Baked Ricotta Sausage Penne
Baked Ricotta Sausage Penne

Baked Ricotta Sausage Penne

Lately
I’ve been on the hunt for good freezer meal ideas to help with our
budget and hassle of figuring out supper every night. One recipe I came
across involved penne, sausage, and ricotta and lots of complicated
directions for making your own sauce and spices and odd assembly
instructions. Perhaps it’s just laziness on my part, but I didn’t really
want to spend a whole hour just preparing my meal, let alone the 45 min
bake time. Sooo using the same main ingredients I came up with my own
simpler version and wrote down what I did along the way. The husband
thought it turned out pretty good {and so did I!}, so I thought it would
be a good one to pass along.

Baked Ricotta Sausage Penne
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Bake Time: 45 minutes
Preheat: 400
Yeilds: 12 servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb Italian sausage {we get the kind in the tube}
  • 1 TBS minced garlic {optional}
  • 1 “large” Preggo spaghetti sauce
  • 1 bag [12 oz] gf penne pasta
  • 2 cups ricotta 
  • 1 bag [8 oz] mozzarella
  • 1.5 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano {kinda pricey, Parmesan would work too}

 Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Brown sausage & garlic in a deep skillet. At the same time boil the pasta.When the sausage is cooked, add sauce to pan. Next, line 9×13 pan {or 2 smaller pans} with pasta. {I obviously went the route of
one big pan… it made a lot! Next time I will split it into two pans
and freeze one for later.}
With a measuring cup, scoop out [2 cups of] the ricotta
cheese. Use a tablespoon to create rows of
dollops on top of the pasta  {think of it as marking each piece – I
ended up having 4×5 rows.} Add half the bag of mozzarella on top of the
dollops.

Next I used a slotted spoon to ensure even sausage coverage on
top of the cheese and then just added the sauce wherever it was needed.
Once the sauce is covering everything, I used my spoon to “wiggle” the
sauce, cheese, and ricotta down into the pasta. I didn’t stir it so as
not to mix in the ricotta too much. Finally, add the rest of the mozzarella to the top along with the Parmigiano-Reggiano {or parmesan.}

We didn’t bake ours right away, so I labeled it with the instructions
for later. It bakes for 45 minutes: 30 with the foil on, then 15 uncovered. {If frozen, bake at 450, 1 hour with the foil on and then 15 uncovered.}

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