These easy baked rigatoni are a crowd pleaser! Cook this popular pasta with tomato and garlic sauce, fresh basil and sticky mozzarella.
Here’s a vegetarian dinner idea that blends basic Italian flavors with a mess of gooey, garlicky goodness: Rigatoni in the oven! It’s a pasta casserole that has all the comforts of tomato sauce and cheese, but with some intriguing and unique flavors. The tomato sauce is loaded with garlic and a little fennel for the meat, and there’s plenty of fresh peppery basil for a herbal kick. Top it off with sticky mozzarella cheese and you have a dish hearty enough to please any eater.
Ingredients for baked rigatoni
The sauce in these baked rigatoni is packed with tangy tomato flavors! As you’ll see, we’ve used a few tricks to get great flavor with little effort. Here’s what you need:
- Rigatoni pasta
- Marinara sauce Use your favorite quality brand.
- Roasted crushed tomatoes If you can’t find them, use good quality crushed tomatoes. See below for more information on the Roast!
- fresh garlic Keys to Great Italian Flavors!
- onion powder and fennel These add to the meat.
- Fresh basil The peppery fresh basil brings a herbaceous note.
- Fresh mozzarella cheese Use grated mozzarella if you can’t find it.
- parmesan cheese Grated Parmesan rounds it off with a spicy spiciness.
What are rigatoni?
Rigatoni are tubular pasta, usually ribbed on the outside, used in southern and central Italian cuisine. It is larger in diameter than penne and is cut straight, not at an angle. Rigatoni comes from the Italian word striped which means “striped”. It’s easy to find at most grocery stores.
What we like about Rigatoni? A bite of rigatoni somehow feels more substantial than penne, and the shape tends to hold sauces better. However, it is very similar to penne and can easily be substituted. Rigatoni are a type of short pasta, so you can substitute many short pasta shapes for them.
How to Bake Rigatoni: Basic Steps
These baked rigatoni are missing one thing that most rigatoni recipes contain: meat! This makes it even easier to prepare than most and it works as a vegetarian main course. Here’s everything you need to do to do it:
- Cook pasta al dente. Aerate on the side of a firm al dente, as the pasta will cook a little more as it cooks. See below for more!
- Prepare the sauce. Fry the garlic, add the marinara, fire roasted tomatoes and spices and simmer for a few minutes.
- Mix, sprinkle with cheese and bake. They cook for 25 minutes: 15 with aluminum foil and 10 without.
How to cook pasta al dente
what is al dente? In Italian, it means “bite-sized” and means pasta that is still firm inside after cooking. The ideal al dente texture is a delicate exterior balanced by a firm bite with a white spot in the heart. Note that with this rigatoni recipe, you can aerate on the firm side as the pasta will cook more as it cooks. How to cook pasta al dente:
- Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling salted water.
- While cooking, constantly check the cooking of the pasta.
- When the noodles are soft on the outside but have a white spot in the middle, drain! Just a few seconds can make the difference between al dente and soft pasta.
Advise!
Yes! You can cook the noodles until cooked. Then refrigerate until done! We recommend cooling for only 24 hours. You may need to cook a little longer: make sure it’s hot and the cheese is completely melted.
Roasted tomatoes have the best flavor
Final note on ingredients: we recommend using canned fire-roasted tomatoes here. Why roast on the fire? Fire Roasted Canned Tomatoes have a sweet flavor right out of the can. So you don’t have to spend a lot of time cooking to get a great taste. Today there are several brands of fire roasted tomatoes that should be available at your local grocery store.
The use of those tomatoes is a little less important for a recipe like this, where you pair them with marinara sauce. So if you can’t find them: buy the best tomatoes you can find!
Variations on Baked Rigatoni
You can always mix and match these rigatoni! Here are some ideas for ingredients to add:
- Cooked Ground Beef or Plant-Based Meat Crumbles: Go ultra traditional and sauté meat or veggie crumbs. Add them to pasta and sauce before cooking. Or make our homemade spaghetti sauce where they’re included in the sauce!
- Spinach and Mushrooms: Fry the mushrooms and spinach like in our vegan lasagna filling.
- other vegetables. Sauté other veggies you have on hand to add to the mix! Some ideas: kale, peppers, zucchini, etc.
This rigatoni recipe is…
Vegetarian. For gluten-free pasta, use gluten-free or legume pasta.
The description
These easy baked rigatoni are a crowd pleaser! Cook this popular pasta with tomato and garlic sauce, fresh basil and sticky mozzarella.
- 1 Book about rigatoni pasta
- 24 ounces Pot of marinara sauce (or make homemade spaghetti sauce)
- 15 ounces Can of chopped fire roasted tomatoes (or best quality tomatoes)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 chopped garlic cloves
- ½ teaspoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, shared
- ½ cup basil, chopped, plus more for garnish
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella (or grated)
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for sprinkling.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Brush a 9 x 13″ baking dish with olive oil.
- Boil a pot of well-salted water. Cook the rigatoni until just al dente (start tasting a few minutes before the package recommends: you want them tender but still a little firm inside; usually around 7 to 8 minutes). drain.
- Meanwhile chop the garlic. In a separate saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and fennel seeds and cook until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the basil, marinara sauce, and tomatoes and stir for 1 minute. Stir in ¾ teaspoon kosher salt, ½ teaspoon onion powder and 1 pinch red pepper flakes and ½ cup parmesan cheese. Remove from fire.
- Pour the sauce and drained pasta into the casserole dish. Top with torn pieces of mozzarella. Sprinkle the entire surface with generous sprinkles of Parmesan.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 10 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove pan from oven and garnish with 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt and spread on top. Leave for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped basil if you like. (Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare pasta in Step 4 and cover with foil. Refrigerate until ready to cook, up to 24 hours.)
- Category: main course
- Method: Cooked
- Kitchen: Italian
- Diet: vegetarian
More Rigatoni Recipes
do you like rigatoni? We also! Here are some recipes that highlight this flavorful pasta shape:
