Home » Recipes » Main Dish » Pasta » Easy Cheesy Weeknight Pasta Bake {Make-Ahead and Freezable}
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4.96 stars (23 ratings)Apr 18, 202237
This easy weeknight pasta bake is a kid-friendly family favorite! Quick and simple, it can be made ahead of time and it makes a great freezer meal!
Bring on the easy weeknight dinners! Especially the ones that please the entire family.
No grumbling about dinner? Hello. Sign me up. This cheesy pasta bake checks all the boxes. And it makes a stellar make-ahead meal.
Sauce, Pasta and Cheese
To maximize your time, while the pasta cooks (just until al dente!), start on the quick, homemade meat sauce.
Once the tomatoes are added to the cooked ground beef, the sauce only needs a few minutes of simmering action.
It’s amazing how simple ingredients can still promise depth of flavor!
Toss the cooked and drained noodles with the sauce.
And then stir together the ricotta and parmesan cheese.
Pro Tip: if you don’t have ricotta and/or don’t like the sometimes grainy texture of ricotta, you can blend up cottage cheese to sub in for the ricotta cheese.
Assembling the Pasta Bake
Pending a totally unanticipated distraction (kids? pets? an impromptu nap in between layers?), this assembling step shouldn’t take longer than a few minutes.
- Half the noodles and sauce
- All of the ricotta + parm
- Half of the mozzarella cheese
- Rest of the noodles
- Mozzarella cheese to finish
Make-Ahead Freezer Meal
After assembly is complete, you have a couple of options.
- Bake immediately
- Cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours
- Cover with a double layer of greased foil and freeze
The pasta can be baked directly from the refrigerator or from the freezer. {I’ve included notes in the recipe below with baking instructions for those options.}
It makes a fantastic take-in meal as a hot and bubbling eat-it-now pasta bake OR as a freezer meal for the recipient to bake and eat later.
It may not win any awards for Fanciest Dinner on the Planet, but it wins all the awards in my book for a meal that makes the whole family happy.
Also: hi, fancy pants dinners are highly overrated when you’re a real person with a real family living in a real world on an average Tuesday night when life is, trust me, anything but glamorous. I count it a success if most of us can find matching socks 56% of the time. 😉
I’m a sucker for any situation that involves extra cheesy pasta, and this easy weeknight pasta bake is 100% fantastic! Hope you love it.
What to Serve With This
- Divine 1-Hour Breadsticks
- Easy Roasted Veggies
- Simple Caesar Salad
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Easy Cheesy Weeknight Pasta Bake
Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 40 minutes mins
Cook Time: 45 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr 25 minutes mins
4.96 stars (23 ratings)
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Ingredients
- 16 ounces penne pasta (see note)
- 1 pound ground beef or ground turkey
- ½ cup chopped onion or 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- pinch black pepper
- 2 cups ricotta cheese (see note)
- ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking dish. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente, according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking, cook the ground beef, onion, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, in a skillet set over medium heat, breaking the meat into small pieces as it cooks. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Off the heat, drain the grease.
Return the pot to medium heat and add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, brown sugar, basil, oregano, garlic powder, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 5-7 minutes. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
Remove the skillet from the heat and add the cooked and drained noodles and stir to coat evenly with the sauce (if the skillet is too small, combine the noodles in sauce in the now-empty pasta pot).
In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese and Parmesan cheese.
To assemble, spread half of the noodles in the bottom of the prepared pan. Dollop the ricotta mixture over the top and spread into a mostly even layer. Sprinkle with half of the mozzarella cheese. Layer the remaining noodles over the top followed by the rest of the mozzarella cheese.
Place the pasta bake on a foil-lined half sheet pan to catch any spillovers and bake for 30-35 minutes until bubbling and heated through. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
See AlsoLA ROSA Chicken & Grill
Notes
Pasta: any tube-shaped pasta should sub well for the penne.
Sauce: you could easily sub in a 32-ounce jar of your favorite marinara sauce in place of the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasonings.
Ricotta Substitution: a lot of times if I don’t have ricotta, I blend cottage cheese and it works brilliantly well as a sub for the ricotta (and it has a creamier, less grainy texture).
Make-Ahead/Freezable: this pasta bake can be made ahead of time, assembled, covered with foil and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking. Add 15-20 minutes onto the baking time if baking straight from the refrigerator. To freeze, assemble the pasta bake. Cover with a double layer of greased aluminum foil (so the cheese doesn’t stick). Bake, covered, straight from the freezer at 350 degrees F. for 90 minutes. Uncover and bake another 30-45 minutes until hot and bubbling.
Author: Mel
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Method: Bake
Serving: 1 serving, Calories: 509kcal, Carbohydrates: 58g, Protein: 39g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Cholesterol: 76mg, Sodium: 1375mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 10g
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posted on April 18, 2022 (last updated March 30, 2024)
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4.96 from 23 votes (11 ratings without comment)
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37 comments on “Easy Cheesy Weeknight Pasta Bake {Make-Ahead and Freezable}”
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MFShearouse — Reply
Among all pasta bakes that I have tried, this is the absolute winner! It was indeed wonderfully cheesy and the ground beef added to the delicious dish! The easy preparation and that it is a make-ahead dish make it a keeper for my family! Thank you!
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Kristen — Reply
This looks so good. My (foolish) children don’t like ground meat in sauce but will eat sliced meatballs in lasagna, so I’m thinking I might sub that and layer them with the cheese. Has anyone tried that?
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Michelle — Reply
Where pasta bake recipes seem to be a dime a dozen and all pretty much the same, this one really does stand out. My whole family picked the pan clean.
Didn’t have crushed tomatoes on hand but had a can of san marzano tomatoes so I ran that through my blender and will be doing that from now on let me tell you what. Loved the ricotta in this…my old recipe used cottage cheese but we much prefer your version. Used turkey sausage instead of ground beef/turkey and added sprinkled chopped fresh basil over top. Thanks for another great recipe!-
Mel — Reply
I love and appreciate all your comments on recipes you’ve made, Michelle! Means a lot to me!
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Rebecca — Reply
I just made this again tonight, and we love it! This freezes well, and the leftovers are just as delicious, if not more so. Blending the cottage cheese as a sub for ricotta works really well.
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Judy Ford — Reply
This looks great, and I’m going to make it tomorrow for some friends of mine. I just wanted to check on one nutrition detail. Does one serving really have more than 6,000 mg of sodium? I know cheese and the rest really can pack on the salt, but that almost still seems too high! Just wanted to check!
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Mel — Reply
Sorry about that, Judy! The nutrition facts had 8X the tomato sauce. I just readjusted. Thanks for the heads up!
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Alison — Reply
Do you think I could make this 48 hours in advance before baking?
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Mel — Reply
If so, I’d undercook the noodles by several minutes so they don’t get mushy.
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Becks — Reply
The original version of this recipe is wonderful! The second time around I used cavatappi noodles and spicy Italian pork sausage for the meat and it was even better! Highly recommend either or both tweaks to change it up:)
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Sarah — Reply
Delicious–I made it the night before and served it with a simple tomato and cuke salad. I also froze half, so two easy dinners. I always prefer the texture of cottage cheese to ricotta in baked pasta dishes, so that’s what I used. I’ve never blended the cottage cheese (and did not do so when I made this) and had no textural issues.
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Tory B. — Reply
This dish was getting raves before it even came out of the oven and it sure didn’t disappoint when it came to taste! I substituted rigatoni for the penne; the spirals held on to the cheesey goodness nicely. I omitted the brown sugar and just added a pinch of salt as needed to soften the tang of the tomatoes. Speaking of which, I am the only person in my house who likes tomatoes, so I also omitted the crushed tomatoes and just used an additional 15 oz can of sauce, which worked just fine. Another great dish from Mel! Thanks for sharing this one!
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Michelle — Reply
Just made it tonight for the first time and another delicious recipe from Mel’s Kitchen! Used fresh basil from the garden and added leftover additional Parm on top before baking.
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Alison — Reply
Tasty and easy! This is pretty similar to your baked ziti recipe, but a tad simpler. I actually made it twice this week—once for our family and another time to split into some 8×8 pans to give away. My one issue was that we wished it were a little saucier so the second time, I added some jarred sauce to the sauce mixture to add volume. Thank you!!
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Mel — Reply
Thanks for the review, Alison!
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leigh — Reply
Isn’t this baked ziti? Looks amazing.
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Annie — Reply
My husband made this for dinner last night for our anniversary and it was fantastic! He used Victoria’s jarred sauce instead of the sauce from scratch since that’s what we had on hand. Just fyi, garlic powder is listed in the ingredients but not in the instructions. Thank you for another winning recipe!
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Mel — Reply
Happy anniversary to you both! (And thanks for the heads up on the garlic powder – fixed!)
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Amber — Reply
This pasta was delicious and a huge hit with my family.i used sausage instead of ground beef because it’s what i had on hand and it was great. It makes a lot so I actually froze half and baked half. It’s definitely going into the rotation!
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Mel — Reply
Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know, Amber!
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Natalie — Reply
Made this for a friend tonight and doubled it so my family had dinner as well, so good and super fast to put together. I really like lasagna but don’t love how long it takes to assemble. This was a much faster way to do it. Plus, just left out some of the meat and noodle mixture for my boy with a dairy allergy, and he loved it too! Also, I’ll add that I used cottage cheese instead of ricotta, and it was delicious!
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Mel — Reply
Thanks for the review, Natalie!
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Halee — Reply
This was delicious. All of my kids loved it! Thanks for another great recipe.
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Mel — Reply
Thanks, Halee! Glad it was a hit with your family!
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Jim Hudgins — Reply
I made this for our lunch today. My wife sat down and said, “Wow!” We both enjoyed it very much and saved half in the freezer to enjoy next week. Thanks for helping me make some points and for a tasty meal.
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Mel — Reply
Thanks, Jim!!
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k — Reply
It was kind of a rough day and this really hit the spot. It felt like someone had come and dropped off a delicious meal! Thanks for being that friend, Mel. 🙂
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Mel — Reply
Ah, thanks, Kimberly! I’m sorry for the rough day!!
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JP — Reply
I had some Italian sausage in the fridge, so I used that. Otherwise followed exactly! So yummy!
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Mel — Reply
Sausage would be delicious! Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
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Beth — Reply
Or just forget the layers and mix it all together and top with cheese. I call it Lazy Mama’s Lasagna.
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Christine — Reply
Hi Mel,
Just to clarify if I want to substitute cottage cheese – you put it in a blender first to make the texture smoother? Thanks so much.-
Mel — Reply
Yep!
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Sarah — Reply
I noted above, but I never blend cottage cheese when I’m using it in baked pasta dishes and the texture has never bothered anyone if you wanted to omit this step.
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Vi — Reply
I LOVE all your recipes I’ve made and know I am going to love this one also. What I will do for just the 2 of us is I will make it in 2 8×8 pans. One for tonight and freeze the 2nd one for later. My question is how much thyme do you use? Thanks for all you share with us !!
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Mel — Reply
Splitting it into two pans is a great idea! The thyme was in by error – sorry about that!
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Susan — Reply
Well, yum. My favorite ingredients all rolled into one. Thanks!
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