Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

Rigatoni pasta is layered with a rich, homemade meat sauce, béchamel, and two kinds of cheese and baked until bubbling and golden brown. This classic Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce is family-friendly comfort food at its best!

Many pasta bake recipes call for jarred sauce to speed things up, but not this one. This hearty, satisfying baked rigatoni has a rich and flavorful homemade meat sauce. However, what really makes this authentic Italian rigatoni recipe stand out from others is a creamy béchamel sauce that’s drizzled between the layers. It is downright luxurious and utterly delicious.

Made from scratch doesn’t have to mean difficult! This pasta casserole is quite easy to make and worth every minute of effort you put into it. When you’re craving Italian food, there’s nothing like a bubbling baking dish full of this creamy Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce to hit the spot.

Ingredient Notes

For the Layers

• Rigatoni pasta – For baked pasta recipes, you want to boil dry pasta a couple of minutes shy of the package directions. It will continue to cook in the oven so you want to start with just slightly undercooked rigatoni.
• Part-skim mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese – Shredding your own cheese will result in a higher quality pasta dish than using pre-shredded packaged cheese.

For the Meat Sauce

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Onion – Diced sweet yellow or white onion.
• Minced garlic
• Ground beef – 85% to 90% lean.
• Crushed Italian style tomatoes – These canned crushed tomatoes have a little seasoning added which gives you a flavor head start.
• Canned tomato sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Red wine – Wine adds wonderful complexity to tomato based sauces like this this one. The best red wine to use in pasta sauce is a medium to full bodied red wine like Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir, or Merlot. Most Italian red wines like Chianti or Sangiovese are also an excellent choice for the sauce and to drink with the meal!
• Fresh basil

For the Béchamel Sauce

• Butter
• All purpose flour
• Milk – I use 2% milk but for a richer result, you can use whole milk if you’d like. It should be slightly warmed in the microwave before you start the béchamel sauce.
• Ground nutmeg – Just a dash of nutmeg is all you need to create a classic béchamel. It’s just enough to warm up the flavor but doesn’t add a noticeable nutmeg flavor.

Béchamel is an easy to make, versatile white sauce that is one of the building blocks of French cuisine. It’s made by whisking warmed milk into a roux of butter and flour until thickened. A pinch of nutmeg is the traditional way to add warmth and complexity to this creamy sauce. Béchamel can be easily transformed into a cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese or layered into a variety of pasta dishes like lasagna and this Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce.

How to Make Baked Rigatoni with Meat Sauce

1. Cook the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until tender. Add the ground beef. Cook, stirring to break up the beef, until cooked through. Drain off the grease.
2. Return the pot to the heat and add remaining sauce ingredients. Allow to simmer over low heat while preparing the béchamel sauce.
3. In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium-low heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk until smooth.
4. Gradually whisk in the milk and nutmeg. Turn heat up a little and cook, whisking constantly, until smooth, thick and creamy. Remove from the heat.
   

1. Pour the meat sauce over the well drained pasta in the warm pasta pot and mix thoroughly.
2. Spray a large casserole dish or lasagna pan with cooking spray and layer ½ of the pasta/sauce mixture, drizzle with half the béchamel.
3. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella and Parmesan and then repeat the layers, ending with a final layer of cheese.
4. Cover the dish with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. At the end of the baking time, remove the foil and bake for another 5 minutes until light golden brown and bubbly.

Make it a Freezer Meal

For the best result, freeze Rigatoni with Meat Sauce after it is assembled but before it is baked. This ensures the best possible texture for the baked pasta.

• Assemble the recipe as directed in a freezer-safe baking dish or disposable foil baking pan.
• Allow the casserole to cool completely then cover the entire dish with a layer of plastic wrap and again with a layer of heavy duty foil.
• Label the foil with a permanent marker with the contents and date and freeze for up to 2 to 3 months.

Thaw the frozen pasta in the refrigerator overnight before baking as directed in the recipe. If the casserole is not fully-thawed, it will take longer to heat through so plan accordingly.

Storing Leftover Baked Rigatoni

Cover and refrigerate leftovers with two hours and it will stay fresh and tasty for 3 to 5 days. Although it’s preferred to freeze pasta dishes before baking, you can still freeze leftover baked rigatoni. Just separate it into serving size pieces, if desired, package as directed above, and freeze for up to 2 to 3 months.

Baked Rigatoni FAQ

More Comforting Pasta Casseroles

• Lazy Lasagna Casserole
• White Chicken Lasagna
• Pizza Pasta Casserole
• Make Ahead Manicotti
• Taco Pasta Bake

Check out my entire collection of Main Dish Pasta Recipes.

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This post was originally published on February 16, 2012. It has been updated with new text and images.