This recipe for baked penne pasta with sausage was originally submitted to Cookingnook.com by Dianne Porter of Ontario, Canada.
It is a very easy dinner recipe. You don’t even have to cook the noodles! Add whatever vegetables you like and have on hand. As Diane says below, use up your leftover vegetables for this economical dinner recipe.
You can replace the cheddar cheese with mozzarella for that genuine Italian flavor. I think I would prefer that.
Look below for ideas to make this recipe even healthier.
Baked Penne with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil, extra virgin
- 2 or 3 Italian sausages, depending on size, cut into bite size chunks
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 or 3 stalks celery, diced
- 1 each red & green peppers, diced
- 2 cans spaghetti sauce, any kind you like
- 2 handfuls penne, egg noodles or broken spaghetti
- 2 cups shredded medium cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Heat oil in a medium pan. Add sausages, onion, celery, and garlic powder. Cook until sausages are done. Add peppers & spaghetti sauce, turn heat to med-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. When sauce is done stir in uncooked noodles then transfer to a casserole dish. Top with cheese and bake in the oven for 15 to 25 minutes, or until noodles are cooked to desired doneness.
Nutrition
Make it Healthier:
You can make it healthier by adding in more cooked vegetables. Mushrooms would be great, as well as zucchini and chopped tomatoes – pretty much any vegetable that you think will taste good with tomato sauce. It is a great recipe for using up leftover veggies.
Adding chopped fresh herbs like parsely and basil make this healthier too. Parsley has amazing health benefits.
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