Easy Baked Penne with Sausage
This easy baked penne with sausage recipe has marinara sauce, flavorful Italian sausage, and lots of parmesan and mozzarella cheese. It's low on effort and big on flavor!
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 pound uncooked penne pasta
- 16 ounces Italian sausage see note
- 1/2 medium onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (24 ounce) jar marinara sauce see note
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F and move the rack to the top third of the oven.
- Boil a salted pot of water for the pasta. Cook it for 2 minutes less than the package directions indicate. Once it's done, drain it and add it to a 9x13 baking dish.
- Meanwhile, add the sausage and onion to a skillet. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sausage has browned (about 8-10 minutes). If there's a lot of excess fat, spoon most of it out.
- Stir in the garlic and cook for about a minute.
- Add in the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes and cook for a couple more minutes until it's warmed through.
- Pour the sausage mixture into the baking dish. I add in some salt & pepper as well. Toss until everything is coated. Smooth it out into an even layer.
- Top with the cheeses and bake, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Broil for a few minutes to brown the cheese (watch it carefully). Serve immediately.
Notes
- For the sausages, anything around the 16 ounce/1 pound ballpark is fine – it doesn’t need to be exact. You can either buy ground sausage meat or, if using whole sausages, take the meat out of the casings. Here in Canada I use a 500g pack of sausages.
- One 24 oz. jar = 3 cups. Try my homemade marinara sauce if you prefer from-scratch.
Nutrition
Calories: 731kcal | Carbohydrates: 67g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 94mg | Sodium: 1565mg | Potassium: 773mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 874IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 340mg | Iron: 3mg
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