Cheesy Creamy Sausage Penne Bake is a simple, delicious and hearty dinner recipe. It makes a tasty and filling weeknight meal!
There is something so comforting about a plate of pasta. Creamy sausage penne bake served with homemade dinner rolls and a tasty salad hits all of the right notes! This is sure to make the weekly dinner rotation!
You guys – we LOVE pasta!
That should be no surprise if you’ve been to the site before. We are constantly sharing delicious dinner recipes, and many of them happen to be pasta dishes. Usually some sort of meat is involved too, and today’s recipe has sausage. I admit I wasn’t a huge fan of sausage growing up, but fortunately my taste buds have changed and I LOVE it!
Creamy sausage penne bake was inspired by a recipe I spotted on Allrecipes a few months ago. It had cheese, pasta and sausage which was good enough reason for me to give it a try. I ended up changing a few things and ended up making it even better by adding some cream cheese. This dish was FANTASTIC! In fact, everyone who tried it (which includes my fam and a family from church) gave it rave reviews.
I’m not only about delicious recipes, but easy ones too and this one is very simple. I CANNOT wait to make this again – it was too good, which means it’s automatically on the monthly meal plan!
Making Baked Penne with Sausage
PREP. Preheat oven to 350.
PASTA. Cook pasta as directed on box. Drain and set aside.
SAUCE. In a large pan, heat oil and cook sausage until brown. Add heavy cream, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cream cheese and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes.
BAKE. Add cooked pasta to the sausage/tomato mixture and toss to coat. Pour into a greased 9×13 baking dish. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake for 18-20 minutes. ENJOY!
Variations
- Add drained sundried tomatoes
- Mix in drained roasted red peppers
- Add spinach leaves
- Use whole grain pasta
- Replace with turkey sausage
- Incorporate more veggies
Storing Info
STORE leftover pasta in the fridge in an airtight container. Reheat in the microwave or on the stove until warmed through. Make sure to cover the pasta when reheating to avoid the sauce splattering everywhere.
FREEZE this dish before or after baking. Make sure to freeze it in a freezer safe container like a foil container or a plastic Tupperware. Wrap it in multiple layers of foil to ensure that you don’t get freezer burn on your dish.
To bake for the first time from frozen I recommend letting it thaw overnight and then baking it like normal. If you bake it from frozen it will need to be baked for a longer amount of time. To reheat from frozen you can heat it in the oven until warmed through.
For more great cheesy, pasta bakes, check out:
- Cheesy Bowtie Pasta Bake
- Crock Pot Mac and Cheese
- Three Cheese Pasta Bake
- Easy Fettuccine Alfredo
- Creamy Chicken Alfredo Pasta Bake
- Cheesy Baked Ravioli
- Stuffed Shells
Creamy Sausage Penne Bake Recipe
Ingredients
- 12 oz penne pasta
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 lb mild Italian sausage
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 14.5 oz tomatoes diced
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 tsp garlic salt (with parsley flakes)
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350.
- Cook pasta as directed on box. Drain and set aside.
- In a large pan, heat oil and cook sausage until brown. Add heavy cream, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cream cheese and spices. Simmer for 10 minutes.
- Add cooked pasta to the sausage/tomato mixture and toss to coat. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking dish.
- Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake for 18-20 minutes. ENJOY!
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com.
Pasta is always the best. I love it. Thank you Kristyn.
You can’t go wrong with a perfect pasta dish! Looks just fantastic!
Thank you Roxana! I hope you try it!! It is so yummy!!
Made this for my family last night. Sautéed some green peppers and onions with the sausage. Turned out fabulous!
Yay!! So glad 🙂 Thanks so much!!
I followed the REcipe exactly, And THis Is a KEeper!! Absolutely delicious!!
Yay!! I am so glad you think so 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
This is amazing!! A total hit!! Thank you!!
You are so welcome! Glad it was such a hit!