Looking for a quick, easy, and budget-friendly midweek dinner? This Simple Sausage Pasta Bake ticks all of the boxes. It’s tasty, cheap, filling and always a big hit with the family.
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Sausages and pasta are probably two of my favourite foods.
Sausages are easy to cook, go with everything, they’re cheap, and you can do plenty with them. That’s why Sausage Recipes make such brilliant Family Dinners.
Pasta is filling and works with so many different flavours and ingredients.
Simple Sausage Pasta Bake is one of my go-to family meals.
Kids Meals with Sausages are always a big hit and my kids absolutely love both sausages and pasta.
Sausage Pasta Bake is easy to cook, a great way to add lots of vegetables and really cheap, and who doesn’t need a few easy, Cheap Midweek Meals in their cookbook?
Ingredients
Cooking Spray – or something like olive oil
Sausages
Red Pepper
Onion
Garlic Cloves
Red Wine – You can skip this if you prefer
Spinach
Chopped tomatoes
Rigatoni
Oregano
Chilli Flakes – Swap for dried chilli powder if you have it
Rosemary – I use dried rosemary, but fresh, or some fresh basil instead, is really nice with tomato pasta like this too.
Mozzarella Cheese – If you don’t have this, use cheddar or another good melting cheese instead for a nice cheesy sausage pasta bake.
Parmesan
You can get quantities and full instructions at the bottom of this post.
What Veg Should You Add to Pasta Bake?
I tend to use onion, red pepper, and spinach.
But you could easily add courgettes, aubergine, different peppers, carrots, corn, and anything else that you can think of.
Cherry tomatoes are another of my favourite pork sausage pasta bake additions.
Adding Extra Veg to Pasta Bake
This Tomato and Sausage Bake is fairly juicy. There’s plenty of tomato sauce, so if you want to throw more veg in, you can without worrying about needing more sauce to cover it.
If it’s a little dry, add a splash of water.
Another option is reducing the amount of pasta and substituting in veg like courgettes, more peppers, and diced carrots.
What Sausages Should You Use?
If you are cooking on a budget and looking for Family Dinners on a Budget, something super cheap will do.
Just remember, cheaper sausages tend to have a higher fat content and lower actual sausage meat quantity.
If you can afford it, a slightly fancier, meatier sausage makes a tastier meal that’s better for you.
You could also use flavoured sausages in your pasta bake for something a little different.
Do You Need to Remove the Skin from Sausages in Pasta Bake?
No, but I do. You could brown them in a pan and add them either whole or in chunks. Pasta bake with whole pork sausages is totally fine.
I prefer to remove the skin, as it lets you distribute the meat more evenly, and the seasoning from your sausages flavours the whole dish.
I remove the skin from sausages by untwisting the end and literally just squeezing it out. You could also carefully slice the skin and remove it that way.
If you were making a pasta bake with whole sausages, I’d advise piercing the skin and browning them in a separate pan before adding.
Making a Spicy Sausage Pasta Bake
I use a pinch of chilli flakes to give my Sausage and Pepper Pasta Bake a bit more flavour. But it’s very much a Kid-Friendly Pasta Bake.
It’s one of my favourite Easy Family Dinner Recipes, so I keep it simple.
But if you wanted a spicy sausage pasta bake, you could add extra chilli flakes, a tablespoon of chilli powder or fresh red chilli.
For an alternative flavour, you could also try one teaspoon of Cajun seasoning or cayenne pepper.
Sausage Pasta Bake
- Total Time: 1 hours
- Yield: 6 Portions 1x
Description
Looking for a quick, easy, and budget-friendly midweek dinner? This Sausage Pasta Bake ticks all of the boxes. It’s tasty, cheap, filling and always a big hit with the family.
Ingredients
- Cooking oil or spray
- 8 Sausages
- 1 Red Pepper (Diced)
- 1 Onion (Diced)
- 2 Cloves Garlic (Crushed)
- 100 ml Red Wine
- 100 g Baby Spinach
- 400 g Chopped tomatoes
- 250g Rigatoni (Cooked to Package instructions for half of the specified time)
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
- Pinch Chilli Flakes
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Rosemary
- 75 g Mozzarella (Grated)
- 25 g Parmesan (Grated)
Instructions
- Carefully remove the skin from the sausages and chop into 1-2cm chunks.
- Mist a large pan with cooking spray and heat over a medium heat on the hob.
- Fry the onions for 3 minutes stirring often.
- Add the garlic and fry for a further 3 minutes until the onions are soft.
- Add the red pepper and the sausages and fry for 2 minutes, stirring often.
- Pour in the red wine and simmer for 5 minutes, occasionally stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan with a spatula to prevent sticking.
- Add the spinach, chilli, oregano, and rosemary and stir.
- Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted).
- Tip in the chopped tomatoes, stir and simmer for 10 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Mix in the pre-cooked pasta.
- Top with grated mozzarella and parmesan.
- Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.
Notes
- If you prefer, use a little chicken stock instead of wine.
- If you don’t have a flameproof and ovenproof dish (one that’s suitable both on the hob and in the oven) bring your ingredients together on the hob in a large frying pan before tipping it into an ovenproof dish and topping with cheese to bake.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Inactive Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Easy Midweek Meals
- Cuisine: British
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Serving
- Calories: 467kcal
- Sugar: 5g
- Sodium: 922mg
- Fat: 33g
- Saturated Fat: 11g
- Unsaturated Fat: 17g
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 22g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 19g
- Cholesterol: 69mg
