College student-friendly rigatoni pasta bake that's sure to appease the parents

Audrey Michels

Contributing Writer

In the future, you punch a button and the oven cooks your food for you, right? Well, we’re living in the future because this meal only takes two minutes of prep time, and the rest is the oven’s job. This rigatoni pasta bake is the ultimate lazy night in food, and if you keep pasta, good pasta sauce, and some shredded cheese on hand, you will always have it in your back pocket.

Seriously, why dirty two dishes heating the sauce and boiling the pasta, when you can dump it all in a baking dish and be done with it? If you’re looking to dress this dish up for company or Instagram, you can add some ground beef or almost any fresh veggies you may have leftover, but really, the pasta is the star of the show.

Cooktop Cove

Rigatoni pasta bake

2 minutes

40 minutes

42 minutes

1 16-ounce box rigatoni pasta

1 24-ounce jar pasta sauce

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pour the pasta and sauce into a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, along with the volume of the jar again with water. Cover tightly with aluminum foil, and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven, uncover and stir well. Sprinkle it with the grated cheeses, and return it to the oven for an additional 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the pasta is bubbling.

Allow to cool at least five minutes before serving.

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