It’s hard not to love a tasty combination of pasta, sausage, and yummy sauce! This winning Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta dish can either feed a crowd or provide delicious leftovers on a busy night (or when you just don’t feel like cooking).
My girls even took this one in their school lunches the next day. Oh, how I love easy crowd-pleasing dinners! Just add a salad or green veggie and dinner is done.
Variations of Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta
You can definitely make this recipe your own based on your preferences, which is the great thing about this pasta dish. Instead of the ground beef, you could substitute ground turkey. Another fun idea would be using chopped mushrooms as the main “meat” ingredient.
If you’re omitting the Italian sausage, I would add in some extra spices such as oregano, red pepper flakes, or Italian seasoning. And if you want extra veggies, spinach is always a good choice!
How to Make Baked Rigatoni
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Cook the whole-wheat rigatoni until al dente.
- Heat the olive oil and cook the onion until soft.
- Stir in the garlic, ground beef, and Italian sausage and cook until brown.
- Mix in the sauce, cheeses, basil, and noodles until well combined.
- Pour the ingredients into a baking dish and top with cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 45 to 60 minutes until golden brown, and serve warm.
Ingredients
- Whole-wheat rigatoni – Keep it real food approved with whole-wheat instead of refined pasta.
- Olive oil – I recommend finding an organic extra-virgin olive oil.
- Onion – Diced.
- Cloves Garlic – Peeled and Minced.
- Ground Beef – We recommend local, humanely raised meat or Butcher Box.
- Bulk Italian sausage – You can also use links with casings removed.
- Marinara sauce – Store-bought or use the Marinara Sauce recipe from my Fast & Fabulous Cookbook.
- Whole-milk ricotta – You can see what I look for in cheese and other dairy products here.
- Parmesan cheese – Freshly grated and divided.
- Basil – Fresh and chopped.
- Mozzarella – I recommend getting a block and shredding it yourself.
Common Questions
How to Store, Reheat, and Freeze
Besides being delicious, I love that this recipe can be assembled ahead of time, which is especially helpful on those busy weekdays. If you freeze the casserole, do it before baking and thaw it in the fridge overnight before putting it in the oven. You will also need to increase the cooking time since it’ll be cold out of the fridge.
You can also freeze the cooked leftovers for later, too!
Other Favorite Baked Pasta Dishes
Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 16 ounce box whole-wheat rigatoni
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound bulk Italian sausage (or links with casings removed)
- 2 24-ounce jars marinara sauce
- 1 16-ounce whole-milk ricotta
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese freshly grated, divided
- 1 cup fresh basil chopped
- 1 8-ounce block mozzarella shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Boil the rigatoni in a large pot of water and cook until al dente (drain 3 to 4 minutes before the end of the cooking time).
- Heat the olive oil in your largest skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook while stirring occassionally until it begins to soften, 5 to 6 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic, ground beef, and sausage. Break up the large pieces with a spatula and cook until the meat is browned. Drain and discard excess fat.
- Mix in the marinara sauce, ricotta, 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, chopped basil, and al dente noodles until well combined.
- Pour into a 9 X 13 casserole dish, top with shredded mozzarella and the remaining 1/2 cup of parmesan.
- Bake uncovered until the cheese is melted and begins to brown, 45 to 60 minutes. Serve warm.
Made this for dinner tonight – everyone loved it!! Didn’t have rigatoni on hand so I subbed penne. Delicious!!
Works great with penne, too! Glad you enjoyed it. – Nicole
Lisa, I made this tonight for my family, and it was awesome. My picky son ate it with no issues and my boy, who usually eats like a bird had seconds! Definitely going to make this again and again.
That’s so great to hear! Glad it’s picky-eater approved! – Nicole