Mid-Week Pasta Bake with Homemade Meatballs
Pasta night is always a favourite in our house, whether it’s a bacon and ranch pasta or simple tomato and meat sauce it goes down well. Recently we’ve started to add some pasta bakes to our meal plans and this meatball pasta bake is now a firm favourite in the house. So here you go our delicious and easy pasta bake recipe with home-cooked meatballs ideal for family dinners that even my fussiest eater enjoys.
Homemade Meatballs
We love meatballs, whether it’s our mozzarella stuffed meatballs or this more traditional recipe they are easy to make and can be adapted to how you would like them to be flavoured.
We’re a fan of garlic in this house so we tend to use a little more garlic in the meatballs than others but mixed with some Italian herbs it’s perfect.
If you want though just exchange the seasonings for something your family likes – onions, tomato puree, hot sauce or even some chilli powder all add different flavours to them but tasta delicious as well.
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Pasta Bake
Pasta bake is one of the easiest meals we make, whilst the meatballs are cooking we can prepare the pasta (see our guide on how to cook pasta) and then throw it together and let the cheese melt all over the pasta and marinara sauce.
When it comes to which cheese to choose we either us mozzarella or my personal favourite extra strong cheddar sprinkled with some Parmesan over the top.
What to Serve the Pasta Bake With
We either serve with homemade dinner rolls or our delicious garlic bread.
Then for dessert either the kids favourite Brownie Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich or a peanut butter brownie and ice-cream.
Easy Mid-Week Meatball Pasta Bake
A delicious and easy mid-week family meal of meatball pasta bake with melted cheese on top. Perfect for busy moms to cook for the family.
Ingredients
For the Meat Balls:
- 2 lb beef, minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
For the Pasta Bake:
- 1 lb penne pasta, cooked
- 2 cups marinara sauce
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce, optional
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- Fresh parsley, optional garnish
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine all of the meatball ingredients. Adjust the dryness of the meatballs by adding or reducing the amount of breadcrumbs.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Roll 1 Tablespoon amounts of the meatball mixture into balls and place in a 9" x 13" casserole dish. Repeat with entire mixture.
- Bake the meatballs for 15-20 minutes, turning halfway through the cooking time, until the meatballs reach an internal temperature of 160F.
- Meanwhile, cook your pasta.
- Once the meatballs are cooked and pasta is cooked and drained, combine the pasta, meatballs and marinara sauce in your casserole dish.
- Top with shredded cheese.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350F and place casserole dish in the oven for 8-10 minutes, just to melt the cheese.
Notes
Cook your pasta whilst the meatballs bake check out our simple guide on how to cook the best pasta every time.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 630Total Fat: 35gSaturated Fat: 15gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 151mgSodium: 669mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 3gSugar: 5gProtein: 43g
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