Best Italian Sausage And Pasta Casserole Recipes

BAKED PENNE WITH ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
• Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Place sausage and onion in the skillet and cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain excess fat. Pour in wine, and cook for 1 minute, stirring, to deglaze the pan. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Toss with cooked pasta, and place in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle top with mozzarella.
• Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

CHEESY BAKED PASTA WITH SAUSAGE AND RICOTTA

Steps:

• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Heat oil in a 12-inch ovenproof skillet over medium-high. Crumble sausage into skillet, using a spoon to break it into small pieces. Cook until starting to brown, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic, oregano, fennel seeds and red-pepper flakes (if using), and cook another 1 to 2 minutes.
• Stir in whole tomatoes and their juice, using a spoon to break them up. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaves and 2 teaspoons salt, and bring to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes to thicken slightly.
• Stir in pasta and 1 cup water and return to a simmer. Continue to simmer for 2 minutes, stirring frequently to make sure pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat, pluck out the bay leaves, and fold in about a third of the mozzarella.
• Top pasta with remaining mozzarella and dollops of ricotta. Sprinkle with Parmesan, then transfer to oven. Bake until pasta is tender when poked with a fork, and cheese is bubbly and lightly golden, 18 to 22 minutes. (If you'd like a more deeply browned topping, run the pan under the broiler for 1 or 2 minutes.) Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving. Top with basil, plenty of black pepper, and more red-pepper flakes, if you like.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND PASTA CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350.
• Prepare pasta as directed, rinse with cold water, and set aside.
• As pasta is cooking, cook Italian sausage as desired. (I like to pre-cook sausages, as they are easier to cut once they are already cooked.).
• After sausages are cooked, remove from pan and set aside.
• In a large pan, saute onion, peppers, zucchini, and garlic in olive oil until opaque.
• Season with cumin, thyme, basil, rosemary, salt, and pepper.
• Slice sausages into bite-size pieces, then add sausages, tomatoes, and pasta to the vegetables and stir.
• Spray large casserole dish with cooking spray and transfer entire mixture into dish.
• Top with feta cheese.
• Bake, uncovered, at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until cheese starts to melt.

SAUSAGE PASTA CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Brush a shallow 3-quart baking dish with olive oil. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until very al dente; you still want it to retain a little bite. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Drain well.
• Meanwhile, in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the sausage and cook and crumble with a wooden spoon until no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Add the onion and fennel; cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and season with salt. Bring to a simmer and add the cream. If the sauce is too thick, add a little water from the pasta. Turn up the heat to medium high and simmer rapidly to thicken the sauce and blend the flavors, about 10 minutes.
• Add the rigatoni and basil and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce. Remove from the heat and stir in half each of the mozzarella and parmesan. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan. Bake until browned and bubbly, 15 to 20 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.

MAKE AHEAD ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND PASTA BAKE

Steps:

• Cut sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. I large skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat, in batches and adding oil if necessary. Transfer sausage to a bowl.
• Pour off any fat from pan. Add onions, garlic and red pepper, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pasta sauce, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and fennel seeds; bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Return sausage and any accumulated juices to pan; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sausage is firm throughout.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, add spinach;cook for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and provolone/mozzarella cheese; stir to combine well.
• Transfer to 2 greased 8-inch square baking dishes or 1 13x9-inch dish. Sprinkle with Asiago/parmesan cheese. Cover dish with greased foil, greased side down.
• To serve: Bake, covered with foil, in in 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or for 1 hour if from the refrigerator. This freezes beautifully (thaw in refrigerator before baking).

ITALIAN PASTA CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, crumble beef and sausage into a large skillet; add onion. Cook and stir over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Drain. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes., Drain pasta; stir in meat mixture and pepperoni. Transfer half of the pasta mixture to a 2-qt. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with half of the cheese; repeat layers., Cover and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly.