Wednesday, October 6, 2010

No Boil Baked Penne


I call this a "no excuses meal". There are no excuses to not eat at home with this recipe.  It takes longer for the oven to preheat than it does to make this dish.  If you want to make this even easier - mix it up the night before and just pop it in the oven while it is preheating!  You can't ask for an easier home cooked meal.  The best part about this pasta dish - it tastes really good!

We had this for dinner on Monday night, and I had it again for lunch and dinner yesterday.  It tasted just as good reheated.   This is a very versatile recipe.  Feel free to change up the sauce and meats; add some vegetables like peppers and mushrooms.  We loved this, and it is perfect for a busy weeknight.





No Boil Baked Penne
The Family Dish
(Printable Recipe)

1 jar pasta sauce (26oz)
1 1/2 cups water
15 oz ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 lb sausage, cooked and crumbled
8 oz uncooked penne

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease 9x13 pan; set aside.  Combine sauce, water, ricotta 1 cup of mozzarella, sausage, parmesan and penne.  Pour into 9x13 pan and cover with foil.  Bake for 55 minutes.  Remove foil and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.  Bake for 5 to 10 minutes, until bubbly.



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21 comments:

Big Dude said...

Looks simple and good. My daughter makes a no-boil lasagna that turns out real well

Amanda said...

Mmm, this looks tasty. Quick with barely any effort, that's what I like to see! I'll be trying this one out soon.

JerZGirl said...

Anything that reduces the amount of cooking time I'm all for!

Alicia said...

Sounds great but I am not a huge fan of Ricotta. Any substitution ideas??

The Japanese Redneck said...

Wow, looks good to me!

Mythical Monkey said...

This is what we're having for dinner tonight -- I'll let you know how it turns out. But I can say that if I can make it, anybody can make it.

Ingrid said...

Oh, yeah my kinda pasta dish. You know what will put me off pasta more than anything? Having to wash that huge pot.
~ingrid

Jessie said...

Thanks for the recipe... I made this tonight! It was delicious! I cut the Ricotta in half because I can't stand the stuff, and it turned out just fine. :) I also blogged about it here: http://jessiewhittle.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-cooked-dinner-tonight.html

Chris said...

When you said "no boil", I was imagining, "Gee Steph....why is this so crunchy?"

But it looks and sounds great. I guess the sauce and ricotta give it enough liquid over the baking time. And it is so easy too. Thanks for sharing this one.

Kelly in Bham said...

Perfect meal for busy night with kids and hubby going in all different directions! Made it tonight -- kids and I liked it! Dennis at game so he will probably opt for DQ dip cone for his supper. :-) Katherine still waiting on Sherbert!

Katherine @ Grass Stains said...

Stephanie, I just wanted to tell you how nice it was to meet you in person today, and NOW I have to say that I will definitely be trying this recipe out on my family! This looks delicious and EASY, which is a total prerequisite in my house. I think I've tried three of the recipes you've posted over the last six months or so, and they've all been wonderful. Thank you so much, and again, it was lovely to meet you at the Harbert Plaza!

Jackie said...

I made this last night and it was delicious! Thanks so much for the great and sooo easy recipe!!

mindplace said...

This came out soo cheesy and delicious! we ate it up for dinner and then again for breakfast :)

SJerZGirl said...

I made this tonight and it's wonderful. Very forgiving, too. I didn't have any mozzerella, so I used Mexican mix shredded cheeses. I also didn't see that it had sausage in it, but I didn't have any. I ended up breaking up some breakfast sausage patties into the mix and then put four hotdogs on top of the casserole. Then, I didn't have any penne, so I used rotini. No matter - it is DELICIOUS!!! Thank you!!!

Queen of the House said...

I used your recipe as a "template", and made it with what I had on hand...it turned out fabulous, and the whole family loved it! Thank you!

Mrsblocko said...

I made this dish and wrote about it
here. What a delicious time saver. Thank you!

Marjorie Cross said...

Steph, tried this last night and couldn't believe how easy it was to make. I was going to make it the night before for my great nieces visiting from North Carolina but it was 103 degrees here and the house just wouldn't cool down so we ordered pizza. My husband and I loved this and the noodles come out el'dante just how I like them and the sauce was delcious. I just love your site and thanks again for the camera information, I have purchased a new camera and posted some new pictures on my site, check them out www.smalltownkitchen.com

Michelle said...

I want to double this recipe -- what do you recommend on the cook time? Same, 1.5 more?? Thanks!

Steph@PlainChicken.com said...

Michelle - If you are making it in two pans I would leave the cooking time the same. If you are going to put it in one huge pan, I would do it 1.5 times as long

Jessi said...

I have made this numerous times and it is always a hit!! It so nice to not cook the noodles before hand!! Thank you!! Love your blog!

Stephanie Parker said...

Jessi - I hate to cook noodles too. I love how easy this recipe is!

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