This sausage and mushroom pasta bake is cheesy and easy. It’s a nice mid-week meal or buffet dish.

The January deep freeze of upstate New York always gets me to thinking about comfort food, casseroles and running my oven to add more heat to the house!

Cheesy and comforting

It was also time to rotate food in my chest freezer.  I’d bought Italian sausages a couple of months back, and even though they were vacuum sealed in my Foodsaver, I thought it wise to use them–charts tell you that it’s best to use any ground frozen meat in 30 days…this was certainly longer.  However, the sausages were in good shape.

Cheesy Sausage Pasta Bake

And cheese.  I ALWAYS have cheese.  Half of my deli drawer in the fridge is dedicated to the solid bricks and most of the bottom shelf is dedicated to packages of shredded.

Cheese Please

Now, what is better than sausage with gobs of cheese?  Well, not much LOL.  So I just added a half a box of spiral pasta that was laying around and a jar of pasta sauce–with a few nice add-ins–and I called this dinner.  And it was good!

Add salad & garlic bread for a hearty dinner

As to the amount of cheese–that’s not carved in stone so use more or less as you please.  I imagine turkey sausage would work just as well here, so that can be substituted too.

This would also be a good dish for a buffet.  It’s simple, doesn’t break the bank and comforting on a cold night.  Add a salad and some nice crispy garlic bread and you’ve got it made.

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Cheesy Sausage Pasta Bake

This sausage and mushroom pasta bake is cheesy and easy. It’s a nice mid-week meal or buffet dish.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: easy pasta dinner, pasta bake, sausage

Servings: 6

Calories: 479kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb Italian sausage links hot or sweet*
• 4 oz fresh mushrooms sliced in half
• 1/4 cup onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 8 oz dry rotini pasta
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 26 oz spaghetti sauce
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

• Cook spiral pasta as per package directions, but cook only until al dente (pasta will finish cooking in casserole). Drain, rinse and set aside.
• Slice sausage links into 1/2-inch pieces.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a deep 11 x 7-inch baking dish (or a shallow 13 x 9-inch dish)
• Heat a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil. When oil begins to shimmer, add the sausage pieces, onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until sausage begins to brown. Remove from heat.
• In a large bowl, combine the pasta, sausage mixture, the cheddar cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella and the spaghetti sauce. Stir well to combine.
• Turn out into prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Remove foil and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and beginning to bubble.

Notes

*Bulk Italian sausage meat may be substituted

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 479kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 68mg | Sodium: 1216mg | Potassium: 694mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 879IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 289mg | Iron: 3mg

Up close and personal with cheese

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