Easy Cheesy Penne Pasta Bake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should you cook pasta before pasta bake? ›

And precooking the pasta, even halfway, takes work and dirties a large pot and colander. Then again, if you don't precook the pasta and instead add it dry to the sauce for baking, it will take much longer to become tender in the oven, even as it absorbs all the liquid in the sauce. Dry pasta needs to hydrate.

While penne and ziti are very similar kinds of pasta, there are a few key differences you should remember when you're cooking with them. Penne is a little larger than ziti, and can also come in textured versions. Ziti has straight edges and is a little smaller than penne, which has pointed edges.

It's so easy and inexpensive to make your own, but if you're pushed for time, any shop-bought tomato-based pasta sauce will be fine. I will admit to using these quite regularly! Just check the ingredients list first – it should be short and all ingredients should be recognisable!

We add stock to the baking dish along with the chopped tomatoes and veggies and cover with tinfoil before popping in the oven which keeps the heat and moisture in allowing the pasta to cook perfectly.

For Baked Pasta Dishes

As for picking the perfect pasta shape, we recommend choosing a short cut—like Penne, Shells or Rigatoni—with hollow middles, twists or scoop-like shapes to capture all the goodness of your baked pasta: sauces, small ingredients and melty cheeses galore.

Should I cover Baked Ziti while it's baking? Yes. Cover loosely with foil so it doesn't stick to the cheese, then bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil so the cheese can go bubbly and golden!

Most of these popular pasta dishes can be subbed out with different varieties of pasta. For example, I almost always substitute Penne and omit the Ziti altogether in the Chicken, Broccoli and Ziti recipe.

Penne is a good choice for baked pasta dishes, it holds up well in the oven and is the perfectly sized mouthful. Try using this pasta in a carbonara pasta bake with meat and vegetables. Rigatoni is a large tube noodle that is wider than penne and cut short and straight.

Why is my pasta bake watery? There are a couple of reasons why your pasta bake might be runny. Sauce that is thick at room temperature or from the fridge will thin out in the hot oven. It is better to have a thicker sauce at the beginning, so it will be the right consistency after cooking.

Cornstarch: Make a slurry of half water, half cornstarch and whisk until smooth. Cornstarch is a powerful thickener, so start by whisking in no more than 1 tablespoon of the mixture per 2 cups of simmering sauce; stir and simmer for 2 minutes, check the thickness, and repeat with more slurry as needed.

Can I use tomato sauce instead of pasta sauce? ›

Tomato sauce works well for spaghetti and meatballs and in lasagna, but has many other uses as well—such as on chicken cacciatore, eggplant or chicken parmesan, and as a base for eggs in purgatory or shakshuka.

Parmesan's nutty, savory notes create an easy-going blend with creamy pasta dishes, while Pecorino's robust tanginess is perfect for robust tomato-based sauces.

Should I cover pasta when baking? The sauce and tomatoes in this Italian recipe provide enough moisture to bake it uncovered. Some pasta bake recipes may require covering to retain adequate moisture and prevent drying. It's always best to follow the method in the recipe.

By skipping the separate boiling of the pasta and instead adding the dried noodles straight to the sauce, you can make a weeknight-friendly meal in just one pot. Bonus: It makes the pasta more flavorful, too.

Tightly covering the baking dish in aluminum foil forces the pasta to steam-cook in the marinara sauce, which eliminates the need to pre-boil the noodles. Most baked ziti recipes call for three cheeses: mozzarella (for cheese pulls), ricotta (for creaminess), and Parmesan.

Cover your pan with a lid to help bring the water up to the boil more quickly, then remove the lid once the water is boiling or reduce the temperature slightly to stop it bubbling over. Add the pasta to the water once it's boiling, never before, and cook without the lid.

Cooking pasta in the sauce instead of in boiling water will increase the amount of time it takes to cook through. It's a good technique to use if you want to delay serving your pasta for a few minutes. Make sure to keep the sauce thinned out with pasta water as the pasta finishes cooking if you use this method.