Sausage Spinach Pasta Bake — A First-Week-of-the-New-Year Sunday

First week of 2021. The factory came back from the holiday-week shutdown Monday morning at four-thirty AM. Mama’s Dollar General had been open across the holiday on a skeleton schedule and she had pulled the New Year’s Day shift specifically to free up the New Year’s Eve. Cody’s food bank assistant-supervisor position is in its fourth month and steady. Dustin’s HVAC apprenticeship is on track for the journeyman license he will earn in August.

Sunday I made sausage spinach pasta bake because the apartment had Italian sausage from Saturday’s grocery run and a bag of fresh spinach that needed to move and the household had been wanting a casserole that holds for the week. The dish: rotini cooked al dente, tossed with browned Italian sausage in a tomato sauce, fresh spinach wilted into the sauce, ricotta dolloped through, mozzarella and parmesan on top, baked.

The procedure: cook a pound of rotini in salted boiling water until just-under al dente. While the pasta cooks, brown a pound of Italian sausage in a large skillet with diced onion and garlic. Add a quart of homemade marinara (or a jar). Stir in a bag of fresh baby spinach until wilted, about two minutes. Combine the pasta and the sauce. Transfer half to a buttered nine-by-thirteen baking dish. Dollop with a cup of ricotta. Top with the remaining pasta. Top with two cups of grated mozzarella and a half-cup of grated parmesan. Bake at three-seventy-five for thirty minutes. Dustin had three plates. I had two. The bake stretched into Wednesday-lunch territory.

Sausage Spinach Pasta Bake

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 12 oz penne or rigatoni pasta
• 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (24 oz) jar marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 3 cups fresh baby spinach, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. Cook the pasta. Boil pasta in salted water according to package directions, cooking just until al dente (about 1 minute less than the package says). Drain and set aside.
3. Brown the sausage. In a large oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, cook the Italian sausage, breaking it into crumbles, until browned and cooked through, about 6–8 minutes. Drain excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan.
4. Build the sauce. Add the minced garlic to the sausage and cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Pour in the marinara sauce and chicken broth, stir to combine, and bring to a gentle simmer. Season with Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.
5. Add the spinach. Stir in the chopped spinach and cook for 2 minutes, just until wilted.
6. Combine everything. Remove from heat. Add the drained pasta and ricotta to the skillet and stir until everything is evenly coated. Fold in 3/4 cup of the mozzarella.
7. Top and bake. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish if not already oven-safe. Sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup mozzarella and the Parmesan evenly over the top. Bake uncovered for 20–25 minutes, until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and golden at the edges.
8. Rest and serve. Let the bake rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve straight from the dish with crusty bread on the side.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 520 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 22g | Carbs: 52g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 890mg