5 Easy Baked Pasta Recipes

Cheesy Baked Pasta Recipe
Cheesy Baked Pasta Recipe

With so much of our time taken up by work, carpools, and extra activities, we are always on the hunt for easy weeknight meals. But so you don't get stuck with the same dishes set on repeat throughout the week, the Cook editors at The Daily Meal want to introduce new quick and easy recipes for your rotation. Pasta bakes are a weeknight essential. They incorporate meats, vegetables, and cheese, which make them hearty and satisfying. And the best part is that they are even more delicious as leftovers when the flavors have additional time to meld.

All of the recipes featured can be made at home for about $20 or less, excluding the cost of small amounts of basic ingredients such as butter, oil, flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and other dried herbs and spices.

RELATED: 15 Easy 15-Minute Pasta Recipes

With the simplicity and deliciousness that baked pasta recipes offer, this week we put the Culinary Content Network and our staff to the test to come up with tasty baked pasta recipes that are anything but ordinary. Here are some of the highlights:

Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta Recipe

Add some bacon and winter squash to your baked pasta dish for a new and tasty twist.

Click here for the Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta Recipe

Baked Ham Penne Pasta Recipe

Use leftover ham in this easy baked ham penne pasta recipe.

Click here for the Baked Ham Penne Pasta Recipe

Easy One-Skillet Lasagna Recipe

This recipe couldn't get much easier. The dish is cooked in one skillet for easy cooking and clean-up.

Click here for the Easy One-Skillet Lasagna Recipe

Finnish Macaroni Casserole (Makaronilaatikko) Recipe

This hearty macaroni casserole is easy to make and very family-friendly. Prepare it the night before and reheat in the owen for a quick, weeknight meal.

Click here for the Finnish Macaroni Casserole (Makaronilaatikko) Recipe

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Crumbled Bacon Recipe

Add a salty flavor to your macaroni and cheese with this recipe that adds crumbled bacon to a classic pasta dish.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups rotini or curly pasta
1/2 cup cooked bacon, crumbled
Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the dry elbow pasta in a pot for about 10 minutes or until soft. Pour the cooked pasta in a baking pan. Sprinkle cheese and cooked bacon over the pasta. Place the pasta in the oven, and cook for about 45 minutes or until the pasta is crispy. Once ready, remove the pasta from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Details
Servings: 4

Click here to see more fantastic baked pasta recipes

-Emily Jacobs, The Daily Meal