This pasta bake is done in one pan and doesn’t require you to even boil the pasta first. Yes, that means the pasta is cooked in the oven! It’s amazing how delicious it is when you literally only need to spend 5 minutes prepping it. This one is going to save your weeknights for sure!
I honestly hate the phrase “dump dinners” or “dump-and-go dinners” where you dump everything into a cooking vessel and that’s all you have to do. I dislike the phrase, for sure. But, I love the concept!
Truly my favorite way to cook is to put everything on a sheet pan or in a casserole dish, put it in the oven, and then walk away.
I was never sure if you could cook pasta in the oven like that though. Until I started working on this recipe. Then I learned that the answer is yes, you can absolutely cook pasta in the oven. You just need the right amount of liquid, and a delicious recipe.
You’re going to be amazed by this recipe. You literally just put everything into a baking dish, cover it, put it in the oven, and walk away.
Most baked-pasta recipes instruct you to boil the noodles until cooked halfway before baking them. This allows the pasta to finish cooking in the oven as it bathes in the sauce.
Want To Save This Recipe?
Enter your email address & I’ll send this recipe straight to your inbox to save for later! Plus, you’ll get new recipe ideas from me every week!
Video: No-Boil Pasta Bake*
*NOTE: The instructions as shown in the video are just fine. However, the milk sometimes curdles. We therefore retested the recipe several times to get it just right. Instead of the milk, the recipe now calls for 1 cup of cream and 1 cup of chicken stock. A commenter has done it with no cream and 2 cups of chicken stock and had success. The recipe below has all of these changes made.
You don’t have to pre-boil pasta for baked dishes
FAQ
Should pasta be boiled before baking?
Can you put uncooked pasta in the oven?
Can you cook dry pasta in sauce?
Should you rinse pasta before baking?
Do you boil pasta before baking?
The challenge is to how to get the pasta to turn out just right. Most baked pasta recipes instruct you to boil the noodles until cooked halfway before baking them. This allows the pasta to finish cooking in the oven as it bathes in the sauce. But this method has challenges.
Can one eat pasta?
Pasta can be part of a diet, but in moderate amounts (100g of dried pasta daily), and it is better when it is made from whole grains rather than refined. Also, you must also have it combined with vegetables. Avoid taken it with fatty foods such as cream and cheese.
Can you cook Uncooked pasta and boiled pasta at the same time?
H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of the fantastic blog Ideas in Food asked themselves that very question, and what they found was this: You don’t have to complete both processes simultaneously. In fact, if you leave uncooked pasta in lukewarm water for long enough, it’ll absorb just as much water as boiled pasta.
Is baked pasta in a sauce better than boiled pasta?
If there’s anything more comforting than boiled pasta in a sauce, it’s got to be baked pasta in a sauce. The baking adds a crispy crust that is such a delicious contrast to the tender goodness of the dish. Recipe included with this story: Baked Penne with Prosciutto and Fontina The challenge is to how to get the pasta to turn out just right.