No time to cook this time of year? Quick and Easy Baked Rotini to the rescue! The only prep you will do is taking the ingredients out of the cupboard and fridge. This dish meets my requirements for a “dump and stir” dish meaning all you’re doing is dumping things into the pan and stirring. Bake it on Sunday afternoon and give yourself Monday and Tuesday nights off!
The weeks between Thanksgiving and New Year’s are always a scheduling disaster at my house.
I love this time of year, but getting everyone fed without getting takeout three times a week is a huge challenge. A dish like Quick and Easy Baked Rotini will feed your people whenever they happen to wander into the kitchen.
Or, freeze it in single serving portions and let it be the gift that keeps giving.
Ingredients
- (1) 14.5 oz box Barilla Protein Plus pasta
- (2) 24 oz jars Bertolli Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce
- 1 cup pre-chopped onion (find it in the produce section)
- 1 T pre-minced garlic (find jars in the produce section)
- 2 T olive oil
- 1 T Italian seasoning (I like Badia)
- dash crushed red pepper
- 12 oz. sour cream
- 1 cup shredded Italian Blend cheese (or just plain Mozzarella if that's what you prefer)
- 8 slices Provolone cheese
- 1/2 cup or more grated Parmesan/Romano/Asiago blend cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease a deep 9x13 baking dish
- Put the water for the pasta on to boil
- Meanwhile, put olive oil, two shakes crushed red pepper, onion and then garlic into a large frying pan. Cook on medium high heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes until onions are soft.
- Add 1 T Italian seasoning to the onion mixture, stir for one minute to combine. Reduce heat to medium low.
- Pour in two jars of sauce and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until pasta is done. Stir every few minutes to prevent sticking. Remove from heat when pasta is done.
- When water boils, add pasta. Cook for 10 minutes and drain.
- While pasta is cooking, get out the sour cream, shredded cheese, provolone slices and grated cheese for topping.
- Once pasta is drained, pour into baking dish. Add one large spoonful of sauce and stir it around in the pan so the noodles don't get sticky.
- Add sour cream in 6 or more dollops and then mush with the back of a large spoon to distribute it through most of the pasta. If you can stir it without wearing it, more power to you. I can't get the stuff to stay in the pan when I stir but I refuse to dirty another dish.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the sour creamed pasta.
- Then top with the provolone slices.
- Pour all sauce onto top of pasta and cheese. Sprinkle with grated cheese if desired.
- Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.
Enjoy!
I was moving over the weekend so didn’t have access to all my usual kitchen gadgets. Not only was the baked rotini quick and easy, as the name suggests, it was delicious. My kids loved it!
Can’t wait to try this- I think my kids will actually like this maybe minus the peppers and onions…
Hi Colleen! If you’re concerned about the red pepper and onions, my advice is to leave out the red pepper entirely and put the onions in the food processor so they are super small pieces before browning them. You’ll get the flavor without the “what are these chunks in here” question at the table. Let me know how they like it!