Baked Rigatoni with Beef
A delicious rigatoni casserole filled with ground beef and three different types of cheese. The perfect dish for a cozy family dinner.
Equipment
- 1 oven safe skillet or casserole dish
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 28oz jar marinara
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- 1 lb rigatoni sub penne, rotini, or shells
- 1 cup ricotta
- 1 cup mozzarella shredded
- ¼ cup parmesan grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the rigatoni until al dente, the pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
- While pasta is cooking, brown the beef on medium high heat in a large skillet. Break up the meat into large chunks with your spatula and season with salt and pepper.
- When beef is almost cooked through, add minced garlic and stir. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Turn heat to low and add the marinara and heavy cream. Simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and carefully stir.
- Dollop large tablespoons of ricotta on top of the pasta and gently fold in. You want to keep large pockets of ricotta, so don’t over mix.
- Top with shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cheese is melted and lightly golden brown.
Notes
- Place dish under the broiler to brown cheese further if you want. Keep a close eye on it, the cheese can burn fast.
- When reheating from frozen, drizzle a few tablespoons of water over the dish before baking to give it more moisture. Or top with more marinara.
- To make this dish even meatier, add a half a pound of ground Italian sausage when cooking the beef.