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Cheesy Italian Pasta Bake

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Cheesy Italian Pasta Bake- Even my meat loving boys love this hearty pasta dish. Serve it with a tossed green salad for a complete meal.

Cheesy Pasta Bake - a tasty meatless dinner recipe the whole family will love.



I came up with this recipe trying to copy a dish that I ordered at a local Italian restaurant. It didn’t turn out quite like the original, but my family loved it, so I’m keeping it the way it is. It is a great recipe for nights that you are in a hurry and forget to take the meat out of the freezer to defrost. Does that happen to anyone else, or am I the only knucklehead?
This Cheesy Pasta dish is perfect for crazy weeknight dinners.

I love it when the cheese browns on the top and gets a little crunch to it, but If you don’t, you can cook it for less time. You can add more or less pasta depending on how saucy you like things. Just make sure you don’t overcook the pasta!
There are not very many vegetarian meals my four boys will eat without complaint. This Cheesy Pasta Dish is one of them!Serve this with a green salad and these breadsticks and you will feel just like you are eating pasta at an Italian restaurant.
This pasta is one of my 3 year old's very favorite meals!
Yield: 6 servings

Cheesy Italian Pasta Bake

Cheesy Italian Pasta Bake

Pasta with a creamy Italian tomato sauce topped with cheese.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 cups dry penne pasta
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 1 1/4 cups milk
  • 1/2 tsp dry basil
  • 1/4 tsp dry oregano
  • 1/4 tsp dry thyme
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 8oz can tomato sauce
  • 2 Tbsp parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup mozzarella cheese

Instructions

Cook pasta in salted water till barely done. Don't overcook! Set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan. Whisk in the flour, then the milk. Whisk and boil for at least 1 minute.

Add spices and garlic. Stir in the tomato sauce and the parmesan cheese. Add to the noodles and stir well.

Pour into a greased 2 1/2 quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.

Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes.

© Kara
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Comments

  1. Making this one tonight … didn’t see a temp to bake this on – so hopefully it’s 350 degrees! 🙂 Love all your recipes btw – every one I’ve made so far we’ve loved. Thanks for all your yummy ideas!

    Reply

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