Baked Penne with Meatballs

This baked penne is so easy! Everything, including the pasta, cooks in one 9×13″ pan for the easiest baked pasta. There’s no precooking required (thanks to frozen meatballs) and minimal prep time. Combine everything in the pan, pop it in the oven, and not long after, you have the best comfort food dinner that’s cozy, hearty, and satisfying.

We’re taking the fuss out of baked pasta and making this ridiculously easy, very delicious baked penne.

The low fuss part has to do with the easy prep. No pre-cooking, no multiple pots and pans! Just one baking dish and ingredients that barely need any prep. For this pasta bake, they all cook together in the pan (including the pasta!).

The very delicious part has to do with the savory tomato sauce with the equally savory meatballs and just enough cheese on top to finish it off. It’s the best kind of comfort food made so, so easy.

Recipe Highlights

• Don’t let the longish ingredient list put you off because there’s not any real prep work involved except for chopping an onion and I even have a shortcut for that to make this a completely prep-free pasta dish.
• We’re taking advantage of the freezer and pantry big time with this recipe. You might already have many of the ingredients on hand.
• The tradeoff for all the shortcuts and the one-pan situation is the cook time. It does take a while for the penne to bake, but it’s hands-off time! The best kind of time!

This is a recipe for nights when you want to cook but you don’t want an intensive cooking experience. This is so not intensive – it’s easy, breezy cooking at it’s best.

Ingredients

There are four main parts: the pasta, the sauce, the meatballs, and the cheese. For the sauce, I adapted my easy pasta sauce recipe to make it one-pan pasta-friendly. That means it has more liquid than the original so the pasta can cook in it.

• Olive oil
• Chopped yellow onion – you can chop it up yourself or use frozen chopped onion to make it easy.
• Canned tomato sauce
• Beef broth or chicken broth
• Garlic powder
• Italian seasoning
• Salt and black pepper
• Red pepper flakes
• Penne pasta – you don’t have to boil and drain it. It cooks in the oven.
• Frozen beef meatballs – use frozen beef meatballs, turkey meatballs, or frozen homemade meatballs.
• Mozzarella cheese
• Parmesan cheese
• Chopped fresh parsley or fresh basil for garnish

Four Easy Steps!

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the onions, tomato sauce, broth, and all of the seasonings in a 9×13” baking dish. Stir to combine. Add the penne and press it down into the sauce. It should be completely submerged. If it isn’t add a little more broth.

Place the meatballs over the top and lightly press them into the pasta and sauce. They don’t need to be completely submerged. If any of the penne pop up above the sauce, press them back in.

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Cover the pan with foil and bake the pasta mixture at 375°F for 45 minutes. After the time is up, take the pan out of the oven and remove the foil. Carefully stir the pasta and meatballs. Place the pan back in the oven (uncovered) and bake the pasta for 15 minutes.

Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Pop it back in the oven for about five mintues or until the cheese is melted. Let the baked pasta stand for a few minutes. Garnish with the parsley, if using, and serve.

A Few Qs and As

You can pick up the ingredients for this baked penne to have one hand for those nights when you want a completely low-fuss dinner. Add a salad or bread on the side to complete the experience!

Happy one-pan pasta baking,

More Pasta Recipes

• Dump and Bake Chicken Parmesan Casserole – another easy one-pan baked pasta!
• Italian Sausage and Bell Peppers Pasta – super simple and full of fresh flavor from the peppers.
• Zucchini Orzo – this is one of my favorite easy pasta recipes to make during the summer!
• White Spinach Lasagna – this is a small-batch lasagna that serves four.
• Cheese Manicotti with Meat Sauce – comforting, hearty, and always a classic!
• Fontina Cheddar Mac and Cheese – the fontina cheese gives this easy mac and cheese the creamiest sauce.
• Ground Beef Stroganoff – always a family favorite!

📣 Do you love this recipe? I would love to know! Leave a comment below the recipe along with your recipe star rating.

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The nutrition information in this recipe is an estimate only and was calculated using Nutrifox, an online nutrition calculator.

Post, recipe, and photos updated from the archives. First published in February 2019.