One of my favorite pasta dinners for the weeknights is this creamy spaghetti bake. It’s a hit with my entire family and requires little preparation. You can prepare a salad or arrange the table after the pasta bake is in the oven, and then it’s time to dine.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 45 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 5 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package penne pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 (6 ounce) cans tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 pinch white sugar
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 ¼ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 small bunch fresh basil, finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add penne and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about 11 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onion in oil until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for an additional 30 seconds. Stir in tomato sauce and tomato paste and cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Add cream and Parmesan cheese. Season with sugar, salt, and pepper.
- Stir some of the reserved pasta water into sauce and add cooked penne. Remove from the heat and stir in cherry tomatoes, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese, and basil. Add more pasta water if needed to reach desired consistency. Pour penne mixture into the prepared baking dish and cover with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven until bubbly and cheese is melted, about 20 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 532 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 68 g |
| Cholesterol | 62 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Sodium | 780 mg |
| Sugars | 8 g |
| Fat | 21 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This has become one of our favorite pasta recipes. It’s fairly easy to make, excellent flavor, and a crowd pleaser. The only change I make it is to use a large oven-safe skillet instead of a baking dish for less cleanup.
Easy to make and delicious! I followed the recipe almost exactly and added chopped chicken for protein.
Excellent and hearty meal. I added some Italian sausage and mixed in some fresh arugula at the very end. This dish was some creamy and delish there was no need to add the motz chees at the end. My husband aid it looked and tasted like something at a fine restaurant. The arugula was what made it really pop with color.
My Absolute FAVORITE!!
I would make a bit more sauce for the pasta as it really soaks up with the pasta when baking.
I make this all the time and it’s very good. The only thing I add is baby spinach. However, from experience, I wouldn’t make this ahead as the pasta will absorb the sauce so it ends up a little dry. Cook right away and enjoy!
This was DIVINE! I loved it so much! No changes except I added Parmesan crusted chicken right before baking and it was a hit! So good!
Look, this recipe is really really good, but instead of 1 pinch white sugar, i would add about 5 drops of applesauce. I know it sounds weird, but it is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!
Made as written except used half and half instead of heavy whipping cream. I can’t imagine that would impact it substantially? Overall; okay-good. Basic tomato pasta ziti recipe that did taste good and easy to make but I already have some other favorites that I will go back to instead. Thanks anyways!
This recipe was quite good. I used dried basil and used a can of basil, garlic tomato sauce instead of plain tomato sauce. it was perfect. I made the recipe for two and we had tons of leftovers. This, this is a good potluck recipe! Will make it again!
This recipe is a good as stated. Even leftover ! It will definitely become a regular in the rotation. I made it as directed but it could easily be adapted by adding spinach or peas or broccoli.
Absolutely fantastic! Use 3/4 tsp sugar vs “a pinch”. I used Romano cheese vs Parmesan. Make an extra 2 cups of sauce. When removed from oven, fluff it up a bit and add more sauce pre-heated on stovetop. Optionally, then add the remaining 50% mozzarella on top and put in oven to melt 5 minutes, or combine that in initially. .
We all loved it. I added fresh mozzarella ball slices on top.
Sauce too thick, no real flavor
Such a simple dish to make but packs the flavor!!! Served with a side of garlic bread and was simply delicious!
My wife and I loved this recipe. Normally I despise tomatoes. But this was very very good! Will be making it again. Five stars
my family loved this dish. Easy to make done in 30 mins . Did not fine needs 20 mins in the 400 oven. i added some meatballs in this dinner too. My family rated 5 stars out of 5. Ps Remember to take pictures
Loved this recipe! So easy to make and so tasteful. I added cooked leftover chicken to the dish. Enjoy!
Real yummy and easy to make. New family favorite. I added diced chicken breast to it so it came out very hearty.
SO good! After reading a lot of the reviews it seemed like there was an original issue with the sauce being too thin. I ended up adding one packet of McCormick Beef Stroganoff powder mix hoping it might thicken it up a little more. I doubled the recipe so I’m not sure how much flavor it added, if any, but I do think it helped make it a bit thicker. After cooking it on low for 7 hours it still seemed a bit thin so the last hour after adding the sour cream and cream cheese I let it cook with the top off and it made a huge difference! Perfect consistency. The only other change was a splash (to taste) of red wine. Slow cooking beef with red wine just gave it that something extra that probably addressed the bland taste issue some reviewers wrote about. This is such a keeper. My husband and teen boys both want me to make it again…and often!
I made this recipe exactly. Unfortunately for my family we found it to be very bland.