Cheesy Italian Sausage and Spinach Pasta Bake

This cheesy Italian sausage and spinach pasta bake is easy to make, cheesy, and so comforting! It's the ultimate weeknight dinner that the whole family will love and a great dinner party recipe that will wow your guests.

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• Recipe Ingredients
• Step-by-Step Instructions
• Storage and Leftovers
• Alternative Ingredients
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Serving Suggestions
• Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

There is nothing like having a comforting and hearty pasta dish slathered in tomato sauce and melted cheese on a cold day during the fall and winter. This pasta recipe will warm you right up and make you feel full and cozy!

This is one of my favourite weeknight dinner recipes to make when I don't want to put too much effort into dinner but also want something that tastes great! This is one of my go-to dinners because there's minimal front-end work to prep it, and the oven does all the heavy lifting!

I've tasted and tested this recipe many times to ensure it's perfect and that my friends and family will love it. Whenever I host dinner, I get so many compliments on how cheesy and delicious it is, and always have everyone asking me for the recipe!

Recipe Ingredients

• Rigatoni: This is similar to a baked ziti recipe, but instead of ziti noodles, we're using rigatoni because they're similar and often more accessible to people!
• Water: Since this is a dump and bake pasta recipe you'll need a couple cups of water to help the noodles cook properly while it's baking. Similar to how you would normally boil water on the stovetop to cook your noodles, we need liquid in the baking dish to bake the noodles in the oven.
• Tomato Sauce: For the tomato sauce, you can use store-bought marinara sauce or make your own tomato sauce recipe from scratch. Either will work and taste fabulous!
• Olive Oil: This is used to cook the sausage and ensure it doesn't stick to the pan.
• Sausage: This pasta casserole uses spicy Italian sausage, but you can use mild if you prefer! You'll either need ground sausage or a few sausages with the casing removed.
• Spinach: You can use frozen or fresh spinach, however we're using frozen here because it's easy to work with and cooks down quicker!
• Mozzarella: To top off this tasty sausage rigatoni pasta bake, it's topped with some melted mozzarella cheese for a deliciously cheesy bite.
• Parmesan Cheese: For serving!

See the recipe card below for the ingredient measurements. 

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Prepare: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit and spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Cook the sausage: Heat a pan on medium heat and add the olive oil and sausage. Cook the sausage until pale (about 5 minutes) while constantly breaking it up as it cooks.
3. Assemble and bake: Add and mix together the rigatoni, water, marinara, spinach, cooked sausage, and a pinch of salt and pepper in the baking dish. Top with the mozzarella cheese and cover with tin foil and bake it on the middle rack for 30 minutes. Remove the tin foil and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the cheese is slightly golden.

Storage and Leftovers

Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days covered with tin foil or in an airtight container. You can also freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months in the freezer.

Alternative Ingredients

• Ricotta: Add a few heaping tablespoons of ricotta to make this pasta bake extra creamy.
• Ground Beef: Ground beef is a great substitute for the sausage if you want a hearty meat sauce!
• Parsley: Consider garnishing the pasta dish with chopped fresh parsley for some bright color and fresh flavor.

The alternative ingredients are just suggestions and have not been tested. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Serving Suggestions

Serve this with a delicious appetizer like classic tomato basil bruschetta or roasted cherry tomato bruschetta. This cheesy pasta casserole also tastes great paired with a light side salad and a fresh loaf of bread.

Related Recipes

If you like sausage pasta, you're going to love this cheese tortellini and Italian sausage casserole too!

Looking for more easy pasta bake recipes? Then try this mac and cheese bake with bacon recipe, cheesy mozzarella and pesto tortellini pasta bake, spaghetti casserole with cream cheese, chicken and mushroom pasta bake, and mozzarella and ricotta cheese pasta bake too, cause they're also just as delicious and comforting!

Some Italian sausage recipes you may be interested in trying is this Italian sausage and potato soup and this tortellini soup with Italian sausage too.

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