Make Ahead Italian Sausage & Pasta Bake

By margiekyle

Easy to prepare and full of great flavors make this Italian Sausage & Pasta Bake one of our family favorite recipes! Can also be made ahead and frozen for those busy or lazy weekday dinner days.

Ingredients

• 1 1⁄2 pounds Italian sausage (mild or hot)
• olive oil (optional)
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 large sweet red pepper, coarsely chopped
• 28 ounces meatless extra chunky pasta sauce
• 213 ml can tomato sauce
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 5 cups penne pasta
• 1 (284 g) package fresh spinach (trimmed and coarsely chopped)
• 3 cups provolone cheese or 3 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 1 cup asiago cheese or 1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Preparation

Step 1

Cut sausage into 1/2 inch chunks. I large skillet, brown sausage over medium-high heat, in batches and adding oil if necessary. Transfer sausage to a bowl.

Pour off any fat from pan. Add onions, garlic and red pepper, cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in pasta sauce, tomato sauce, basil, oregano and fennel seeds; bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from bottom of pan. Return sausage and any accumulated juices to pan; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until sausage is firm throughout.

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta for 6 minutes, add spinach; cook for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Add sausage mixture and provolone/mozzarella cheese; stir to combine well.

Transfer to 2 greased 8-inch square baking dishes or 1 13x9-inch dish. Sprinkle with Asiago/parmesan cheese. Cover dish with greased foil, greased side down.

To serve: Bake, covered with foil, in in 375 degree F. oven for 30 minutes or for 1 hour if from the refrigerator. This freezes beautifully (thaw in refrigerator before baking).