This pasta bake is done in one pan and doesn’t require you to even boil the pasta first. Yes, that means the pasta is cooked in the oven! It’s amazing how delicious it is when you literally only need to spend 5 minutes prepping it. This one is going to save your weeknights for sure!
I honestly hate the phrase “dump dinners” or “dump-and-go dinners” where you dump everything into a cooking vessel and that’s all you have to do. I dislike the phrase, for sure. But, I love the concept!
Truly my favorite way to cook is to put everything on a sheet pan or in a casserole dish, put it in the oven, and then walk away.
I was never sure if you could cook pasta in the oven like that though. Until I started working on this recipe. Then I learned that the answer is yes, you can absolutely cook pasta in the oven. You just need the right amount of liquid, and a delicious recipe.
You’re going to be amazed by this recipe. You literally just put everything into a baking dish, cover it, put it in the oven, and walk away.
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Video: No-Boil Pasta Bake*
*NOTE: The instructions as shown in the video are just fine. However, the milk sometimes curdles. We therefore retested the recipe several times to get it just right. Instead of the milk, the recipe now calls for 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of chicken stock. A commenter has done it with no cream and 2 cups of chicken stock and had success. The recipe below has all of these changes made.
How To Cook Pasta In The Oven
The details about the no-bake pasta bake are below. But I often get asked if you can cook pasta in the oven for other purposes. That’s what I’m explaining here first:
I haven’t had great success cooking pasta in water in the oven. The best way to do it is to preheat your oven to 400°F. Then put your pasta in a baking dish or oven-safe pot. If it’s long pasta, like spaghetti, you need to break it up into small pieces (2 inches). The reason is that all of the pasta will need to be submerged in liquid the entire time it’s in the oven and long strands are more likely to jut out.
Then add boiling water to the pan. Use a kettle to boil the water, or boil it on the stove. Although, if you have a functioning stove, I suggest you cook your pasta on there since it turns out better. This is more for when you don’t have a stove. (The reason it turns out better is that the water is able to simmer continuously on the stove. In the oven, it doesn’t seem to stay up at that temperature and the pasta ends up a little bit gummier. It’s perfectly edible and good. Just a bit gummier.)
Make sure the pasta is completely submerged in the very hot water. Add salt, about a tablespoon for 16 ounces of pasta, and stir.
Cover the dish with a tight-fitting lid or aluminum foil. You really want it to have a tight seal. A double layer of foil does this well.
Then put it into the oven for 5 minutes more than what is stated on the pasta box instructions. Test the pasta to see if it is to your liking, and then drain off the water.
How To Make A No-Boil Pasta Bake
While I don’t really like pasta that has been simmered in the oven in water, I do seriously love this dish where you cook the pasta in the oven but it’s cooking in a sauce. I think the reason is that the pasta is soaking up all of that delicious flavor, and the soaked up flavors more than make up for any subtle gumminess. Or maybe the cheese in the dish hides that gumminess? Anyhow, here’s what you do…
Preheat the oven to 400°F. To a 13×9 inch baking dish add uncooked pasta shells, fully-cooked sliced sausage (I buy this roasted pepper and Asiago chicken sausage that is sold fully-cooked in either the organic lunch meat area or with the wieners, depending on your store), some canned diced tomato (with juice – you need the liquid here), seasonings, and shredded mozzarella. Stir.
Top that with heavy cream and chicken stock (a commenter to this recipe tried it with just chicken broth and says it worked great, so you can try that instead, if you’d like. However, my concern is that it will be more bland. You might want to increase the seasonings if you do this).
Cover very tightly with a double layer of aluminum foil and bake for an hour.
At that point the pasta will be cooked, but I like to add some shredded cheese to the top and put it back into the oven, uncovered, to melt the cheese. Then the pasta bake NEEDS TO REST for 15 minutes before serving.
Why Does The Pasta Bake Need To Rest?
The pasta bake is going to come out seeming liquidy. That’s because all of the liquid in the casserole has been really simmering and moving all around due to the intense heat.
What you want is for that liquid to simmer down (lol). But seriously, you want it to stop simmering and settle down. As it settles, it will evaporate a bit, soak into the pasta a bit more, and thicken up.
So absolutely, let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes uncovered before serving. It will still be nice and hot for eating, it just won’t be so wet.
And there you have it: Delicious baked pasta all done in one pan with virtually zero work. Brilliant, right?
More Delicious Pasta Dinner Recipes
If you love a good pasta dinner as much as I do, be sure to try my favorite pasta recipes, linked to below. And, when in search of just the right thing to make for dinner on a weeknight, go over and browse all of my Weeknight Dinner Recipes – there are over 300 of them!
- Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Pasta
- One-Pot Shrimp Pasta Recipe
- Shrimp Scampi Baked Pasta
- Pasta Carbonara Made With Greek Yogurt
- Pasta al Limone Recipe
- Easy One-Pot Pasta Dinner
- Pasta With Sausage And Greens
- Classic Italian Sausage Pasta
Podcast Episode: Making No-Boil Pasta Bake
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this No-Boil Pasta Bake, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below.
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
PrintDelicious No-Boil Pasta Bake Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 70 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Italian
DESCRIPTION
This pasta bake is done in one pan and doesn’t require you to even boil the pasta first. Yes, that means the pasta is cooked in the oven! It’s amazing how delicious it is when you literally only need to spend 5 minutes prepping it. This one is going to save your weeknights for sure!
NOTE: This recipe was retested and updated in Nov. 2021 because some commenters noted that it sometimes curdled. We changed the 2 cups whole milk to 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup stock. We’ve had amazing results with this change (no curdling!), but wanted to share in case you loved the previous version. The sauce is a pretty pink like a vodka sauce and clings to the pasta beautifully without curdling. We also increased the salt from 1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon. Enjoy! – Christine xo
Ingredients
- 8 oz. uncooked dried pasta shells
- 12 oz. (4 links) fully-cooked chicken sausages, sliced 1/4-inch thick
- 1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes with the juice
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 3/4 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. black pepper
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock
- Heavy duty aluminum foil
- 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- To a 13×9 inch baking dish add the pasta, sausage, diced tomatoes with juice, 1 cup of the mozzarella cheese, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. Stir.
- Pour the heavy cream and chicken stock over top and make sure that all of the pasta is submerged.
- Cover with two layers of aluminum foil and make sure it is very well sealed.*
- Put it in the oven until the pasta is tender, about 50 minutes.
- Remove from oven and sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella and the Parmesan.
- Return to oven uncovered just until cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let the pasta bake rest uncovered for 15 minutes before serving. This is important as the sauce really thickens up in this time.
Love this recipe? I’d appreciate it if you could scroll down and add a *5 star rating* to help others know they’ll love it as well!
Notes
*To ensure the pasta fully cooks, crimp the aluminum foil tightly around the edges of the pan so that no steam can escape.
Substitutions:
- If you don’t have heavy cream, half-and-half or milk can be substituted. The sauce will be noticeably thinner, and some cheese curds may naturally form from the acid in the tomatoes mixing with the milk. If it curdles, don’t worry about it. It’s still completely safe to eat and is still completely delicious, it just looks like you added some ricotta to the dish before baking it! Note that a commenter used chicken broth in place of the cream/milk and had good results, so that is worth trying if you don’t have cream, half-and-half, or milk.
- If shell pasta isn’t available, farfalle (bowtie) or rotini (corkscrews) can be used instead.
This recipe was first published on this site in September 2016 and was revised and republished in November 2021. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.
Renee says
I love your feta pasta bake, and I’ll have to try this one next with some veggie sausages. These make such easy dinners with leftovers.
Sera says
Slay just needed more seasoning than recipe said
Christine Pittman says
Thanks for the feedback, Sera!
zidane says
thank you for the article
Alexis says
Just did it and it was great! Added tomato paste and while doubling the recipe. Also used pork sausage :)
Christine Pittman says
Fantastic, Alexis! I’m so happy you liked it. Thanks for letting me know :-)
Christine Pittman says
I’m sorry it wasn’t seasoned enough for you, Dan! More flavorful sausage and some extra seasonings are great ideas to make it perfect for you.
Christine says
This looks really good please send me the website thank you
Sasha says
I have to say, it was Tessa’s comment that made me not only print this recipe, but then actually try it. And she was right! It’s so good, and so insanely easy. Thanks for posting the recipe, and thanks Tessa for pushing me over the edge lol.
Christine Pittman says
Sasha lol! Both your and Tessa’s comments make me smile. I’m so happy that you liked it. Thank you for coming back to comment and leave a 5 star rating. I really appreciate it.
Tessa says
THIS RECIPE IS INSANE! The best baked pasta I’ve ever made AND THE EASIEST! My whole family was soooo impressed. I didn’t even use cream, I used pasta sauce instead, and it was STILL BANGIN’!!
Christine Pittman says
Tesaa, Thanks for letting us all know. I’m delighted that your family liked the recipe. It’s one of our favorites too!
Tara Luong says
This was exactly what I needed and it turned out great. I added 3/4 box of pasta, used 1 jar of pasta sauce, 2 cups of chicken stock, 1 cup half and half and the sausage. No cheese mixed in because I didn’t have enough. I had to bake for 60 min and after it rested it was perfect. Thanks for this!
Christine Pittman says
Great, Tara! Thank you for sharing.
ACerr says
This recipe is a winner. I love anything that is quick and delicious for my crazy household. It definitely works. The first time I made it I used half and half as I didn’t have heavy cream and I used Banza (chickpea) shells. It was delicious but my husband didn’t like the texture. Made it as written and it was perfection. Toddler approved: he loved it and loved the time it made for mom to play.
Christine Pittman says
That’s wonderful, thank you for sharing!
Deb Spencer says
I love the recipes I’ve seen so far but I would love to have insta pot recipes, if you have any. I’m particularly looking for a bake steak recipe. Thank you.
Christine Pittman says
We’ve got lots of Instant Pot recipes, Deb – check them out here – https://cookthestory.com/category/instant-pot/
Sherryl says
I was really skeptical about this recipe. I didn’t believe that it would work. But the airbnb we were staying in didn’t have a pot big enough for pasta for our family and I googled for how to cook pasta in the oven and found this. It was so good. The milk didn’t curdle. It did need to sit for a bit before serving because it had too much liquid at first. Thank you so much for saving the day!
Christine Pittman says
You’re welcome, Sherryl! Happy this recipe saved dinnertime.
Jessica Roberts says
Ok, so I tried it with chicken broth and it turned out great. We doubled everything in the recipe for our big family, used ground Italian sausage instead because it’s what I had on hand and rotini pasta because I didn’t have shells. We left out the milk but added a can of chicken broth instead. Worked beautifully and everyone loved it.
Jessica Roberts says
I wonder if I could substitute chicken broth for the milk. I read the note about curdled milk and just the thought of it (however delicious it may still taste) is a total deal breaker but the recipe sounds easy and yummy otherwise.
Christine Pittman says
It might work. I’m not really sure. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Cheryl says
I LOVE your site. I read through some comments for the baked pasta and I’m one of those who can no longer be on my feet. Just had a partial amputation due to contracting MRSA through a callus and am still wobbly on my feet even wearing orthotics. Please, as many receipes as you can think of where it is quickly put in the oven (more flavor than crockpot IMO) I’d greatly appreciate!
Christine Pittman says
Cheryl, I just got an Instant Pot. I thought I wouldn’t like it as much as other people do because I don’t always love food cooked in the slow cooker. But it’s pretty amazing. I’m really loving it! Stay tuned on my other site, The Cookful, where we’ll be doing a whole series on Instant Pot Weeknight Dinners soon. In the meantime, here is one of my favorite “throw it in the oven” meals.
Jennifer MacKenzie says
Just made this as we’d run out of gas for our stove. Delicious – used what we had – so pork sausages, ‘easy garlic’ , spiral pasta, tin tomatoes, skimmed milk and a little double cream. Plus seasoning and grated mozzarella and cheddar!
Really good dinner!
Christine Pittman says
Jennifer, So glad you liked it. It’s a staple dinner around here for sure!
Maria Stone says
We baked this in Turku, Finland and it turned out delicious. We used what we had – magnetic/induction oven. Heavy Cream+Water instead of milk. We used Finnish whole milk cheese from Aland islands instead of mozarella, and a bit of Greek Feta cheese. We used canned crushed tomatoes from Italy. We diced one tomato and three garlic cloves. Thank you so much for this recipe. We did not have a pot to use in our AirBNB and this no-boil pasta recipe was not only easy-to-make, but also so tasty that we finished it all in one dinner! Grazie :)
Christine Pittman says
Maria, You’re welcome. I’m so happy you liked it!
Linda Hay says
This is a great casserole and easy but I found that the temp of 400 for 50 to 60 minutes is way too long. I do mine at 350 for 60 minutes and it’s perfect.
Christine Pittman says
Thanks Linda. Glad you like the recipe! I’ll try it at the lower temperature next time and see how it goes.
Margaret Clegg says
Have you tried this with other types of pasta? Have you ever tried it with spaghetti?
Christine Pittman says
Margaret, I’ve tried it with a few different types and they work to varying degrees. For spaghetti, I broke it into 2-3 inch pieces and it worked well.
E says
This is a great recipe not only for busy moms but for people, like me, with disabilities. There are times I just can’t spend more than a few minutes standing up and even sitting on my “cooking stool” is too painful. Thank you for this recipe. It’s going to be something of a life saver!
Christine Pittman says
That is such a great point! Thank you for letting me know. I have a lot of recipes on this site that are of this type (get it in the oven quickly and forget it). It might be interesting to package them together in some way for people like you and me who really appreciate this style of cooking for whatever reason.