This Cheesy Macaroni Pasta Bake for a weeknight dinner! Made with my classic homemade pasta sauce, this is the perfect comfort food!
Let’s talk dinner, shall we? We get it. You need it quick and fast. Let’s not forget that we need it to taste good. In walks pasta bakes! My kids LOVE them! We tend to eat a lot of pasta around here considering we are an Italian-American home.
Sometimes I just need to change it up a little. I use my go-to homemade classic pasta sauce (which can be made ahead of time and even frozen) add my noodles, cheese and baked! Simple and easy without giving up a delicious home cooked meal!
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Don’t be scared of pasta bakes, they are not a lot of hard work! If you are looking for something a little different how about these Easy Homemade Spaghetti O’s? It basically uses the same pasta meat sauce with cute little rings! The family goes crazy for them!
How to make Cheesy Macaroni Pasta Bake?
Ingredients:
- You always want to start with a mixture of onions, carrots and celery. This is called soffritto or also known as mirepoix. This is the base to any good pasta sauce. It’s cooked in extra virgin olive oil. Which I suggest not using anything different.
- Next are the herbs. You can absolutely use fresh herbs but for frugalness I use dried herbs.
- Ground Beef
- One pound macaroni noodles
- Lots of cheese!
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cook macaroni according to package. Cooks about 7 minutes.
- In the meantime, in large pan add olive oil, onions, carrots, celery and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Then add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add ground beef and cook for 5 minutes or until beef is cooked.
- Add in spices and stir. Remove garlic cloves (if not chopped)
- Slowly add in tomato sauce and stir. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- When pasta is done, drain and put in large skillet.
- Top with pasta sauce and stir gently.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted.
- Serve warm and ENJOY!
Can I use any pasta noodle?
Sure you can! It will work best if it is a short noodle, like penne or rotini. I would suggest checking your pan size to understand it if can fit a pound of cooked pasta in it before, or you may not have enough room in it!
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Cheesy Macaroni Pasta Bake
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound macaroni noodles
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 onion diced
- 1/2 cup diced carrots
- 2/3 cup diced celery
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 pound ground beef or 1/2 pound ground beef and 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1 teaspoon rosemary
- 1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon basil
- 16 ounces tomato sauce
- 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cook macaroni according to package. Cooks about 7 minutes.
- In the meantime, in large pan add olive oil, onions, carrots, celery and salt. Cook for 5 minutes.
- Then add garlic and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add ground beef and cook for 5 minutes or until beef is cooked.
- Add in spices and stir. Remove garlic cloves (if not chopped)
- Slowly add in tomato sauce and stir. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.
- When pasta is done, drain and put in large skillet.
- Top with pasta sauce.
- Gently stir.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and melted.
- Serve warm and ENJOY!
Nutrition
MORE RECIPES FOR PASTA BAKES!
- Gnocchi Pizza Bake! This combines two of my favorite meals in one!
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta Bake! Made with broccoli, spinach, and ricotta cheese. It’s vegetarian and gluten free!
- Vegan Pesto Pasta Bake! This savory vegan pasta bake is pure comfort food! It’s super simple to assemble, it’s ready in less than one hour, and it’s loaded with ribbons of pesto, juicy tomatoes, and the creamiest sauce.
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