Rigatoni Pasta Bake with Ricotta and Meat Sauce is a big hearty pan of comfort food, similar but quicker and easier than lasagna! A simple homemade ground beef marinara sauce gets layered with rigatoni pasta tossed with ricotta cheese, and bakes up melty and delicious! It's family friendly or perfect to feed a crowd, easy to prep ahead, and ready in just over an hour!
- Like Lasagna but Quicker! - All that layering gets done much easier, but with the same big flavors of a classic Italian pasta night! We skipped the egg, and just give the hot pasta a quick toss with ricotta cheese for that creamy filling everyone loves!
- Family Dinner Comfort Food - Perfect for Sunday supper, a big family dinner, or to feed a crowd, this meaty pasta bake is really hearty and goes a long way! Great leftovers too!
- Love Italian Pasta Night? Try our favorite Mom's Homemade Spaghetti Sauce and Grandpa's Spaghetti and Meatballs!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
Simple pantry staples, a pound of ground beef that we always have in the freezer, and lots of creamy melty delicious cheese makes this meal an easy one to keep on hand!
- Rigatoni Pasta - Any other short pasta like penne or ziti would work too. Try this Sausage Broccoli Rigatoni too!
- Ground Beef - You could also use ground Italian sausage or a combination of sausage and ground beef. Or leave it vegetarian.
- Canned Tomato - It's very easy to make a quick homemade marinara with canned tomato, onions, garlic and seasonings, but store-bought sauce would also be fine.
- Onions & Garlic - The backbone of a good sauce, but you can substitute onion and garlic powder in a pinch!
- Seasoning - Very basic pantry spices, the Italian seasoning could be subbed with any dried Italian herbs like thyme, oregano or basil if that's what you have. The addition of brown sugar nicely balances the acidity in the tomatoes. If you've never tried it, make your own Homemade Brown Sugar next time you run out, it's so good!
- Parsley - A little bit of fresh herbs are nice to add to the cheese mixture, but you could also use fresh basil, fresh spinach or just leave it out.
See recipe card below for full quantities.
Instructions
Boil your pasta and toss it with the ricotta while it's hot, make your simple meat sauce, layer it all together and bake!
Step 1 - Start a pot of water to boil for your pasta and preheat the oven to 400°F.
Make the meat sauce by browning the ground beef and sauteing the onion in half the pan in the fat released from the beef.
Step 2 - Cook the beef and onions until browned and a bit crispy and caramelized.
Add the garlic and seasonings.
Step 3 - Meanwhile, boil the pasta, 11 to 14 minutes until al dente.
Drain and return it to the hot pot. Mix in the ricotta, seasonings and some of the shredded cheese.
Step 4 - Finish up your meat sauce with the canned tomatoes and let it simmer while you're working on the pasta mixture.
Step 5 - Add a few ladles of sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.
Layer in about half the cheesy pasta and then another layer of sauce.
Step 6 - Layer the rest of the pasta, the remaining sauce and top with the shredded cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Step 7 - Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes. Switch to broil for the last couple minutes to brown the top and get it nice and melty!
Allow to set for 10 minutes, garnish with chopped parsley, and serve!
Recipe Notes & Tips
- Alternatives for the Sauce - The sauce is your basic marianara meat sauce and really anything similar will work just fine! You can use ground beef or Italian sausage, or use leftover Homemade Spaghetti Sauce or Roasted Garden Tomato Sauce that you may have frozen. You could also brown the meat and then use any store-bought jar of marinara sauce.
- What to Serve it With - A big pasta bake goes great with a green salad and garlic bread! Try this Steakhouse Salad Bar Salad, this Italian Mixed Greens Salad with Crispy Prosciutto, or this simple Arugula Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette.
- Storage - Extra Rigatoni Ricotta Pasta Bake is great to reheat for up to 4 days. You can microwave small portions or warm it in the baking dish in the oven.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! Assemble the whole thing up to a day ahead, cover with foil, and refrigerate. Then bake when ready, you can set it out on the counter a half hour or so before baking, and you may need to add 10 to 15 minutes to get it nice and bubbly hot!
Yes, this pasta bake is pretty big, serving 6 to 8 people. So if you have a smaller family, you can make a half batch. You could make the full amount of sauce and freeze half of it to eat with spaghetti. You could also make the full recipe and put it in two smaller pans and freeze one, unbaked and wrapped well, for 2 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.
Yes! Any marinara sauce is really easy to add vegetables! If you want them to be "hidden," use a food processor to puree a small amount of any combination of onion, red bell pepper, carrot, mushroom, celery, or zucchini, and saute alongside the ground beef. You could also add fresh chopped spinach, herbs, or kale to the sauce or to the cheese filling. If you save Mixed Garden Herbs and Greens for the Freezer, you can throw in a handful to the simmering sauce for extra nutrition!
More Family Pasta Nights!
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Rigatoni Pasta Bake with Ricotta & Meat Sauce
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Print Pin RateIngredients
- 1 pound rigatoni pasta
For the Sauce
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion chopped
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 grinds fresh black pepper
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 can crushed tomato (28 ounces)
- 1 can tomato paste (6 ounces)
- 1 can water (6 ounces)
For the Filling
- 1¾ cup ricotta cheese (15 ounces)
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley or basil chopped
- 2 cups white cheddar, provolone or mozzarella cheese shredded (divided)
Instructions
For the Ricotta Pasta
- Preheat oven to 400℉.
- Set a large pot of water to boil for the pasta. Add a pinch of salt and cook the pasta 11 to 14 minutes until al dente (taste one). Stir often so it doesn't stick to the bottom.
- Drain the pasta and return it to the hot pot. Add all ingredients for the filling (including about ⅓ of the shredded cheese) to the hot pasta and mix until well combined.
For the Sauce
- Meanwhile, preheat a large deep skillet or pot over medium heat and saute the ground beef. After it has released some of its fat, push it to one side and add the onion to the other. Season with salt and pepper. Break it up with a wooden spoon, keeping the onions separate, until crispy and caramelized, about 15 minutes.
- Add the garlic, Italian seasoning, and brown sugar, and stir a minute until fragrant, scraping up the bits from the pan.
- Add the canned tomatoes and 1 small (6oz) can of water, rinsing the last bit of tomatoes from both cans into the sauce. Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring often. Adjust the heat down as needed to keep it at a gentle bubble. It can simmer until you are ready to assemble.
To Assemble
- In a large baking dish, ladle a few cups of sauce in the bottom, add about half of the ricotta coated pasta, then another few cups of tomato sauce. Add the rest of the pasta, topped with the rest of the sauce, and then sprinkle on the shredded cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, Remove the foil and bake 10 more minutes, broiling the top in the last few minutes until it is browned, melted and bubbly.
- Allow to set for 10 minutes, garnish with more chopped parsley, and serve!
Notes
- Timing - Cook the pasta, coat it with the cheese mix, and make the meat sauce simultaneously. The exact order and timing doesn't matter, the sauce can simmer and the ricotta pasta can wait on the stovetop until you're ready to assemble.
- Meal Prep - Can be prepped and assembled unbaked and refrigerated a day in advance and baked when ready.
- The Sauce - Can be made with ground beef, Italian sausage or half of each. You can brown ground beef and then substitute your favorite store-bought marinara sauce.
- Pasta - Rigatoni could be subbed with penne, ziti or any short hearty pasta shape.
- Nutrition Info is based on 8 servings.
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