This easy Italian casserole with ground beef, pasta, marinara sauce, cheese, and crispy, flavorful seasoned breadcrumbs is pure comfort food!
Table of Contents
If you’re looking for more Italian dishes with ground beef, try this quick and easy Bolognese, homemade lasagna, and these popular stuffed shells with meat, too!
Made this last night & I must say it was absolutely yummy. The crust on top added such an awesome deliciousness to this dish and made it so much more different than any other pasta casseroles I have ever had or made…
– Ferryal
An Italian Ground Beef Casserole Makes Weeknight Dinners Easy
Simple ground beef casseroles are always weeknight winners! This version gets an Italian spin, thanks to pasta, marinara, and plenty of Italian seasoning. It’s one of those great meals that you can assemble in advance, and that both kids and adults will enjoy. Make it your own, too — try ground turkey instead of ground beef, or swap out the penne pasta and use other noodles that you have on hand. The ground beef casserole is hearty, wholesome, and always satisfying.
What to Add to Ground Beef to Make it Taste Better
If there’s any complaint about ground beef, it might be that it has a bland flavor when prepared on its own. That’s why it’s important to always season the meat with salt and pepper, herbs, sauces, and spices! In this case, you’ll jazz up the ground beef by pairing it with Italian-inspired flavors — like marinara sauce, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and fresh herbs like basil or parsley.
Ingredient Notes and Tips for Success
- While it’s possible to cook a casserole with raw ground beef, you’ll need to pre-cook the ground beef in a skillet for this particular recipe. Adding raw ground beef to a casserole can be tricky because you need to use extra-lean meat (or the dish will be greasy), and you need to break it up so that it’s dispersed evenly throughout the casserole. By browning the ground beef in a skillet first, you can drain off the excess fat, and therefore any type of ground beef will work here — including ground round, ground sirloin, or ground chuck.
- I used mini penne pasta here, but regular penne or any other similar short pasta shape will work. For instance, try elbows, bowties, ziti, fusilli, or even egg noodles, too.
- Cook the pasta for about 1 minute less than the package directions for al dente. They will continue cooking in the oven, and you don’t want to end up with mushy, gummy, overdone noodles in your dish.
- You’ll need at least 12 ounces (or half of a 24-ounce jar) of marinara sauce. That said, if you’d like to your casserole “saucier,” feel free to use the entire jar!
- Italian seasoning adds savory, zesty flavor to the sauce. This is typically a blend of ground herbs such as basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, garlic powder, sage, and coriander.
How to Make Italian Casserole
Not only is this casserole easy to assemble, but you can prepare it in advance for even quicker weeknight dinners! You’ll find detailed instructions in the recipe card below, but here’s the overview:
- Boil the pasta. Salt the pasta cooking water liberally, since this is your chance to season the noodles.
- While the pasta cooks, brown the ground beef with onion and garlic in a large skillet or Dutch oven. Ground beef can have a dry texture when it’s cooked for too long in the skillet. To avoid that issue, just cook the meat over medium heat until it’s no longer pink. As soon as it’s done, add the garlic, cook for 1 more minute, and then turn off the heat and drain off the fat. Adding the tomatoes with their juices and the marinara sauce will also help to keep the meat tender and moist.
- Stir in the marinara, diced tomatoes with their juices, and Italian seasoning.
- Add the cooked, drained pasta to the beef mixture. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Transfer the ground beef and tomato sauce mixture to a greased 2-quart baking dish.
- Top with a layer of cheese, and then sprinkle on buttered breadcrumbs and Parmesan.
- Bake the casserole, uncovered, in a 350°F oven until the topping is golden brown and the inside is hot and bubbly.
- Garnish with chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, thyme, or oregano just before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Cozy Italian casseroles with ground beef pair nicely with garlic bread, a green side salad with red wine vinegar salad dressing or Dijon vinaigrette, 3-ingredient sour cream muffins, Arkansas green beans, Southern-style green beans, garlic roasted broccoli, sauteed zucchini, roasted yellow squash, and sauteed spinach with garlic.
Preparation and Storage Tips
- Make Ahead: Assemble the casserole up to 2 days in advance. Keep it covered with plastic wrap or foil in the refrigerator. When ready to bake, allow the dish to sit on the counter and come to room temperature for at least 30-60 minutes before baking according to the recipe instructions. If the dish is cold when it goes into the oven, you will likely need to add some extra baking time. Keep a close eye on the pan and cover the pasta loosely with foil if it starts to get too brown on top before it’s heated through.
- How to Freeze: This ground beef casserole recipe can be frozen either before or after baking. The quality is best if you assemble the casserole in advance (in a freezer-safe dish) and freeze before baking. Wrapped tightly, the pasta bake will last in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to cook it, defrost in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then proceed with the Make Ahead instructions above.
- How to Store: Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Cover and reheat in a 350°F oven for 20-25 minutes, or until warmed through. You can also reheat individual portions in a microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Very tasty! I did use the whole jar of marinara, mozzarella cheese instead of the blend, and 2 cups of macaroni noodles.
– Sally
Did you make this recipe?
If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a comment with a 5-star review at the bottom of the post. Thank you!
Italian Ground Beef Casserole
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (about 1 ½ – 1 ¾ cups) uncooked penne pasta (or other short pasta shape, such as mini penne, elbows, bowties, or fusilli)
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1 cup diced onion (about 1 small onion)
- 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
- 12 ounces marinara sauce (about half of a 24-ounce jar, about 1 ⅓ cups)
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, not drained
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¾ cup shredded Italian 5-cheese blend
- 1 tablespoon salted butter
- ⅓ cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- Kosher salt and ground black pepper, to taste
- Optional garnish: chopped fresh herbs such as parsley or basil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 2-quart baking dish; set aside. In a large pot of well-salted water, cook the pasta according to the package directions for 1 minute less than al dente. Drain.
- While the pasta cooks, brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic; cook for 1 more minute. Drain off the excess fat. Stir in the marinara, diced tomatoes with their juices, Italian seasoning, and sugar.
- Add the cooked, drained pasta to the beef mixture. Taste and season with kosher salt and ground black pepper. If you'd like the mixture "saucier," stir in some (or all) of the remaining marinara sauce that's left in the jar. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.
- Microwave the butter in a medium microwaveable bowl on high until melted, about 25 seconds. Stir in the panko and Parmesan until fully coated; sprinkle evenly over the casserole.
- Bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the inside of the casserole is heated through.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe Variations
- I like the extra flavor that you get with the Italian 5 cheese blend, but you can substitute with shredded mozzarella. Dollops of ricotta cheese throughout (like in this baked ziti with sausage) would also be great!
- Add sauteed veggies to the casserole, such as sliced mushrooms or zucchini.
- Omit the breadcrumb topping if you don’t want to fuss with it (although it does add great flavor and texture).
- Swap out the ground beef and use ground turkey, ground chicken, ground pork, or ground Italian sausage.
- If using regular diced tomatoes rather than the diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, I recommend seasoning the sauce with additional Italian seasoning, garlic powder, or herbs.
- Make it spicy by adding a dash of cayenne or finishing the dish with crushed red pepper flakes.
- Ground beef is one of those great versatile ingredients (kind of like boneless skinless chicken breasts) that I always keep stashed in my kitchen. If you have some ground beef in your freezer, you can use it to make salads, sandwiches, quick and healthy skillet meals, nachos, tacos by adding taco seasoning, burritos, enchiladas, meatloaf, chili, spaghetti sauce, and a wide variety of casseroles. It’s quick-cooking, and very kid-friendly!
More Italian Casserole Recipes to Try
Simple Baked Rigatoni Recipe (No Meat)
50 minutes mins
Dump-and-Bake Shrimp Marinara
55 minutes mins
Spinach Lasagna Recipe
1 hour hr 20 minutes mins
Originally published in July 2022, this post was updated in February 2025.
Made this last night & I must say it was absolutely yummy. The crust on top added such an awesome deliciousness to this dish and made it so much more different than any other pasta casseroles I have ever had or made. I ended with 2 1/2 cup of rigatoni as wanted to stretch the dish a bit more. Also used Romano instead of parmesan for health reasons. Served it with oven broiled Romaine lettuce salad & bread. Not only yummy but easy and not heavy like the other pasta casseroles that are filled with Ricotta cheese. This is a true keeper.
Thank you so much for posting this.
So glad to hear that, Ferryal! Thank you for taking the time to leave a note. 🙂
Hi Blair,
I’m looking forward to making one of your casserole recipes tonight, I’ll let you know how it turns out. : )
Cynthia
Hope you enjoy, Cynthia!
Your site is very good, I liked the information. Grateful. 91425742
Very tasty! I did use the whole jar of marinara, mozzarella cheese instead of the blend, and 2 cups of macaroni noodles.
Thanks, Sally! I’m so glad that it worked well for you!
My family loves baked ziti and i make a huge quantity, filling and wrapping square foil pans for them all to freeze and bake after work- using about 3# of 80/20 beef (cooked and drained)- but because we’re Texans I use a large jar of spicy arranbiatta sauce, two cans of Rotel and fire roasted diced tomatoes(run through the blender cause we don’t want the chunks!), a packet of dry onion soup, a carton of beef broth, dollop of better than (beef)bullion, the normal seasoning and a palmful of crushed red pepper! And cheese on top! Your recipe was a favorite when the sons were young but now they all want spicy! Hope my comment doesn’t offend any of your readers- just saying it’s delicious but you can really take it farther for grownups!!
Thank you! I always love to hear how other folks adapt or change recipes to suit your tastes! I agree, as the kids get older, spicy foods are definitely more of an option. They’re delicious. 🙂
Made this for supper tonight and this was delish! When I first saw the recipe I thought how much different is this going to be than any other baked pasta dish. But it was really good and we will be having this one again. I try to only buy Dreamfields Pasta which they don’t make 16 oz boxes anymore, they are now 13 ounces. And I didn’t want to use just a half jar of spaghetti sauce, so I used the whole 13 ounces of pasta and the whole jar of sauce. Followed the directions for everything else. Turned out very good. I loved the crust on it, that was the best part!! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Thank you, Lisa! We’re so glad you enjoyed it and were able to make it work for you.