then drain well.
- In a bowl or in the pasta pan, stir together pasta sauce, cottage cheese, sour cream, and garlic. Stir in pasta, then stir in 2 cups of shredded cheese.
- Spread pasta in a 9×13” baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 2 cups cheese on top.
- Bake for 15-25 minutes or until the pasta is hot all the way through and cheese is melted. Serve hot. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Recipe Nutrition
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If you like this you’ll also like Buffalo Chicken Pasta Bake, Baked Pasta with Sausage, Mushroom, and Spinach, and Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Baked Pasta.
Have made that Easy-Bake penne once and loved it. My question would be if I could make the sauce ahead of time and freeze it? I am also thinking of replacing the cottage cheese with cream cheese as I cannot find ricotta right now.
Yes you can freeze for sure! You can replace the cottage cheese for sure – I haven’t ever tried cream cheese. Let me know how it works!
This is the BEST recipe!!! It was my first time making a roux and I was very scared I’d burn the roux but the directions made it super easy ! Instead of Panko crumbs I decided to use Italian bread crumbs on top and it was still wonderful! Cheeses I used were sharp cheddar, Parmesan, provolone & mozzarella. Definitely going to try it with panko crumbs next time for a little more crunch. Thank you for this super easy & QUICK recipe!
This is the best, most versatile pasta dish ever!! I use it as a base for a variety of dishes, dependent on what we have in the house. I never change anything, I only add. I’ve had it as is, I’ve added chicken, ham, different vegetables, etc. it doesn’t matter what I add, the dish always turns out amazing! It’s super quick and easy and totally freezable. Thank you for sharing!
Amazing!!! This is my first time trying it and this will now become my go to pasta meal!! Super creamy and cheesy 😋would highly recommend.
This was wonderful! I got a lot of compliments on it. I swapped ricotta cheese for the cottage cheese and used plain nonfat greek yogurt in place of sour cream because that was all I had. This was super delicious and easy to throw together in a short amount of time. Highly recommend!
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