Cheesy Baked Pasta With Sausage and Ricotta Recipe (2024)

Rather than put four ounces of unused sausage in the freezer and four ounces of unused pasta in the pantry, we used the full pound of each, upped the measures of strained tomatoes, fennel and oregano by a third, and added a half cup of red wine. Turned out perfectly. We’ll put this one in rotation. The fennel and the fresh basil really take it up a level.a

Made (nearly) precisely as written. Deglazed sausage with a little Chianti. Tomatoes seemed a little watery to begin so added a little less water with pasta. Nice “collezione” orecchiette. Fabulous and fast!!

Another Melissa Clark. She can do no wrong.

No way would this fit in my 12-inch skillet. Transferred it to a Dutch oven. Delicious.

Let me start by saying that Melissa Clark’s recipes make dinner time at my house easier, more interesting, and more fun for me as a cook. We eat better because of the talented staff at the NYT. This recipe was a big hit with everyone from the picky kids to the grandparents in attendance that night. I loved the ricotta addition. Whole San Marzano tomatoes are a must. I used orecchiette pasta and it was perfect.

Could we have the quantity of Parmagiano Reggiano in weight as well please? I buy mine in a chunk and my grater gives a very fluffy product so that I’m never sure how what I add matches the quantity called for in the recipe.

Because whole tomatoes are typically better quality tomatoes. https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/canned-tomato-types-and-use-what-kind-to-buy.html

Slipped in about a TB of anchovy paste and subbed green lentils (1 cup) for pasta to make it gluten free. This was great!

I replaced the sausage with eggplant to make vegetarian and was perfect - thank you,

This could have been absolutely delicious, if I had par-cooked the pasta before adding it. As it was, the pasta came out with a consistency a little like glue, though the rest of the dish was very good. I will make it again, but cook the pasta at least halfway through first.

Melissa,I made this tonight and it was quite good. The only thing I would change is pick a pasta that is “done” in maybe 7-9 minutes. I picked one that said 11-12 and it was still a tad chewy after the oven. But this is a terrific recipe. Thanks for another Melissa Dinner to add to my repertoire.

Used San Marzanos for the sauce and vegetarian sausage, and went a little heavy on the ricotta because I am human... turned out very well as written - have faith in the amount of salt, it turns out to be right by the end.

OK, but texture and taste can be significantly improved. Texture - even when well broken up, the whole tomatoes are like random clumps of uninvited guests. Also, recipe is too dry and the cheese is not well integrated. Recommend replacing canned tomato ingredients with 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes and 1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes. This addresses texture and adds liquid. Fold in at least half of the ricotta (4-ounces) into the pasta tomato mix - instead of using just as topping.

Made exactly as written (except I added 1 teaspoon of sugar to the sauce) and it was perfect. Used rigatoni. I *might* parboil the pasta first next time before adding to sauce; sometimes one-pot pasta can taste a little gummy — it was perfectly al dente, but I don’t always love *all* the starchy taste that gets left in when pasta cooks directly in its sauce instead of in water that gets drained off.

Pound for pound, dollar for dollar, minute for minute—this is the most delicious recipe on NYT. Make it exactly as directed.

Made as directed. The finished dish came out dry, and in my opinion, it was rather bland except for the taste of hot pepper flakes. With the liquid from the water and tomatoes, I didn't expect the dish to be dry. The 12 ounces of uncooked farfalle soaked up all of the liquid as it cooked. My fault? The dish, as shown in the recipe photo, looks dry, too. IF I decide to make it again, I will use less pasta or, as others suggested, cook the pasta separately before adding it to the tomatoes.

This was exceptionally good! Thanks to helpful commenters, I made the following substitutions:Used a full pound of pasta and sausage so there were no leftover packages; I parboiled the pasta (farfalle) for five minutes; used 'Old World Italian Spice' which has fennel in place of the oregano/fennel; changed the 14 oz. can of crushed tomatoes for fire-roasted diced tomatoes; added 1 tsp. of sugar; used 8oz. package of mozzarella 'pearls'.Thanks as always for another terrific recipe, Ms. Clark.

This is great, the Italian sausage we chose had plenty fennel on its own. One thing I would change is maybe adding the cheese halfway through baking as it had sunk down into the pasta. We used a 12-13 minute cooking pasta and it was cooked perfectly. Had to broil for about four minutes too get a good golden brown bubble, but overall a delicious recipe and is now on the rotation.

would make a great no recipe recipe / pan try cleanerno italian so used chorizo skinned and dicedno motz so extra ricotta, cut up some habanero instead of pepper flakescan't imagine what would NOT be good in this dish

This is such a simple and family-friendly recipe! I used bow tie pasta which cooks well and evenly in the sauce, and prepared it in a large cast iron skillet which does a great job of keeping it hot if you want to prepare it a little ahead of time. It is rich with all the cheese and makes a lot, so is good for a dinner party or for a few teenagers.

Add eggplant Top with breadcrumbs. Look at comments for pasta type

Followed the recipe, parboiling penne. Not being used to ounces, I used a quart of home canned tomatoes and so did not need water. Best baked pasta I’ve ever made.

I found the ricotta doesn’t really work here as much, add some more mozarella and spices and it made for one hearty meal!

Absolutely perfect! Only things i did different were: i didn't add the extra cup of water, and instead of 2tst salt i did 1tsp salt and 2tsp MSG. Baked in a 10x12 glass baking tray and it turned out amazing.

Add basil while simmering Cut the tomatoes with scissors Add a little ricotta to sauceCook pasta 3 min then 1/2 the waterReduce salt

A quick take on the classic lasagna. I add roasted zucchini and eggplant slices

A tasty deconstructed lasagna. Will reduce Kosher salt next time. My daughter-in-law fixed this, but used a different pasta. I used the small shells; would prefer larger-shaped pasta next time. I lack oven-going skillet & Dutch oven; did step 1 in a skillet. I transferred the mix. to a lg. pot & proceeded with steps 2-3. Step 4 was in glass casserole dish (which overflowed). Def. the right cookware helps! Finding crushed tomatoes in store, weirdly, was an issue. We never found them.

This was easy, tasty, and excellent. Will definitely make again. Didn't have fresh mozzarella so used aged/dry--turned out just fine. Also used Kite Hill ricotta (vegan) and it too was excellent.

I saved the little bit of sausage and tomato to use in meatballs the next day - worked great - love this recipe. The fresh basil at the end and twists of fresh pepper make it better in a grand way.

I parboiled 16oz of ziti for 5 minutes before adding to pan. for the sauce, i used my own recipe. i ran the 28oz can of tomatoes through a food mill first. then added 14 oz diced tomatoes with 6 tsp sugar, 1.5 tsp salt, 1 tsp oregano, 2 garlic cloves using microplane, shredded basil leaves. added 1/2 cup water and simmered it for 20 minutes to help develop the flavors. I did not add any additional salt or oregano and only used 2 cloves of garlic when cooking the sausage. was not disappointed!