18 Baked Pasta Recipes You Can Make in Your 9x13 Dish

The Best Baked Ziti

Chef John's baked ziti recipe is easy enough to manage on a school night, but this meal feels special enough for a Sunday dinner. The mixture of sweet and spicy sausage gives this baked pasta an extra boost of flavor.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta Bake

In case you weren't aware, a pumpkin's flavor goes far beyond pie and pumpkin bread. It's a great way to add some depth and heartiness to pasta, and this ultra-creamy pasta bake blends sweet pumpkin with savory sausage, bacon, and Parmesan cheese to make a delicious dish.

Linda's Lasagna

You can easily lighten up lasagna and save a decent amount of dollars by using cottage cheese instead of ricotta—you still get that same taste and comfort, but it's not as overwhelmingly filling and can be much easier to digest for people with minor dairy sensitivities. Blend the cottage cheese with a mixer beforehand so it'll have a consistency closer to ricotta.

K-dub's Alfredo Ravioli Bake

This velvety and cheesy ravioli bake is extremely customizable and works as a great base for experimentation, but it's also a solid meal as written. To speed things up, assemble the ingredients earlier in the day and keep everything refrigerated until you're ready to put it in the oven.

Baked Pasta with Sausage and Baby Portobello Mushroom White Sauce

"So my husband literally inhaled his first plate (are you hungry honey or did you like it?), inhaled his second plate (I had barely gotten halfway through my first), and even though he said he was full, went in for a third helping," community member Firefly9 says. "I made the recipe as stated and will definitely be making it again. Even my picky 9-year-old asked when I would be making it again before he was even done eating. Yep, it's a keeper."

Baked Ziti

Once you make this easy baked ziti, get ready to make it again and again—it's a simple recipe that yields extraordinary results. Be sure to cover it before baking so it won't lose its moisture or creaminess.

Ham and Cheese Pasta Bake

If you need to use up some leftover holiday ham, this easy pasta bake lends enough flavor to truly make it feel reinvented. There's hardly any fuss involved, and it stands out a bit from the standard beef- or sausage-based pasta bake.

Hearty Vegetable Lasagna

If you don't think vegetarian meals can be hearty, this lasagna is ready to change your mind. It's easy to assemble and welcomes even more vegetables, such as spinach and zucchini, especially if you need to make a substitution. To speed up the cooking time, use oven-ready lasagna noodles.

Stuffed Shells

This recipe actually makes enough food to fill two 9x13-inch baking dishes, so it's a great choice if you need to feed a crowd. Of course, you could always prep half of the recipe in one dish and gift it to a friend or relative.

Baked Spaghetti

"The first time I had this I fell in love with it. I could not get the recipe from the person who made it," community member sooky says. "Now, a year later, I found this recipe and LOVE it!!! My family loves it too. It certainly isn't health food but it takes the crown for comfort food."

Asiago Cremini Pasta Bake with Radicchio

Think of this pasta dish as a fancy take on macaroni and cheese with significant Northern Italian influences. The radicchio adds pops of bitterness that cut through and complement the rich, creamy sauce.

Easy Chicken Tetrazzini

If your grocery store is having a sale on chicken breasts, take it as a sign from the universe to make this hearty and flavorful casserole. It's simple and delicious, and you will likely already have the remaining ingredients on hand.

Italian Sausage Stuffed Shells

This is the pasta bake for the pasta bake hater—it's not overflowing with cheese, but the other ingredients bring so much flavor that you'll hardly miss it. To add in a little more nutrition, creator and all-star RainbowJewels recommends running fresh spinach through the food processor and adding it to the meat-and-cheese mixture.

Baked Ziti

This baked ziti captures the taste of lasagna but eliminates a good chunk of the work and stress. It also yields a large amount of food, so you'll have leftovers for days.

Chicken, Bacon, and Ranch Pasta Bake

If you've been looking to change up your pasta bakes, your search ends right here. Bacon, ranch dressing mix, and shredded Monterey Jack cheese add some serious edge to plain old pasta and cooked chicken for a simple meal that feels anything but ordinary.

The Best Baked Alfredo Spaghetti

This recipe gives baked spaghetti a fun, cheesy twist by going all-out with the Alfredo sauce. Adding the marinara and meatball isn't necessary, but it will help stretch out the recipe.

Three Cheese Baked Pasta

You may find this recipe's inclusion of sour cream odd, but that same ingredient is what takes this pasta bake from ordinary to incredible. In addition to adding an out-of-this-world creaminess, the sour cream also adds a subtle flavor that enhances the other ingredients.

Pasta Bake

This six-ingredient pasta bake couldn't be easier, and you probably have everything you need in your pantry and fridge at this very moment. It's simple, quick, and kid-friendly, and it's a perfect contender for your next weeknight dinner.

More Inspiration:

• More Pasta Main Dish Recipes
• 18 Tuscan Recipes That Reveal the Best of Italian Cooking
• 25 Dinner Recipes That Always Work