This Meatball Pasta Bake combines juicy meatballs and pasta in a rich tomato sauce, all topped with mozzarella and baked until golden and bubbly.
This recipe truly is the perfect family recipe, and for a few different reasons. Not only is it packed with flavour and incredibly hearty, but it’s as easy as you want it to be. You can make homemade meatballs, or easily grab some from the store. It’s a foolproof recipe that produces clean plates every single time! Follow me…
Ingredients notes
The full ingredients list is down in the recipe card, but I just want to highlight a few quickly:
- Homemade or store-bought meatballs – I highly recommend whipping up a batch of my homemade meatballs (you can prep them ahead of time), but some good-quality store-bought meatballs will work just as well.
- Any short-cut pasta will do the trick – I love using Rigatoni because all the sauce gets stuck inside. Penne would work nicely too. Failing that, any type of short-cut pasta will be just fine (Fusilli, Farfelle, Conchiglie etc).
- Passata is key – This is what’s going to give you that thick, rich pasta sauce that beautifully coats and clings to the pasta. You’ll find it in all stores.
Meatballs and sauce
When it comes to frying the meatballs, keep in mind you’re only looking to brown the outside. You do not need to cook them right through at this point, because they’ll be cooking in two more phases (simmering and baking). If you need to work in batches, do so.
Simmering the sauce is a crucial step
Once you’ve combined the meatballs with the sauce, you’ll want to gently simmer everything for around half an hour. This is for two reasons:
- Flavour – the sauce only requires simple ingredients, so a lot of the flavour comes from the meatballs themselves and the juices they release into the sauce. Simmering the sauce gives a chance for all the flavours to deepen and marry together.
- Consistency – simmering is essential to thicken the sauce; if you don’t simmer long enough, the pasta bake will come out watery.
Process shots: add meatballs to pot/pan (photo 1), fry then remove (photo 2), fry onion (photo 3), fry sun dried tomatoes and garlic (photo 4), add passata, stock, basil and meatballs (photo 5), stir and simmer (photo 6).
Meatball Pasta Bake
Once you’ve simmered the meatballs, you’re on the homestretch already. Just remember, when you’re boiling the pasta, make sure you slightly undercook it, as it’ll carry on cooking as everything bakes.
From there, you can pile on the cheese, then bake until golden and bubbly! There’s no need to completely level off the pasta, some bits poking out of the cheese will go lovely and crispy.
Process shots: add cooked pasta (photo 1), stir to combine (photo 2), add to baking dish (photo 3), add cheese then bake (photo 4).
Serving suggestions
Once out of the oven, just give a few minutes to calm down and reform its shape a little. It’ll be piping hot, so just be careful you don’t lose the roof of your mouth!
This is a pretty hearty recipe, but if you want a little something on the side, consider the following:
- Cheesy Pesto Garlic Bread
- Pull Apart Caprese Bread
- Roasted Garlic Bread
- Easy Cheesy Garlic Bread
- Feta Bruschetta
- What can I do with leftovers? – Allow to completely cool, then tightly store in the fridge for up to a few days. Reheat until piping hot. You can also freeze them, then preferably thaw and reheat. You can reheat from frozen; it just takes considerably longer.
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full meatball pasta bake recipe shall we?!
How To Make Meatball Pasta Bake (Full Recipe & Video)
Cheesy Meatball Pasta Bake
Equipment
- Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
- Large Deep Pot or Pan (for meatballs and sauce)
- Tongs
- Wooden Spoon
- Large Pot & Colander (for boiling pasta)
- 8" x 12" Baking Dish (or similar size)
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 24 Meatballs (see notes)
- 1 small/medium White Onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
- 3.5oz / 100g Sun Dried Tomatoes, finely diced
- 2lb / 1kg / 4 cups Tomato Passata (see notes)
- 1 cup / 240ml Beef Stock
- 1 small bunch of Basil, (~1oz/30g)
- 10.5oz / 300g Rigatoni (or other short-cut pasta)
- 2 1/2 cups / 250g Mozzarella, shredded (see notes)
- 1/2 cup / 40g freshly grated Parmesan
Instructions
- Add a large, deep pot or saucepan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Once hot, add the meatballs and fry until browned all over, frequently turning them to ensure they brown evenly. You are not looking to cook the meatballs at this point; this step is only to cook the outside. If they're brown too aggressively just lower the heat slightly. Remove and place on a plate to one side, then lower the heat to medium (you may need to work in batches).
- Add the onion to the leftover fat and fry until soft and golden, then add the sun dried tomatoes and garlic and fry for a further minute or so. Pour in the passata, then swill out the cartons/jar with a splash of water and pour that in too. Add the stock, basil and the meatballs, alongside a pinch of salt and pepper (you can adjust this later). Give everything a stir and bring to a simmer. Lower the heat and leave to gently bubble away for 30 minutes until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning if needed.
- With around 10 minutes or so before the sauce is done, add the rigatoni to salted boiling water and cook until al dente. It's important you don't fully cook the pasta, or it'll overcook as it bakes. You can preheat the oven to 400F/200C at this point too.
- Drain the pasta in a colander, then stir it through the meatballs and sauce until everything is evenly distributed. Pour everything into a large baking dish, then cover with mozzarella, then parmesan.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
If you like the sound of this Pasta Bake, definitely make sure you check out my Easy Cheesy Veggie Pasta Bake, Chicken Pasta Bake, Taco Pasta Bake and Broccoli Pasta Bake!
If you’re looking for more similar recipes give these a ganders too:
Unique Meatball Recipes
- Cranberry Turkey Meatballs
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs (stuffed with blue cheese)
- Crispy Gnocchi and Sausage Meatballs
- Homemade Meatball Subs (stuffed with cheese)
- BBQ Meatballs
- Marry Me Meatballs
- ALL Meatball Recipes
A delicious meal well worth the effort. I followed the instructions exactly and it came out really well. I often make meatballs of various types and these were easy and tasty. I have a portion leftover for lunch today too!
Thanks so much for the review, Jan! 🙂 C.
Do you have to use pork and beef.
I find that combo to be best. The pork gives a rounder flavour and adds richness. If you don’t have it you could give it a go with all beef. C.
This meatball pasta bake will be perfect when feeding a crowd. My family will especially enjoy this since they they eat them at least once a week.
Oh perfect! Hope they enjoy!!
Must say you have a beautiful blog, composition and click angle is fabulous. Coming to the recipe baked pasta with meatball sound an innovative idea and surely a treat to tastebuds.
That’s very kind of you, thank you! 🙂
This looks like a keeper! Comforting, yummy and leftover-producing! Three of my favorite things.
Oh yes! So good for leftovers 🙂
You are totally right. This is the pasta bake my family loves! So delicious. I love the technique of making the best meatballs. Keeper.
Thanks so much Edyta 🙂
This reminds me of baked ziti dishes I grew up with. I love the addition of the meatballs that make this dish heartier. I know it something my whole family will love.
It’s definitely family approved! Thanks Vicky 🙂
I’m all about this, and I love the step by step photos! Thank you!
Thanks Tawnie! Glad you find them useful 🙂