Baked Pasta and Sausage has tender pasta, homemade marinara sauce, melted mozzarella, and delicious Italian sausage, all topped with more cheese. In under an hour, you can easily make this golden-brown sausage pasta bake that delivers wonderful Italian flavors. It's the ideal weeknight dinner recipe that the entire family will love.
🥣Ingredients
Pasta—Penne, ziti, or similar
Italian sausage
Tomatoes—crushed or diced
Aromatic—onion, garlic
Mozzarella cheese—all shredded or cube and shredded mix
Pantry ingredients—basil, salt, black pepper, oregano, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
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Featured Comment by Rachel:
"This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. What an excellent recipe."
This sausage pasta bake is fast and easy Italian comfort food that sticks to your bones. With tender pasta and your favorite Italian sausage, it quickly becomes a small-batch recipe for two if you want.
The dish's star is the simple homemade marinara sauce that simmers in the oven as you bake—much better and more economical than the jar sauce. Just follow the super easy with these step-by-step photo instructions.
Try Crock Pot Baked Ziti and Crock Pot Italian Chicken Pasta for other cheesy Italian pasta dishes.
👨🍳How to Make Baked Pasta and Sausage—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Chop the onion and cook pasta to al dente and drain.
2. Brown the Italian sausage and chopped onion. Add the garlic near the end of cooking. Drain the fat.
3. Add to the drained meat the tomatoes and spices. Turn to low and simmer for a few minutes.
4. If using the optional cubed mozzarella cheese in the pasta, cut it into ½ inch cubes.
5. Add the sauce to the pasta. Add the cubed mozzarella and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella and store well.
6. Pour the mixture into a 9 by 13 or similar baking dish and top with the remaining mozzarella.
7. Bake at 375° until golden brown—about 30 minutes and an internal temperature of 160°.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
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🥣Make it your way—options and variations
You can use almost any pasta. We like to use penna or ziti. Hence we usually call it baked ziti.
This uses pork Italian sausage, but turkey sausage or ground beef can be used. But if you use a sausage that is not Italian-flavored, you will need to add some additional spices.
You can substitute a jarred marinara sauce, but the homemade one is simple, has a much better taste, and is more economical.
I prefer crushed tomatoes, but you may use diced tomatoes instead.
The recipe calls for both shredded and chunks of mozzarella cheese in the pasta. You can skip the chunks or substitute additional shredded mozzarella if you prefer.
A good sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese will add additional flavor to the topping shredded cheese.
Adjust the heat by choosing a mild or hotter Italian sausage and adjusting or eliminating the crushed red pepper.
Lasagna-like variation with ricotta
You can easily make it lasagna-like with globs of ricotta cheese and grated Parmesan cheese. To prepare the ricotta: Mix 1 cup (8 oz.) ricotta cheese with one egg white, ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, ½ teaspoon dry parsley, and ½ teaspoon salt—do not over-mix.
⬇️Pan and recipe size options
The full recipe makes about 8 servings in a 9 by 13 casserole pan. You can also use a 12-inch round or a 2 ½ to 3-quart casserole dish.
You can make a half recipe for 4 servings, which is more "cooking for two" friendly, in a 6 by 9 pan. You can even make a quarter recipe in a 5 by 5 square or 6-inch round baking dish.
To adjust the recipe for a smaller size:
- Use the recipe card and adjust the number of servings to 4 or 2.
- Use the amount of ingredients in the ingredient list, not the instructions—those do not adjust.
- Cook until browning well, with bubbly edges, and at 160° internal temperature. It will cook about 5 to 10 minutes quicker than a full recipe—but check early.
😊Other Italian recipes you will love
Check out these other Italian recipes, like chicken marinara sauce, Cheesy Chicken Pasta Bake, Italian Sausage Marinara Sauce, and Baked Italian Meatballs.
Crock Pot Pizza Casserole
Crock Pot Pizza Casserole is an easy, delicious dinner recipe with tender pasta, meaty homemade pizza sauce, melted cheese, and pizza toppings of your choice.
📅Make ahead
You can assemble and refrigerate for 24 hours ahead. For longer storage, freeze double-wrapped tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil for 3 months.
To cook the frozen casserole, it will be easier to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, but you can bake it frozen. The baking time will be longer, so be sure the internal temperature reaches 160°.
🍽️Serving
A green garden salad is almost mandatory for this heavy dish. However, I also like to serve it with nice bread, such as Stand Mixer Peasant Bread or Julia Child's French Bread. Or try Cheddar Bay Biscuits or Easy Dinner Rolls with this pasta bake.
❄️Storing and reheating leftovers
To store leftovers, seal them in an airtight container and refrigerate for 4 days or freeze them for 4 months.
To reheat, thaw if frozen. Then I like to reheat covered in the oven, but an air fryer or microwave will work well.
❓FAQs
Not in this recipe. My crock pot pasta recipes frequently use uncooked pasta.
Yes, but read the instructions. You will not save any work; mine is much better and cheaper. Most of the sauce simmering is done in the casserole while baking in the oven.
📖The Recipe Card with Step-by-Step Instructions
Baked Sausage and Pasta
Video Slideshow
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 pound pasta - Penne, ziti, or similar
- 8 oz mozzarella - cubed ½ inch
- 8 oz mozzarella - shredded
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 1 onion - medium chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic - crushed or minced
- 2 teaspoons dry basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper - optional
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Start your pasta immediately and cook to al dente per the package instructions.
- Chop one medium onion.
- In a large pan, add one pound of Italian sausage and the chopped onion in a large pan. Brown over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, and in the last minute, add 2-3 cloves of minced or crushed garlic.
- Add 28 oz. crushed tomatoes, 2 teaspoons basil, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon oregano, and ¼ teaspoon sugar. Turn to low and simmer for a few minutes.
- Cut 8 oz of mozzarella into ½ inch cubes.
- Add the sauce to the pasta. Add the cubed mozzarella and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella and mix well.
- Pour into a casserole pan and top with the remaining 1 cup of shredded mozzarella. A 9×13 inch rectangular casserole pan is good, or a 12-inch round works well too.
- Bake at 375° until golden brown—about 30 minutes and an internal temperature of 160°.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- The quality of your ingredients is everything in Italian cooking. If you use generic ingredients, you will have generic results.
- Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package instructions. Do not overcook it; it cooks more in the oven.
- A 9×13-inch rectangular casserole pan is good, or a 12-inch round works well too.
- The recipe post includes instructions for using other pan sizes and reducing the recipe size to half or a quarter.
- This is good refrigerated for 3-4 days and frozen for 3-4 months.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You can adjust the number of servings above; however, only the amount in the ingredient list is adjusted, not the instructions.
Nutrition Estimate (may vary)
Editor's Note: Originally Published January 21, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Susan says
The narrative says 1 tablespoon garlic but the recipe says 1 teaspoon. Please clarify! Thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Susan,
Welcome to the blog.
That is tablespoons. Thanks for the proofread. I have updated the amount to 2-3 cloves which is how I would term it now. This recipe will be rewritten soon with updated photos etc. The recipe stays the same.
Garlic is a bit to taste and with my wife, I would double the garlic to keep her happy.
Again thanks for the questions and sorry for the confusion.
Dan
Judy Uhl says
I think I'll try this with ground beef. Do you think I could use my 2 qt round casserole?
DrDan says
Hi Judy,
Yes to the ground beef but it may be a bit bland lacking the spices in the sausage.
The pan size is about 3 qt. So it won't fit. The pan I used was a 12 inch "everyday" pan which is about 3 qt. A full size casserole pan is also about 3 qt.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Rachel says
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. What an excellent recipe. This would go over very well with my family!
DrDan says
This is a nice dish. I forget about it at times... I need to do it more.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
smors14 says
Made this last night for myself and hubby - it was awesome and LOTS of leftovers :)
Doug DeFrees says
Here's my blog post about my baked ziti dinner: https://sundaydinnerfortwo.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-ziti-and-why-should-i-bake-it.html
Doug says
Thanks, Dr. Dan. The upcoming post will be about tonight's dinner featuring your recipe.
Dr Dan says
The casserole is 2.5 qt and about 1 1/2 inches deep. I like a lot of top surface area. Good luck with your new blog Sunday, dinner for two
Doug says
What size casserole pan did you use?
Chris says
There are some decent jarred sauces out there these days, it's not just Ragu and Prego anymore. That being said, I still prefer making my own too.