This easy Bolognese pasta bake is a family-friendly dinner that’s hearty, cheesy, and perfect for busy weeknights. With a sausage meat sauce, tender pasta, and a bubbly, golden topping, it’s a meal both kids and adults will love.
A creamy hearty pasta dinner is something my family is always happy to indulge in. My usual goto dish is my one skillet spaghetti. It’s fast, easy and cheap to make.
Since my two eldest boys moved into their apartment, I have been helping them by developing new recipes that are easy to make and still freaking delicious. Because I kinda spoiled them growing up and now they miss Mama’s home cooking.
This bolognese pasta bake is for them. Cheap eats that is easy to make and tastes fabulous.
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Recipe highlights
- Economical: You can feed up to six people with this easy recipe using ground meat or sausage.
- Simple: You can find everything you need in most grocery stores and it doesn’t require fancy or expensive ingredients.
- Texture: The pasta is tender, the sauce creamy and the cheesy top is like a lasagna!
- Flavor: The base sauce is created with the classic trio of onions, celery and carrots. By using Italian sausage and spices, this simple dish has tremendous flavor without being over bearing.
- Versatile: You can easily modify this recipe using what you have on hand. Change up the pasta, make it a little spicy or mix in some spinach for extra nutrition!
Ingredients you need
- Italian sausage: You can use mild or hot Italian sausage or use ground beef, turkey or pork.
- Onion: Use a regular brown, white or yellow onion.
- Carrots and celery: These vegetable make the base for your bolognese.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic is preferred, but you can use garlic powder if you are in a pinch.
- Petite diced tomatoes: I like to use the petite diced tomatoes as they tend to melt easily into the bolognese sauce. You can also use crushed tomatoes.
- Rigatoni: You can also use other pasta shapes like penne, ziti or fusilli.
- Heavy cream: Bolognese has a bit of creaminess to the sauce. Heavy cream is thicker and preferred, but you can use regular milk or half and half.
- Parmesan: You can use regular parmesan or try asiago or pecorino romano.
- Mozzarella: You can use shredded mozzarella or slices of buffalo mozzarella.
- Pantry staples: Tomato paste, extra virgin olive oil, dried basil, dried parsley and salt.
Step-by-step directions
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- Cook the mirepoix. Sauté the chopped onions, carrot and celery in olive oil and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Brown the meat. Add Italian sausage or ground meat and break it down with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking and browning the meat until cooked thru and in crumbled pieces.
- Add tomatoes. Season with salt and garlic, then cook for 1-2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste then add diced tomatoes, dried parsley and dried basil. Stir until combined and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add pasta. Raise temperature to high and add water and salt. Bring to boil. Once mixture is boiling, stir in pasta. This is uncooked pasta. You will have plenty of liquid in the dish to cook it. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes.
- Add cream. Stir in heavy cream and parmesan until combined and incorporated.
- Bake. Transfer to a casserole dish and spread pasta and sauce evenly. Top with parmesan and mozzarella. Bake at 350ºF uncovered until bubbly top is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
Expert tips and recipe FAQs
Want to make it ahead? You can assemble the whole thing in advance or just start the sauce. Just cover and refrigerate it until you are ready to finish cooking and assembling.
Keep it simple by serving as is or with a green salad or some steamed vegetables.
Want some more one pot meals? You should try my One Skillet Spaghetti, Sheet Pan Balsamic Chicken with Vegetables or another family favorite, my oven baked meatballs. All three are quick to whip up and require very little clean up.
Storing/Freezing Instructions
TO STORE: Store any leftover pasta in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
TO FREEZE: You can freeze leftovers individually or the whole casserole dish itself. Once cooled completely, transfer to a freezer safe container, seal and freeze for up to 4 to 6 months. To reheat, thaw overnight for larger portions and microwave until hot.
Most spaghetti sauces are tomato based sauces with spices. Sometimes garlic and onions are included to. Meat can be added to spaghetti sauce, but is not required. Bolognese sauce is a meat sauce that starts with the sautéing of onions, celery and carrots. It is finished with milk or heavy cream and cheese.
You can keep it simple and use ground beef for the base of your bolognese sauce, or you can use turkey, pork or a combination of meats. You can also use spicy or mild Italian sausage for more flavor.
Dry pasta needs liquid to soften and cook up. This can be done with boiling it first or adding it to sauce that has water added to it. My recipe for bolognese pasta bake partially cooks the rigatoni pasta in the sauce and finishes cooking when baked in the oven.
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Bolognese Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 cup chopped carrot
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt divided
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 28 oz petite diced tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried parsley
- 8 oz uncooked rigatoni
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Place a large Dutch oven over medium high heat and add olive oil.
- When oil is hot, add chopped onions, carrot and celery and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes.
- Add Italian sausage and break it down with a wooden spoon. Continue cooking and browning the meat until cooked thru and in crumbled pieces.
- Season with ½ teaspoon salt and add garlic. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste then add diced tomatoes (including the juice), dried parsley and dried basil. Stir until combined and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Raise temperature to high and add water and ½ teaspoon salt. Bring to boil.
- Once mixture is boiling, stir in pasta. Reduce heat to medium, cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Stir in heavy cream and ¼ cup of grated parmesan.
- Transfer to a casserole dish and spread pasta and sauce evenly.
- Top with ¼ cup of grated parmesan and mozzarella.
- Bake uncovered until bubbly top is lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comment section further down the page? I always appreciate your feedback.
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Written by Laura Bashar
Hi, I’m Laura, a certified professional cook and cookbook author living in San Diego. I have been sharing my family’s favorite recipes inspired from all over the world since 2008. Let’s cook up something fun!
how much water. what is a clip? cooked pasta or uncooked? do we drain the tomatoes?
Hi Holly-
Sorry about the confusion. To answer your questions 2 cups water, clip was supposed to be cup, it’s uncooked pasta you add to the pot (there’s enough liquid to cook it) and do not drain the tomatoes. I fixed the mistakes in the recipe card. No matter how many times I proof read it, my brain adds what is missing and I miss some mistakes.
Thank you for the heads up-
Laura