Four Cheese Baked Pasta (Print version)

Creamy pasta with a rich blend of four cheeses and marinara, baked until golden and bubbling.

# What You'll Need:

→ Pasta

01 - 1 pound penne or rigatoni

→ Cheeses

02 - 1 cup ricotta cheese
03 - 1.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
04 - 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
05 - 0.75 cup grated Romano cheese

→ Sauce

06 - 3 cups marinara sauce
07 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
08 - 2 tablespoons olive oil

→ Seasonings

09 - 1 teaspoon dried basil
10 - 0.5 teaspoon dried oregano
11 - 0.5 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
12 - 0.5 teaspoon salt
13 - 0.25 teaspoon black pepper

→ Garnish

14 - 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

# Directions:

01 - Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with oil or cooking spray.
02 - Boil salted water and cook pasta until al dente, approximately 2 minutes less than package instructions. Drain and set aside.
03 - Heat olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. Stir in marinara sauce, dried basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, salt, and black pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes, then remove from heat.
04 - In a large bowl, mix cooked pasta with ricotta, 1 cup mozzarella, 0.5 cup Parmesan, 0.5 cup Romano, and 2 cups of the prepared sauce until evenly coated.
05 - Transfer pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish. Pour the remaining sauce evenly on top. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses.
06 - Cover loosely with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling.
07 - Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Garnish with chopped fresh basil if desired.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • Four cheeses mean four times the richness without feeling heavy or overdone.
  • It comes together in under an hour and feeds a whole table of people without any fuss.
  • Leftovers taste even better the next day, if you manage to have any.
02 -
  • Don't cook the pasta all the way through—it will finish in the oven, and full al dente means you'll end up with mushy pasta by serving time.
  • The foil matters; uncovered from the start and you'll have a burnt top and a cold center, which happens faster than you'd think.
  • Let it rest those five minutes even though it's tempting to dig in immediately; the cheeses are still setting and it scoops so much better.
03 -
  • Buy your cheeses a few days early so they're cold when you use them; cold cheese melts more evenly than warm cheese pulled straight from a newly opened package.
  • If the top is browning too fast before the inside is hot, lower the oven temperature five degrees and add a few more minutes to the covered bake time.
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