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You don’t even have to boil the pasta for this easy dump-and-bake Italian sausage casserole! With only 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep, family-friendly weeknight dinners don’t get much better than this.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Casserole with Italian Sausage
- Ingredients for Italian Sausage Casserole with Pasta
- How to Make Italian Sausage Casserole
- Serving Suggestions
- Preparation and Storage Tips
- Recipe Variations
- Tips for the Best Italian Sausage Casserole Recipe
- Dump-and-Bake Italian Sausage Casserole Recipe
So many of you regularly tell me how much you rely on my dump-and-bake recipes to help you get weeknight meals on the table. This Italian sausage casserole is just the latest in our lineup of favorites, which include other family-friendly dinners like dump-and-bake chicken Alfredo pasta, dump-and-bake chicken broccoli rice casserole, and this dump-and-bake meatball casserole.
Why You’ll Love This Casserole with Italian Sausage
- The dump-and-bake method means that there’s practically zero prep time required. You don’t have to brown the sausage and you don’t have to boil the noodles!
- With just 5 affordable ingredients, this is a budget-friendly meal that feeds a lot of hungry mouths.
- It’s a versatile casserole that can be adapted to suit your family’s preferences. For instance, use a different type of pasta, try Italian chicken sausage or turkey sausage, make it spicy with crushed red pepper flakes, add a little bit of red wine for a richer flavor, or stir some veggies right into the dish.
Do you have to cook pasta before putting it in a casserole?
While most casserole recipes call for cooking the pasta before mixing it into the dish, this particular recipe is designed specifically for uncooked pasta. That means that you do not boil the noodles in a saucepan on the stovetop before adding them to the casserole dish.
Instead, the pasta cooks right in the oven with the rest of the ingredients. This requires extra liquid in the pan (since the pasta absorbs a lot of liquid as it cooks), and extra cooking time to make sure that the noodles are tender.
Ingredients for Italian Sausage Casserole with Pasta
This is just a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for the best Italian sausage casserole. As always, specific measurements and step-by-step instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Water: extra liquid for the pasta to absorb as it cooks in the oven. You can sub with chicken broth or beef broth for more flavor.
- Marinara sauce: use a jar of high-quality store-bought marinara sauce with great flavor, since this will impact the taste of your finished dish.
- Fully-cooked Italian sausage links: I use chicken sausage to keep it lighter and healthier, but any similar variety will work. Just make sure that your sausage is fully cooked, since you’re not browning it in a large skillet and you won’t drain any excess grease.
- Shredded Italian cheese blend: adds great flavor and delicious ooey, gooey cheesy texture to the top of the casserole.
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper: to enhance the other ingredients.
How to Make Italian Sausage Casserole
This dump-and-bake Italian sausage pasta casserole is about as easy as it gets! I’ve included detailed directions in the recipe card below, but here’s the quick version:
- Combine the water, sauce, salt, pepper, uncooked pasta, and sliced sausage in a large casserole dish.
- Cover and bake for 35 minutes.
- Stir the sausage mixture, then sprinkle cheese on top.
- Broil for a minute or two, just until the cheese melts.
Serving Suggestions
Serve this easy Italian sausage casserole with any of these sides:
- Garlic bread, homemade focaccia, no-knead cast iron focaccia, breadsticks, or a crusty loaf of no-knead Dutch oven bread
- Green salad with red wine vinaigrette, mixed greens with Dijon vinaigrette or balsamic vinaigrette, creamy Caesar salad, or a classic Caesar salad
- Tomato salad with basil and balsamic
- Cucumber, tomato, and onion salad
- Parmesan roasted cauliflower
- Roasted broccoli or asparagus
- Sauteed asparagus
- 3-ingredient roasted yellow squash or sauteed zucchini
- 2-ingredient Italian sugar snap peas
- Brown sugar glazed carrots
- Fennel salad with apples and creamy cider dressing
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: You can assemble the casserole a few hours in advance, or even leave it covered in the refrigerator overnight before baking. The pasta will start to soften and absorb some of the liquid as it sits, so you may need to decrease the baking time slightly. You don’t want to overcook the casserole or you’ll end up with gummy, mushy pasta.
- Storage: This casserole is best enjoyed immediately from the oven. Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. The pasta will dry out a bit as it sits, so you may need to stir in some additional marinara sauce when you reheat the dish.
- I do not recommend freezing this casserole because pasta has a tendency to get gummy and mushy when thawed.
Recipe Variations
- Don’t have rotini? You can substitute with other similar short pasta shapes such as penne, rigatoni, ziti, or elbows. Just pick a pasta that has a similar cooking time as the rotini (about 7-8 minutes recommended on the package) — otherwise you’ll need to adjust the casserole’s baking time in the oven.
- Replace some of the water with ½ cup of red wine.
- Stir in some veggies. Good options include sliced fresh mushrooms, thawed frozen broccoli florets, grated zucchini, fresh baby spinach, or oil-packed sundried tomatoes.
- Give the dish more flavor by including 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon onion powder.
- Add buttered breadcrumbs on top for a crunchy texture.
- Instead of Italian sausage, use ground beef (that you brown in a skillet first), or try frozen Italian meatballs (that you thaw first).
- Cooking for a Smaller Family: Cut all of the ingredients in half and bake the casserole in an 8-inch square pan. Check the pasta after 30 minutes, as it may be done slightly sooner than the larger pan.
- If you don’t have a broiler, just return the casserole (uncovered) to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts.
Tips for the Best Italian Sausage Casserole Recipe
- Use a large 13 x 9-inch dish with a capacity of at least 3 – 4 quarts so that it can accommodate all of the raw ingredients without bubbling over. Be sure to check out our roundup of the best casserole dishes.
- Pick a high-quality, flavorful marinara sauce. A delicious sauce will yield a delicious meal. I like Rao’s brand, but any similar variety will work.
- Total cooking times will vary depending on the type of pan that you use, your brand of pasta, and your individual oven. Glass or ceramic baking dishes will take longer than metal pans, for instance. To know when your casserole is done, taste a bite of the pasta. The noodles should be tender and much of the liquid should be absorbed.
- Be careful not to overbake the casserole or the pasta will become mushy.
- Garnish the casserole with herbs like fresh basil or fresh parsley for a bright, colorful touch.
More Italian Sausage Casserole Recipes to Try
Italian Sausage Crescent Roll Casserole
40 minutes mins
Sausage and Spinach Penne Pasta Bake
50 minutes mins
Baked Rigatoni
50 minutes mins
Dump-and-Bake Italian Sausage Casserole
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes
Total: 45 minutes
You only need 5 ingredients and 5 minutes of prep for this easy Italian sausage casserole!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 1 (24 or 25 ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 1 (16 ounce) package uncooked rotini pasta
- 1 lb. fully-cooked Italian sausage links, sliced into rounds (we like Aidell's brand or this Good & Gather brand)
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) shredded Italian cheese blend or shredded mozzarella cheese
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- Optional garnish: chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, or thyme
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In the prepared dish, whisk together the water, marinara sauce, ½ teaspoon of kosher salt, and ground black pepper to taste. Add the uncooked pasta and the sliced sausage. Use your hands or a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients and evenly distribute the pasta and sausage throughout the pan. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 35 minutes.
- Uncover; stir gently with a fork. At this point, you should check the pasta to make sure that it is al dente (tender, but with a firm bite). If the pasta is still too hard, cover the dish and return it to the oven until the pasta is al dente. The move on to the next step.
- Sprinkle the cheese over top. Transfer the uncovered dish to the broiler for about 1-2 minutes, just until the cheese melts and starts to brown on top. Keep a close eye on the dish the entire time since the cheese can burn quickly under the broiler.
- Garnish with chopped fresh herbs, if desired. Serve immediately.
Notes
-
- Use a large 13 x 9-inch dish with a capacity of at least 3 – 4 quarts so that it can accommodate all of the raw ingredients without bubbling over. Be sure to check out our roundup of the best casserole dishes.
-
- Pick a high-quality, flavorful marinara sauce. A delicious sauce will yield a delicious meal. I like Rao’s brand, but any similar variety will work.
-
- Total cooking times will vary depending on the type of pan that you use, your brand of pasta, and your individual oven. Glass or ceramic baking dishes will take longer than metal pans, for instance. To know when your casserole is done, taste a bite of the pasta. The noodles should be tender and much of the liquid should be absorbed.
-
- Be careful not to overbake the casserole or the pasta will become mushy.
- Don’t have rotini? You can substitute with other similar short pasta shapes such as penne, rigatoni, ziti, or elbows. Just pick a pasta that has a similar cooking time as the rotini (about 7-8 minutes recommended on the package) — otherwise you’ll need to adjust the casserole’s baking time in the oven.
- If you don’t have a broiler, just return the casserole (uncovered) to the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese melts.
- Cooking for a Smaller Family: Cut all of the ingredients in half and bake the casserole in an 8-inch square pan. Check the pasta after 30 minutes, as it may be done slightly sooner than the larger pan.
- Instead of Italian sausage, use ground beef (that you brown in a skillet first), or try frozen Italian meatballs (that you thaw first).
- Add buttered breadcrumbs on top for a crunchy texture.
- Give the dish more flavor by including 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, and ¼ teaspoon onion powder.
- Stir in some veggies. Good options include sliced fresh mushrooms, thawed frozen broccoli florets, grated zucchini, fresh baby spinach, or oil-packed sundried tomatoes.
- Replace some of the water with ½ cup of red wine.
-
- Garnish the casserole with herbs like fresh basil or fresh parsley for a bright, colorful touch.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/8 of the recipeCalories: 405kcalCarbohydrates: 51gProtein: 24gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 1135mgPotassium: 524mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 621IUVitamin C: 23mgCalcium: 235mgIron: 7mg
