Baked Penne with Italian Sausage
Servings 6
Ingredients
- 16 oz penne pasta
- 16 oz Italian sausage (either ground sausage or the links with the casings removed)
- 1/2 onion, chopped (optional)
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
- 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
- 50 ounces pasta sauce , divided (about 2 cans worth, give or take)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, cook sausage with garlic, onion, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in a big skillet, break up into small chunks. Cook until browned, 6-7 minutes. Remove from heat and drain grease, if necessary.
- In the skillet, add the ricotta, basil and about 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce. Mix it together. Add in the pasta. Mix together. (If your pan isn't big enough, you can use a big bowl.
- Put about 1/2 of what's left of the spaghetti sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Add pasta. Spoon the remaining spaghetti sauce over it. Top with mozzarella.
- Bake about 30 minutes or so until the cheese is melted and golden brown.
Notes
This freezes really well too. You can put in two 8x8 or 9x9 pans, freeze one and eat the other.
When baking the frozen one, defrost overnight and add baking time.