Million Dollar Pasta Bake with Cheesy Meat Sauce
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Our million dollar pasta bake is essentially a kick-butt pasta dish recipe. So it’s quite versatile to make any pasta lover happy.
Million Dollar Pasta Bake Recipe
We’ve been on a pasta-kick lately in the test kitchen, especially when pasta dishes are great to feed a crowd. The popular million dollar spaghetti has been on our minds but with penne, rotini and macaroni in the kitchen we decide to make million dollar pasta bake! The million dollar spaghetti recipe will definitely be on our next agenda, but for now we went ahead and devoured this penne version and we’re super glad we did.
Video Making the Million Dollar Pasta Bake:
Best Pasta Bake Casserole with Cheesy Meat Sauce
What makes this such a superb pasta casserole recipe is that it’s loaded with sauce, cheese and cottage cheese! It’s essentially like a lasagna but without ricotta and instead, uses cottage cheese for the creamy layered centers. So this recipe for million dollar pasta is a fantastic and satisfying dish for lasagna lovers.
It’s superb and absolutely delicious. If you’re looking for a different alternative to lasagna, this million dollar pasta bake will totally satisfy and warm the bellies. It’s one of this dishes that you can totally make ahead of time as well and it’ll make you look like an amazing host or hostess. Just assemble it the night before and take it out to come to room temperature for a bit. Then pop it in the oven and you have a fabulous instant party dish. If it’s just for a weeknight meal then even better because it freezes perfectly and you have dinner again for a few more nights.
Enjoy!
Million Dollar Pasta Bake
Ingredients
- 1 lb. (454g) penne, macaroni or rotini pasta , cooked to package instructions.
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup (60ml) chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup (120ml) sour cream
- 1 cup (240ml) grated Parmesan cheese
- 16 oz. (454g) cottage cheese
- 1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 1 onion , diced
- 1 lb. (454g) lean ground beef , or ground sausage
- 1 red bell pepper , diced
- 24 oz. (680g) pasta/marinara sauce (or more if you like lots of sauce)
- Kosher salt , to taste
- Fresh cracked black pepper , to taste
- 8 oz. (225g) mozzarella cheese , shredded
- (optional) extra minced parsley for garnish or fresh minced basil
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease 13x9-inch (3-quart) baking dish.
- In bowl, beat eggs, parsley, sour cream, parmesan cheese and cottage cheese. Set aside.
- Heat large skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Add garlic and onions and cook until softened and fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef and cook for about 2 minutes. Add bell peppers and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until beef is cooked through. Remove from heat and add pasta sauce, salt and pepper. Stir until everything is combined well and set aside.
- Add a thin layer of the meat/sauce mixture in the baking dish. Add half the cooked pasta in even layer, then add half of the cottage cheese mixture, spreading it evenly across the pasta. Add half of the mozzarella cheese evenly on top. Add the remaining half of the pasta, and then add remaining half of the cottage cheese mixture.
- Pour the remaining meat/sauce mixture on top and spread it into an even layer on top of the casserole. Add remaining mozzarella cheese in an even layer over top. (Final layers from bottom to top -thin bit of meat sauce, pasta, cottage cheese mix, mozzarella, pasta, cottage cheese mix, majority of meat sauce, mozzarella).
- Bake 30 to 45 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly browned on top. Allow casserole to cook about 5 minutes before serving.(optional) Top with minced parsley or minced basil. Enjoy!
Nutrition Information per Serving
More Pasta/Noodle Recipes and Roast Chicken Recipes
This recipe was originally published in 2017 and re-published in 2020 with updated photos. Here’s some more great pasta recipes for you to enjoy.
10 Comments on “Million Dollar Pasta Bake with Cheesy Meat Sauce”
This was really good! I did use ricotta and added more sauce. It was delicious! I also added some jalapeno and red pepper flakes. Thank you for the recipe.
Love the addition of ricotta! Thanks Lori.
I would like to add spinach to the casserole. What are your suggestions for this addition? Thanking you in advance ! I love casseroles!
Hi Cheryl, just add a layer of spinach on top of the first layer of meat sauce. Then continue with the baking. Glad you’re adding spinach to the casserole!
This looks delicious! Can I put it into 2 pans and freeze one for later? Just two of us in my household. Of course I would thaw it in the fridge before baking. Think it will work?
Hi Meg! Yes you can totally freeze it and thaw it for dinner later. Enjoy!
Can I make this a few hours ahead of time and refrigerate until ready to bake?
Hi Lauren, Yes you can totally do that. It just might need a little extra baking time if the casserole is completely cold. What I would do is to not add the top layer of cheese yet before you fridge it. Bake it, then stir it a little halfway during baking time to make sure the center bakes as even as the outside edges. Then after you stir halfway through baking, add the top layer of cheese. Finish baking and it should be excellent!
Thank you!! I saw this after I constructed, shoot! But I think I will bake covered for 45 then uncovered for 10?? I will let you know how the timing goes!
This is definitely a great alternative to lasagna or spaghetti! We absolutely love making this at home!