Pepperoni Rigatoni Bake

Submitted by *Parsley*

"Kind of creamy, cheesey and saucy. Has a sort of "pizza-ish" flavor. You could use pretty much any tube pasta or even corkscrew pasta works well."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 5mins
• Ingredients: 18
• Serves: 8

ingredients

• 1 lb rigatoni pasta
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1⁄2 green pepper, chopped
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 (8 ounce) can sliced mushrooms, drained
• 1 teaspoon cruched basil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon oregano
• 1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 (16 ounce) part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1⁄2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup reduced-fat sour cream
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1⁄8 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 4 -6 ounces sliced pepperoni
• 2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, DIVIDED

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a casserole pan and set aside.
2. Cook rigatoni pasta according to package directions to al dente.
3. While pasta is boiling, heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped onion, green peppers, garlic, mushrooms, basil and oregano; saute for about 7 minutes or until veggies are tender.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes and sugar to the saucepan; stir well and allow to simmer for about 15 minutes.
5. When pasta is done, drain.
6. Using the hot empty pot that the pasta just cooked in, mix together the ricotta, parmesan, sour cream, egg, parsley and salt; mix until smooth.
7. Return the hot drained rigatoni to the ricotta/sour cream mixture. Gently fold/stir together.
8. Place half of the creamy rigatoni mixture on the bottom of the prepared casserole dish.
9. Evenly pour half of the tomato sauce mixture over top.
10. Evenly place all of the pepperoni slices over top.
11. Sprinkle with 1 cup only of the mozzarella cheese.
12. Layer remaining rigatoni mixture on top, then remaining tomato sauce mixture, then the last 1 cup of mozzarella.
13. Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
14. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes.
15. Best to let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Reviews

[Sara 76]

We had this as part of a party setting. I made a half mixture, and it was plenty. Loved the flavours! Made for ZWT7-Italy.

 

[Midwest Maven]

This was so homey and yummy, loved the mushrooms and pepperoni. Only thing is I thought it was a lil bit too dry, next time I'm going to add some tomato sauce along with the diced tomatoes. Thanks for sharing this! Made for Witchin Kitchen ZWT7.

 

[LDS Chef Ashlie]

MAN ALIVE was this yummy. I make baked ziti often and pizza casserole but this sort of combined them both, it was wonderful SO SO SO yummy. I made a few alterations, I used one large can of crushed tomatoes and then about 1 cup and a half of Prego Mushroom sauce and I didn't add the peppers. Instead of minced garlic i used a little garlic powder, I also added about 1/4 cup of milk to the ricotta mixture and I used more mozzarella. We truly LOVED this dish and will be making it again. But next time I will not do 2 layers of pasta just one big one. This was amazing!

 

[kitchenwitch7]

I made this using jarred sauce (Newman's Own Sockaroni), turkey pepperoni, Dried Italian Seasoning instead of fresh parsley and a little bit on monterey jack mixed in with the mozzerella and it was AWESOME!! This is definitely going into my rotation.

 

[Retro Kali]

Oh yeah! This was great! I used a shortcut on a lot of it, by using canned Hunt's spaghetti sauce. My family raved about it, even my seven year old, who won't eat," yucky" stuff( any casserole). I will be making this again, and again. Thanks!