Pasta al forno (baked pasta) is a meal that the whole family will love! The melty mozzarella, hearty meat sauce, and substantial rigatoni are baked to perfection, making the ultimate comfort food dish! It’s hard to think of food more hearty and warming than oven baked pasta. Everyone loves it! I really have never heard anyone say that they don’t. But I’m sure there’s someone out there who doesn’t. This recipe is for 99.99% that do.
What is pasta al forno?
Pasta al forno is oven-baked pasta. There are many variations such as red sauce or in bianca.
Some use meat sauce with ground pork, beef, and veal. Others are non meat with block mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and/or a bechamel sauce. Many types of pasta can be used such as rigatoni, penne, and ziti.
This recipe is for rigatoni al forno. Rigatoni is my number one choice for a baked pasta recipe.
It’s a big pasta with ridges that hold the sauce and cheese so well. You really can’t go wrong though with any short pasta, so if in a pinch, use what you have or what you like!
How to make it
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Picture of some but not all of the ingredients.
- Grate the pecorino and cube the mozzarella cheese.
- Chop the onion and garlic.
- Crush the San Marzano plum tomatoes by hand. Alternatively, pulse blend for a second.
- Heat a large saucepot or dutch oven to medium heat and saute the onions in 1/4 cup olive oil for 5 minutes until almost translucent. Add the garlic and saute for a couple of minutes more.
- Next, add the ground beef and pork and spread around the pan.
- Brown the meat. Break it up with a wooden spoon to avoid having any large pieces.
- After the meat is cooked through (about 10-15 minutes), add the tomato paste.
- Cook the paste for 5 minutes mixing it into the meat thoroughly. Add the 1/2 cup of white wine and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Add the plum tomatoes to the pot and stir it all together. Let the sauce cook for at least 30-60 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, the longer the better. Simmer it on low heat with the lid partially open. Cracking the lid allows slow evaporation that thickens the sauce.
- Taste test the sauce and adjust salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper if desired. At this step, I add salt only. Do not go overboard as there will be a lot of salty cheese being added to the rigatoni al forno.
- Boil pasta and undercook it even slightly more than “al dente”. The reason for this is if you use fully cooked pasta and bake it for another 30-40 minutes it will become overcooked and too soft. Place 3 cups of the meat sauce in a large bowl.
- Mix the “al dente” rigatoni into the bowl with the 3 cups of sauce.
- Use a baking dish or cast iron pan and oil the bottom with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Use a paper towel to get the oil fully coated. Next, add a ladle of sauce to the bottom of the pan and spread it around evenly. Top with the first layer of pasta.
- Spread half the cubes of mozzarella around and sprinkle a 1/4 cup of the pecorino on top.
- Again add another layer of pasta. Add a little bit more sauce on top, then add the other half of mozzarella and another 1/4 cup of pecorino. A drizzle of olive oil is never a bad idea. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 375f or until the rigatoni al forno is bubbly.
After removing the baked pasta from the oven make sure to serve with more grated cheese, all of that delicious sauce and a good loaf of Italian bread.
This Via Carota insalata verde would be perfect to pair with this meal.
Substitutions and additions
- no meat – Of course it’s fine to omit the meat, especially if time is short. I would recommend using more garlic and some fresh basil to add some nice flavor for a quick pasta bake. I do feel the meat adds such a depth of flavor and the longer it cooks the better the sauce tastes, so if you have the time go for the meat sauce low and slow.
- bechamel sauce – Love this addition – I especially like it with a pinch of nutmeg in a pasta bake.
- ricotta – Absolutely delicious addition. Normally I make a similar dish to this with ricotta added in. I call it my meatless baked ziti. Most Italians in America have their own version as well. My family and especially my kids understand the difference when Daddy is making one versus the other.
How to make a good sauce
I believe the secret to making any type of great sauce is to leave the spice cabinet alone.
All sauces start with good whole San Marzano plum tomatoes or fresh ones from the garden.
Good olive oil, sometimes garlic, onion, fresh basil, oregano, salt, pepper, and not much else. I rarely use dried herbs, as I love to let the fresh ingredients do the talking.
For the sauce in this rigatoni al forno recipe, the meat is the main flavoring agent.
The longer it cooks, the tastier the sauce will become. A little wine (I used white) is good as well. Use red if you like and it will give a delicious flavor all its own.
I often use red wine for my Sunday gravy. Meatballs, braciole, sausages, sometimes pork chops and chicken wings are added to make the sauce unbelievable!
One last thing, and I really should make a larger FAQ. Sip and Feast does not use jarred sauce ever.
It was a struggle for me to decide whether to put up pizza recipes with store-bought pizza dough or exclusively homemade pizza dough recipes.
I opted for both simply because I do believe you can get great results with store-bought dough. However, I personally believe you can not get good results with jarred sauce.
One last thing. In the time it takes to heat up jarred sauce, you could be halfway through making a quick 15-minute marinara.
More baked pasta recipes
- Baked penne with Italian sausage – Penne, mozzarella, ricotta, and Pecorino tossed with a sausage sauce and baked until bubbly.
- Baked ziti with meatballs – Tiny meatballs, pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, Pecorino, and marinara.
- Creamy mushroom pasta bake – Roasted mushrooms, spinach, thyme, fontina, ricotta, and just a hint of nutmeg.
- Baked butternut squash pasta – Butternut squash and sage with penne, mozzarella, and Parmigiano Reggiano.
- Classic Italian-American lasagna – Meat ragu with Layers of pasta, herbed ricotta, and mozzarella.
- Spinach lasagna rolls with white sauce – Mozzarella, creamy ricotta, and spinach with a bechamel sauce.
- Four cheese manicotti – Creamy ricotta, mozzarella, Pecorino, and Parmigiano Reggiano form the ultimate 4 cheese filling.
- Spinach ricotta stuffed shells – Ricotta and spinach filling with meat sauce.
If you’ve enjoyed this pasta al forno recipe or any recipe on this site, we want to know so tell us in the comments below. We would love to hear how you did and it’s nice to show others as well. Thanks!
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Pasta Al Forno
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 pound ground pork
- 3 28 ounce can plum tomatoes
- 1 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 1 medium onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 pound rigatoni
- 1 pound mozzarella
- 3/4 cup pecorino
Instructions
- Grate pecorino cheese and cube the block mozzarella. Chop onion and mince garlic. Crush the plum tomatoes by hand or pulse blend for 1-2 seconds.
- In a large sauce pan on medium heat saute onions for 5 minutes in 1/4 cup olive oil or until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for 2 minutes more.
- Add ground beef and pork to pot and brown for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Break up any large pieces with wooden spoon. Next, add the tomato paste and cook for 5 minutes more, mixing it all together.
- Add the 1/2 cup of wine and cook for 5 more minutes. Add crushed plum tomatoes to pot and stir it all together. Once sauce starts bubbling turn heat to low and simmer for 30 plus minutes, the longer the better. Leave the pot partially covered while cooking and stir every 15 minutes to avoid sticking.
- After the sauce has been simmering for a while boil pasta to "al dente" in salted (2 Tbsp kosher salt per gallon) water. Taste test the sauce and make any changes to salt or pepper if needed. Place 3 cups of the sauce in a large bowl with the cooked pasta and mix well.
- Lightly oil a large baking dish and place a ladle of sauce on the bottom. Layer some of the pasta on top. Add half the cubed mozzarella and 1/4 cup of the pecorino all over.
- Repeat with more pasta, a little bit of sauce, the remaining mozzarella and another 1/4 of pecorino. Bake in a 375f oven for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Serve with Italian bread, extra sauce, and grated pecorino. Enjoy!
Notes
- Makes 4 large or 6 good size servings.
- Make sure to taste test the sauce and adjust if necessary. Salt was kept down because of the added pecorino cheese.
- If the tray looks a little dry before baking, add another ladle of sauce. Nothing has to be exact in this dish!
- There will be a lot of sauce left over. Around 4 cups most likely depending on simmering time. Serve with crusty bread for dipping and ladle it over the plated dishes for anyone who likes more sauce.
- The remaining sauce can be frozen for 4-6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I made this for a family of notoriously picky eaters, and everyone cleaned their plates, not once but twice. I did add a generous pinch of red pepper flakes, but other than that followed the recipe exactly. Accompanied by your amazing garlic bread and the Via Carota dressing over mixed greens, the evening couldn’t have gone better. Thank you for sharing your fabulous recipes and all the helpful hints and tips. Sip and Feast has become a game changer for me.
Going to make this today to serve on Christmas Eve..would it be better to just make to the meat sauce today and make and add the pasta part tomorrow, adding other ingredients as you mentioned then? ..or I can make the whole dish today but not bake until Christmas Eve? My thinking is the pasta will absorb the sauce and be may dry out otherwise? Thank you !
Hi Valerie, you can do it either way.
I did make it 2 fold..sauce one day pasta and put together to layer and bake 2nd…was awesome..my husband loved the meat sauce!
Is the pork plain ground pork or Italian sausage?
Hi Mary, Jim used plain ground pork for this one.
Great recipe!! I didn’t want extra sauce so I used half the tomatoes, paste and meat. The amount of sauce was perfect for one pound of mezzi paccheri (short rigatoni). It’s just me and the wife so there were plenty of leftovers for the fridge and freezer. The recipe rating deserves 6 stars because my wife is still raving about it. She’s a great cook and my biggest critic. If the recipe isn’t good I’ll hear about it in no uncertain terms. I did season the sauce but I took your recommendation to ease up on salt.
Hi Jack, thanks for the comment! We’re so happy you and your wife enjoyed the pasta al forno!
What can I use instead of wine in your recipes?
Hi Judith, depending on the recipe you can sometimes use stock, or simply omit the wine entirely.
Found this quote above:
“Sip and Feast does not use jarred sauce ever.”
Uhmm.. AMEN forever. That’s the reason why a bunch of us are HERE & not somewhere else right now. We want what only our Full Blood Italian grandma could make. But now she’s gone & we never learned the right way. In walks a guys who might as well have grown up in our own Grandma’s kitchen, but took meticulous notes & learned all the tricks. Mostly because of you I now know how to make sauce probably 10 times better – it tastes like growing up again. I know a gigantic part of the equation is all the behind the scenes production which makes everything accessible & readily understood. Someone over there is really good at all this stuff. You got a good thing going here, a bunch of us sure appreciate your channel 👍 thanks guys
Hi Step Jeff, thanks so much for the comment. It’s just my wife and I over here so we really appreciate your kind words about the work we do. Thank you!
I knew when I came across your recipes I would love them. I love making meals with simple and fresh ingredients.
I wish I could rate this dish a 10. I followed the recipe, made no changes and we loved it. Normally, we’d have leftovers but we took this out in a day. It’s a keeper. Already have a few others lined up. I sure hope you publish a cookbook.
Hi Kathryn, I really appreciate your comment and so happy you enjoyed this recipe. A cookbook is on our list of goals!
Simple and absolutely delicious! Will definitely make again!
Hi Debbie, so happy you enjoyed this and thanks for the comment!
Can we add ricotta to this bake?
I’m thinking of adding dollops here and there
I’m only asking so I can use up the tub I have in the fridge
Do you think I should grate some nutmeg on the ricotta as I’m reading a lot of recipes call for ricotta and nutmeg
Thanks for these life saving recipes!
So easy and comforting!
Hi Louise, yes, you can use ricotta in the al forno. You can grate some nutmeg on this if you’d like but I haven’t tried it in this particular recipe so can’t say for certain. I usually use nutmeg in cream sauces without tomato, like in my creamy mushroom pasta bake. But give it a try if you’d like and let us know how it turns out!
I just made the meat ragu last night for dinner tonight (christmas) and the taste test was delicious. I made a few changes based on what our family likes, I added a head of roasted garlic instead of chopped garlic, I used Pinot noir instead of white wine, a little fresh basil, and I added two chopped carrots. I planned on making lasagna tonight for Christmas dinner and I have my big pot of meat sauce ready and panicked when I realized I forgot ricotta cheese during my shopping trip. With it being Christmas and nothing being open, this pasta Al forno recipe is now my lifesaver to keep Christmas dinner special. You are my new hero! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
Hi Kia, I’m so happy you enjoyed this one and that you made a few tweaks to make it your own! Merry Christmas to you!