Baked Pasta With A Hidden Veggie
The beauty of this quick dinner is that it is simple to toss together AND features a hidden veggie! Sometimes it can be difficult to get our families to keep up with their daily veggies. This pasta helps combat that issue by making it easier for families, especially mine, to devour veggies while not really noticing. Baked pasta is a great way to get extra veggies into your family, if you haven’t yet tried our Roasted Broccoli & Spinach Stuffed Pasta Shells it is MUST TRY! Find it HERE! I also like sneaking in extra veggies with our Turkey Sliders, see just how we hide them in that recipe HERE!
With this baked pasta I like to use large rigatoni noodles and add diced carrots into the sauce! The carrots add a nice subtle sweetness to the whole dish that is balanced perfectly with the savory sauce + salty cheese. We also like to use Italian sausage but you can omit that and keep it vegetarian! Find out how we put this dish together below …
In a large pot or dutch oven start by browning the Italian sausage. Since the sausage has enough fat in it you won’t need to add any oil at the start. As the sausage cooks down add in a couple diced garlic cloves! Once the sausage is fully cooked, add in your diced carrots and oregano. Stir and let cook for a few minutes.
I love using jarred marinara sauce here to make things easy! Add a jar of marinara sauce and some chicken stock. Cook until the carrots are just fork tender. While your sauce simmers together, cook the pasta in salted boiling water. Be sure to cook the pasta JUST until it starts to soften. You don’t want to overcook the noodles at this point because they still have to bake and will continue cooking in the oven. If you over boil your noodles then the noodles become mushy.
Once the noodles are cooked and drained, add them into the sauce. Stir and pour into a baking dish.
I like to spoon some ricotta on the top, then cover with mozzarella and Parmesan! The ricotta melts a bit into the pasta as it bakes and is delicious!
Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden on top and the sauce is bubbling through out. Serve while warm and enjoy!
Baked Pasta With A Hidden Veggie
Ingredients
1 pound Italian sausage ground or removed from casings
1/2 pound peeled and diced carrots
1 pound rigatoni pasta (Penne will also work nicely)
2 peeled and diced garlic cloves
1/2 tablespoon oregano
1 jar of marinara sauce
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
hearty pinch of salt
9x12 Baking Dish
Serves 6-12
Cook Time About 35 Minutes Total
Directions
Step 1: Start by boiling water to cook your pasta. Add a hearty pinch of salt to your water and once it comes to a boil add your pasta. Keep an eye on your pasta, you’ll want to cook the pasta just until becomes soft. About 6-8 minutes or so. You want the noodles to still have some bite to them as they will finish cooking in the oven while being baked.
Step 2: While your pasta cooks, brown the sausage. Add in the diced garlic cloves and cook sausage until fully browned.
Step 3: Add in the peeled and diced carrots and the oregano.
Step 4: Pour in a jar of marinara and 1/2 a cup of chicken (or veggie) stock. Stir and let cook until the carrots become fork tender.
Step 5: Add in your pasta and stir. Add everything into a 9x12 baking dish.
Step 6: Spoon ricotta over the top and smooth evenly with the back of the spoon.
Step 7: Generously add shredded mozzarella over the top and sprinkle Parmesan.
Step 8: Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes or until the sauce is bubbling through out and the cheese is browned on top!
Step 9: Enjoy warm! Store in an air tight container and enjoy left overs for up to 2 days!