Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta

Our Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta recipe is a delicious combination of rigatoni pasta, ground turkey, sweet Italian chicken sausage, seasoning, Ricotta, mozzarella and parmesan cheese. It’s super easy to make and its always a crowd-pleaser!

This baked rigatoni is a great  dish to make for game day, potlucks and busy weeknights. It’s kid approved (I made this a lot for my son and his friends when they were little). And it’s packed with flavor and pure comfort food!

Why We Love This Recipe

• Quick and Easy. It takes just minutes to prep and then all that’s left to do is pop it in the oven for the cheese to melt. 
• Flavor. This dish has a really great flavor that your whole family will love!
• Budget Friendly.  We use simple ingredients that are budget friendly. 

Baked Rigatoni Recipe Ingredients

• Extra-virgin olive oil. To cook the sausage and sauté the aromatics with.
• Aromatics. We use simple combination of onion and garlic.
• Italian Sausage and Ground Turkey. We use both ground turkey and sweet Italian chicken sausage for this recipe. Use hot sausage instead of sweet if you like, and you can use turkey sausage instead of chicken sausage. You can use all ground turkey or all sausage if you prefer.
• Seasoning. Perfectly seasoned with dried oregano, Italian seasoning, fennel seeds, and red pepper flakes.
• Pasta. We use rigatoni, but you can use whatever tube shaped pasta you like.
• Tomato Sauce. We use both tomato sauce and tomato paste for this recipe. 
• Cheese. We use Parmesan cheese, Mozzarella and ricotta cheese.

Find printable recipe with the measurements below.

How To Make Baked Rigatoni

1. Brown Sausage. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the sausage to the pan (be sure to remove the outer casing first) and break the links up into small pieces with a wooden spoon or a metal spatula. Cook over medium-low heat for 7-10 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a bowl and set aside.
2. Add Aromatics. Add more oil to the pot if needed, then stir in the onions into the same pot that you cooked the sausage in and sauté for approximately 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
3. Add Seasoning. Stir in the seasoning.
4. Add Tomato Sauce. Return the sausage to the pot and stir. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. 
5. Simmer Sauce. Simmer the sauce for about 15-20 minutes.
6. Add Pasta. Add the cooked pasta to the meat sauce and stir.
7. Prepare Baking Dish. Spoon half of the pasta and meat sauce into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Dollop the top with Ricotta cheese. Spoon the rest of the pasta and meat sauce over the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese over the top and then sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese over the top of the parmesan cheese.
8. Bake. Bake uncovered in the oven for about 20 minutes. The broil for 3-5 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown. Keep a close eye on it when its under the broiler to prevent it from burning.

Tips For Making Baked Rigatoni With Sausage

1. Don’t overcook the pasta because the noodles will continue to cook when you add them to the sauce and bake it all in the oven. Cook the noodles 3-4 minutes less than is called for in the directions on the package. You want the noodles to be al dente (still a little firm) when you drain them and before adding them to the sauce.
2. No need to rinse the noodles after cooking them.
3. The more noodles you add to the sauce, the less sauce you will have. If you like a saucy pasta dish, then add fewer noodles.  We typically start off by adding about 1-1/2 cups noodles and then we’ll add a little more at a time until we have a good balance of sauce and noodles. 
4. Cook sauce slowly over low heat.

Serving Suggestions

• Garlic Bread. We usually serve this Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli with plenty of bread. Either a warm and crusty baguette or our Italian Garlic Bread.
• Salad. We also like to balance this rich and decadent dish by serving it with a big salad like our Lemon Arugula Salad, Lemon Parmesan Lettuce Salad, Romaine Salad, Everyday Mediterranean Salad, or our Spring Mix Sala

How To Store Leftovers

1. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If properly stored, the pasta can last 3-4 days, but it is best the day its made.
2. To reheat, add leftovers to a skillet and heat over medium-low heat. 

More Pasta Recipes

• Marry Me Chicken Pasta
• Chicken Broccoli Alfredo
• Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Continue to Content

Print

Yield: 6 Servings

Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Our Baked Rigatoni with Ricotta recipe is a delicious combination of rigatoni pasta, sweet Italian chicken sausage, seasoning, and cheese. It's super easy to make and its always a crowd-pleaser!

Ingredients

• 1 pound rigatoni pasta
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 pound sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed
• 1/2 pound ground turkey (or use all sausage - 1 pound, or all ground turkey - 1 pound)
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3-4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 6-ounce an tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Move the rack to the top level in the oven.
2. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and add the rigatoni. Cook the rigatoni for 8-9 minutes or 3-4 minutes less that the directions on the package. When the noodles are done, drain them and set aside.
3. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven. Add the ground turkey and sausage to the pan (be sure to remove the outer casing first) and break the links up into small pieces (like hamburger) with a wooden spoon or spatula. Cook over medium-low heat for 7-10 minutes. Transfer the meat to a bowl and set aside.
4. Add more oil to the pot if needed, then stir in the onions to the same pot that you cooked the sausage in and sauté over low heat for about 5 minutes or until golden and turning soft. Add the garlic and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.
5. Stir in the seasoning.
6. Return the cooked meat back to the pot (juice and all) and stir. Add in the tomato sauce, tomato paste and water. Stir in the sugar.
7. Simmer the sauce for about 15-20 minutes.
8. Add 1-1/2 cups of the cooked pasta to the meat sauce and stir. Add more pasta as you like.
9. Spoon half of the pasta and meat sauce into a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Dollop the top with Ricotta cheese. Spoon the rest of the pasta and meat sauce over the top of the ricotta cheese. Sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese over the top and then sprinkle the grated mozzarella cheese over the top of the parmesan cheese.
10. Bake uncovered in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until it starts to bubble. Then broil for 3-5 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown. Keep a close eye on it when its under the broiler to prevent it from burning.
11. Garnish with finely chopped parsley.

Notes

Tips For Making Baked Ricotta With Sausage

1. Don’t overcook the pasta because the noodles will continue to cook when you add them to the sauce and bake it all in the oven. Cook the noodles 3-4 minutes less than is called for in the directions on the package. You want the noodles to be al dente (still a little firm) when you drain them and before adding them to the sauce.
2. No need to rinse the noodles after cooking them.
3. The more noodles you add to the sauce, the less sauce you will have. If you like a saucy pasta dish, then add fewer noodles.  We typically start off by adding about 1-1/2 cups noodles and then we’ll add a little more at a time until we have a good balance of sauce and noodles. 
4. Cook sauce slowly over low heat.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 475Total Fat: 30gSaturated Fat: 11gUnsaturated Fat: 19gCholesterol: 118mgSodium: 1494mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 2gSugar: 5gProtein: 36g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations. See full disclaimer on About page.