Photography: Con Poulos. Styling: Olivia Blackmore.
Pasta bake is one of those ideal dinner ideas when you don’t know what else to make. And there’s a reason that pasta bakes are so popular. They’re often quick to throw together, generally quite budget-friendly and always ridiculously tasty. Scoop your ladle into the tray to crack through the crisp cheesy topping, revealing delicate pasta and your favourite flavours. Sound pretty good? Here are some pasta bake recipes to get you started!
Pasta bake is easy to cook and even easier to clean up, making it a go-to delicious midweek meal. It’s also a crowd-pleaser for any occasion. It’s very versatile, with plenty of different types of pasta bakes to cater to just about all tastes. From classic tuna mornay and macaroni cheese, to pesto chicken or fetta and capsicum, this collection has the best pasta bake dishes. We’ve also included our Sicilian eggplant pasta bake, which is perfect for entertaining.
Should you boil pasta before making these pasta bake recipes?
For most recipes, you need to cook your pasta in boiling water and drain it before adding it to the pasta bake. But it’s important not to overcook it, as the pasta will be cooked more in the oven. So for pasta bake recipes, you’ll usually cook it for slightly less time than you would if you were eating it straight away. For example, Julie Goodwin says to “cook pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water until just tender” in her pastitsio recipe. Whereas our ricotta and spinach pasta shell bake says to boil the pasta for 3 minutes first.
It does vary depending on the recipe though, so make sure you follow the method to get the best results – whether you like your pasta bakes creamy with lots of cheese or hearty with tomato and garlic.
Watch how to cook pasta perfectly
Tuna mornay
Pumpkin & sage gnocchi pasta bake
Eggplant pasta bake
Chicken carbonara pasta bake
Fetta and capsicum pasta bake
Creamy baked shell pasta
Cauliflower, bacon and cheese pasta bake
Julie Goodwin’s pastitsio
Leek and broccoli tuna pasta bake
Ricotta and spinach pasta shell bake
Cauliflower and cheese pasta bake
Pasta al forno – Italian sausage pasta bake
Cannelloni straight-up
Pumpkin, ricotta and goat’s cheese lasagne
Chicken and risoni pasta bake
Chicken and pesto pasta bake
Salmon and spinach pasta bake
Chicken and corn pasta bake
Crunchy macaroni and cheese
Buttermilk mac ‘n’ cheese
Baked pasta with ham, blue cheese and fennel
Chilli tuna pasta bake
Salmon and broccoli pasta bake
Creamy bolognese pasta bake
Chicken, mushroom and asparagus creamy pasta bake
Creamy tuna pasta bake
Cheesy-vegie pasta bake
Chicken and pumpkin pasta bake
Spicy tuna pasta bake
