Sausage Pasta Bake! - Jane's Patisserie

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One of the easiest and best weekday dinner ideas that I just adore… a sausage pasta bake is iconic, easy and delicious.

Savoury recipes

Are we saying hello to another savoury recipe already?! Yes, we are. And do you know why?! Because I have made this countless times over the years and you are all simply adoring my easy meal ideas at the minute so why not add another into the mix.

Macaroni cheese, bacon broccoli gnocchi bake, and even a chicken leek and bacon pie… I am adoring being able to post these savoury bakes for the oven because I always want an easy dinner idea, and if you want the inspiration, here it is.

Easy meal ideas

I adore cooking, and I always have. I trained at cookery school to become a chef and quickly went down the recipe development route instead, but it never stopped my love for savoury cooking. However, even though I was trained for high class fine dining, I am ALL about the easy meal ideas.

After a long day of work, or a busy week, why would you want to have to spend ages making something for dinner?! Because I know I wouldn’t. This is one of those easy dishes where you can prep it in 15 minutes, and then bake in the oven until crispy. It’s a popular bake amongst the family, and you can easily adapt it to something that you prefer.

The sauce

For the sauce part of this sausage pasta bake, I used what looks like a lot of ingredients, but it’s so easy to throw together that it’s worth it, I promise. The base starts off with frying a red onion (but you can use a brown onion, or shallot, or frozen onion), with a chopped up red pepper to start to soften them.

I add in my chopped up sausages (I’m lazy and don’t take off the skins as it doesn’t bother me, but you can if you want), and add my spices and flavours. I add garlic, oregano, chilli flakes, Italian herbs, salt and pepper, but you can add more or less of the sort of spices you like. I don’t find the chilli flakes too hot, but if you hate spice, leave them out.

I then add in some fresh tomatoes as I nearly always have some in my kitchen, but these are optional, and then two tins of some chopped tomatoes and some tomato puree for even more tomato goodness. You can get away with one tin of tomatoes, and more fresh tomatoes instead, it’s just less saucy.

The pasta bake

I used rigatoni for my pasta, but ANY dried pasta works. You just need to make sure to cook the pasta to al-dente (so two minutes less than the packet time minimum) so that after it’s baked in the oven, the pasta isn’t too soft and turning to mush.
I mix my cooked pasta through the sauce and pour into my large baking dish. You can use any dish really, but this makes a large amount of pasta bake so make sure it’s big enough or do two smaller ones.

I sprinkle on some grated cheddar cheese as I love it, and then add on some stale breadcrumbs. You can leave off the breadcrumbs, and just have cheese, but I love the texture that the breadcrumbs bring to the pasta dish.

Swaps

If you aren’t a fan of some ingredients, most can be swapped. Namely, the sausages. So, I used any standard sized sausage I buy and chop them into inch sized pieces, but if you aren’t a fan of them you can swap them. You can use other types of sausages such as chicken, vegetarian, or you can even leave them out.

Swapping in bacon, chicken, or even some roasted veggies are a good way of adding to this pasta bake, but that’s up to you. It’s the same when it comes to the spices as you can add far more or less, and adapt to what you prefer.

Tips & tricks

This is best served immediately
You can reheat this by covering with foil and baking at 170ºc fan for 30 minutes
You can freeze this dish for 3+ months
Swap the sausages for other versions such as chicken or vegetarian
Swap the spices for whatever spices you prefer
Serve with a fresh salad or garlic bread (or both!)
Breadcrumbs/cheese toppings are optional but delicious.

400 g pasta (rigatoni)
1 red onion (chopped)
1 red pepper (chopped)
1 packet sausages (6-8)
150 g fresh tomatoes (halved)
2-3+ garlic cloves (finely chopped)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp dried Italian herbs
salt and pepper
800 g tinned chopped tomatoes
grated cheddar cheese
stale breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 200ºc/180ºc fan and grab a large baking dish
Make sure your pasta is cooked, 2 minutes less than the packet timings
Fry the onion and pepper in a pan until softened
Chop up the sausages and begin to fry and cook (I don’t remove the skins but you can)
Add the chopped up fresh tomatoes and start to soften
Add the garlic, oregano, chilli flakes, italian herbs and tomato puree and season with salt and pepper
Add the tinned chopped tomatoes
Pour in cooked pasta and stir through
Tip into dish, and top with cheese and breadcrumbs and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden

This is best served immediately
You can reheat this by covering with foil and baking at 170ºc fan for 30 minutes
You can freeze this dish for 3+ months

ENJOY!

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