Rigatoni with Spicy Italian Sausage (Baked)

In One and Done, senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk uses one pan - like a Dutch oven, sheet pan, or cast-iron skillet - to make meals you’ll come back to again and again. Click here for even more one-pan meals.

Unlike most baked pasta dishes, this recipe for baked rigatoni doesn’t require you to pre-boil and drain the pasta. You won’t have to pull out a big pan to make a time-consuming marinara sauce, either. Instead, everything comes together in one big casserole dish. Starting with a looser sauce allows the dry pasta to soak up just enough liquid as the dish bakes, yielding a spoonable texture. And when all is said and done, you’ll have just one baking dish to clean.

The type of tomatoes you use matters. While we often recommend whole peeled tomatoes, here we found canned crushed tomatoes produced a meat sauce with just the right amount of clinginess.

This easy pasta recipe requires a good amount of oven cooking time, but it can be baked ahead if you’d like to serve it on a weeknight. Stash the baked rigatoni pasta, covered, in the fridge for up to three days. To reheat, cover it with foil and bake at 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4) until warmed through (~ 20 minutes).

10 cloves garlic, finely grated
4 large sprigs fresh basil
2 (28 oz) cans crushed tomatoes
½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces
1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
12 oz hot Italian sausage, casings removed if needed
1 lb rigatoni
1 lb mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (~ 3 cups)

To Serve:
basil leaves

Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4). Place a rack in the middle of the oven.

Combine 10 cloves garlic, finely grated, 4 large sprigs fresh basil, two 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes, ½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces, salt, 1 tsp. sugar and ½ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes in a 9x13" baking dish. Add 12 oz hot Italian sausage, casings removed if needed, breaking up into about 1" pieces and mix well to coat sausage. Bake, uncovered, 45 minutes (butter should be melted and sauce should be bubbling around the sides).

Add 1 lb rigatoni and 1 cup water and mix to combine. Carefully cover baking dish tightly with foil; bake until pasta is very al dente, 23-27 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and stir well.

Heat broiler. Evenly top pasta with 1 lb mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (~ 3 cups) and broil until cheese is melted and browned, about 5-8 minutes. Keep a close eye on the cheese as it can go from browned to burnt very quickly.

Remove baked rigatoni from the broiler and top with basil leaves to serve.

Makes 6-8 servings.