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This easy baked penne recipe has plenty of Italian sausage baked with marinara sauce and lots of parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Great for busy weeknights when you’re craving something warm and comforting!
Try my Mostaccioli or Million Dollar Spaghetti next.
This penne bake is similar to baked ziti, but we’re using penne, and it’s slightly less involved. Basically you just sauté the sausage and onions, add some marinara sauce, and then put it all in a baking dish with the cooked pasta. Top it with cheese, bake, and dinner is done. My kinda easy meal. It makes 6 reasonably sized portions, so it’s great if you’ve got a hungry bunch of people to feed.
Baked penne pasta is perfect for when the temperatures drop and you actually want to use your oven. 🙂 And there’s something about that extra step of baking it that just makes dinner so much more special!
Loved baked pasta? Try my Simple Ground Beef Casserole, Chicken Tetrazzini, or this Easy Cheesy Baked Ravioli.
Recipe notes & tips:
- This recipe is pretty flexible. A bit more/less meat will work fine, or swap the sausage for ground beef or even ground turkey if needed.
- You can swap the mozzarella for cheddar or use a mix of the two.
- I love to grate my own parmesan cheese (I use this grater).
- The red pepper flakes don’t make it particularly spicy. You can either omit them or add more if you wish. Or try hot Italian sausage for some kick.
- Be careful not to overcook the penne when you’re boiling it because it’ll cook more in the oven.
- You could make this penne bake ahead of time by assembling it all to the point just before baking it and then freezing it (up to 3 months) or refrigerating it for a day or two. I would then bake it covered with foil for 30-40 minutes (or until it’s hot all the way through) at 350F and broil it for the last few minutes.
More tasty recipes with sausage:
- Italian Sausage Tortellini Soup
- Baked Rigatoni
- Italian Sausage White Bean Soup
- Easy Sausage Rigatoni
- Simple Breakfast Casserole
I hope you’ll try this penne pasta bake! Questions about this recipe? Let me know in the comments below!
Baked Penne with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound uncooked penne pasta
- 16 ounces Italian sausage see note
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce see note
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F and move the rack to the top third of the oven.
- Boil a salted pot of water for the pasta. Cook it for 2 minutes less than the package directions indicate. Once it's done, drain it and add it to a 9x13 baking dish.
- Meanwhile, add the sausage and onion to a skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage has browned (about 8-10 minutes). If there's a lot of excess fat, spoon most of it out.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Add in the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and cook for a couple more minutes until it's warmed through.
- Pour the sausage mixture into the baking dish. I add in some salt & pepper as well. Toss until everything is coated. Smooth it out into an even layer.
- Top with the cheeses and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese (watch it carefully). Serve immediately.
Notes
- For the sausages, anything around the 16 ounce/1 pound ballpark is fine – it doesn’t need to be exact. You can either buy ground sausage meat or, if using whole sausages, take the meat out of the casings. Here in Canada I use a 500g pack of sausages.
- One 24 oz. jar = 3 cups. Try my homemade marinara sauce if you prefer from-scratch.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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It was just okay. Made the exact recipe, divided it into two 8×8 pans. Enjoyed one for dinner and froze the other. I don’t know what it was lacking. Perhaps some fresh grape/cherry tomatoes baked in–along with the sun-dried tomatoes–to brighten it a bit? Fresh Basil is a must, for both taste and color. I haven’t given up on this recipe, but will try using ground beef next time. Thanks, Natasha!
My husband is at home for chemo treatments and planning on freezing a couple trays for days I work and then he can just put in the oven. Would you cook from frozen or thaw them out? I bought on3 in town and we thawed it before putting in oven. But if you buy frozen meals at Walmart a person cooks from frozen? Kind of confusing
Hi! You could cook from frozen. Just make sure he checks it to ensure it’s properly heated through. There is a make-ahead tip in the blog post. 🙂
I adapted this recipe and made it tonight by adding one cup of sauce, one diced red pepper, and a small head of broccoli (we like our veggies here). Both my 9 yo and my husband loved it.
Fantastic!!
Can I freeze this recipe?
Hi! There’s a make ahead tip in the blog post. But for freezing leftovers I am not a big fan of freezing cooked pasta and cheese.
Easy and absolutely delicious!