Freezer Meal: Baked Rigatoni Pasta

Baked Rigatoni Pasta

Recipe number two in my quest to stop eating out so much  is this one for a baked rigatoni pasta dish.

This is a recipe I normally make for dinner every couple of weeks. So instead of making one batch I make a super-sized batch.  This way I can freeze it and have it ready to go on those nights when we are tempted to run out and grab something to eat.

This is also a nice and easy pasta recipe that can be used as a babysitter meal for nights when my husband and I have our date night. Instead of ordering a pizza I can pop the baked rigatoni pasta into the oven before we leave and just have the sitter pull it out and serve it to the kids when the timer goes off.

Easy, and gives me a little more money for date night!

Baked Rigatoni Pasta

Learn how to make baked rigatoni pasta and whip up enough of this Baked Rigatoni Pasta dish for 4 meals.

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Pasta, Rigatoni

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Servings: 24 Servings

Calories: 458

Ingredients

• 48 oz Rigatoni pasta 3 16oz boxes
• 3 jars Spaghetti Sauce
• 2 lbs. Sweet Italian Sausage casings removed
• 2 lbs. Mozzarella Cheese shredded
• 24 slices  Provolone Cheese
• 3 tsp Dried Oregano optional
• 3 tsp Basil optional

Instructions

• In a very large stock-pot bring to boil enough water to cook pasta according to directions on the package.
• Cook pasta till just al dente or even ever so slightly undercooked as the pasta will absorb some of the extra sauce. You don't want mushy pasta.
• In a large skillet (or I use my electric frying pan) brown and crumble the Italian sausage, drain and rinse to remove extra fat.
  
• Add sausage back into skillet and add spaghetti sauce to the pan.
  
• Add optional herbs and spices to jazz up your sauce - this is optional but I like to sometimes add a little dried oregano and basil to mine.
• Cook sauce and sausage for about 10 minutes until sauce is hot.
• Drain pasta and add it back into your large stock-pot, pour spaghetti sauce and sausage over cooked pasta and stir to combine.
• Divide pasta into four 11 3/4 inch by 9 3/8 inch aluminum foil pans (I purchase my pans at the Dollar Tree 2 for $1.00)
  
• Sprinkle each pan of pasta with 1/2 lb. of shredded mozzarella cheese and then top with 6 slices of provolone cheese.
• Label each pan with instructions on how to cook. I simply wrote on a 3x5 index card "Baked Rigatoni Pasta with the date - Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour"
  

Nutrition Facts

Baked Rigatoni Pasta

Amount Per Serving

Calories 458 Calories from Fat 189

% Daily Value*

Fat 21g32%

Saturated Fat 10g63%

Cholesterol 59mg20%

Sodium 526mg23%

Potassium 252mg7%

Carbohydrates 44g15%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 21g42%

Vitamin A 266IU5%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 219mg22%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

We cooked one pan for ourselves for dinner that night and froze the other three pans for a later date.

Easy! It took about 5 minutes more to make 4 batches of a yummy pasta dish than it did to make just one batch. We usually serve this with a side salad and some garlic bread.

Notes – this baked rigatoni pasta recipe is very adaptable. Are you gluten free? If so use some gluten free pasta and a GF pasta sauce. Can’t have dairy? Omit the cheese or use a lactose free cheese. If you are a vegetarian omit the sausage or use a meat free alternative.

I do recommend you try that homemade sauce in the crock-pot. That is super tasty, loaded with healthy veggies and is gluten free, dairy free, vegan, low fat, low sodium. It is my preferred sauce any day over jarred sauce.

Check out more delicious recipes!