Name: Bolognese Pasta Bake
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 400 grams penne pasta; 1 tablespoon olive oil; 500 grams beef mince; 1 onion; 2 cloves garlic; 1 small glass red wine; 400 grams chopped tomatoes (tinned); 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1 teaspoon dried basil; 2 sprigs rosemary; 250 grams chestnut mushrooms; 200 grams grated mozzarella; 50 grams breadcrumbs

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

Bolognese pasta bake is the tonic everyone needs; it’s comforting, familiar and has a delicious, cheesy topping which I can’t get enough of.

This is a very simple pasta recipe and you probably have your own version of a bolognese recipe. However, if you only ever use bolognese sauce with spaghetti, think about mixing it up a bit; I promise you will enjoy this.

Close up of bolognese pasta bake in an oven dish with a cheesy topping

I like using mushrooms in my bolognese; it compliments the deep, earthy taste and means you can get away with using less meat.

If you like, you could switch the bolognese element here with my turkey bolognese.

This pasta bake is absolutely delicious when served with a chunk of garlic bread and a green salad on the side. Yum!

Close up of a cheesy corner of bolognese pasta bake

The Ingredients

Penne – you could use any short pasta, though. Macaroni would work well.
Beef mince – I used 5% fat beef mince and it worked perfectly.
Onion and garlic – the basis of your bolognese! You could also add some carrot and celery at this stage.
Red wine – optional.
Chopped tomatoes – you could also use passata if you want a smoother sauce.
Oregano, basil and rosemary – really, you can use dried or fresh here. The flavour of the bolognese is strong enough to support dried herbs.
Chestnut mushrooms – to add that deep, earthy flavour.
Grated mozzarella – though you can use balled mozzarella, this topping works really well with the grated mozzarella you can buy for pizzas.
Breadcrumbs – use stale bread to make your breadcrumbs – simply whizz in a food processor until fine breadcrumbs are made. Otherwise, you can buy tubs of breadcrumbs from the supermarket.

How To Cook The Pasta Bake

Bolognese pasta bake process shot 1 - cooking the onion garlic and beef mince

1. Soften the onion and garlic in a pan and add the beef mince. Let it brown.

Bolognese pasta bake process shot 2 - adding the rest of the bolognese ingredients

2. Add the red wine, let it reduce, then add the chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, rosemary, oregano and basil. Give it a good stir and simmer for at least 10 minutes.

Bolognese pasta bake process shot 3 - adding the pasta and mixing

3. Add cooked pasta and stir well. Transfer to an ovenproof dish (if it’s not already in one).

Bolognese pasta bake process shot 4 - adding mozzarella and breadcrumbs

4. Top with mozzarella and breadcrumbs and bake in the oven until golden and crisp.

Top Tips

This is a really easy bolognese pasta bake! Here are my tips to make it a success:

Cook the pasta for two minutes less than the packet says. It’ll get more cooking time in the oven, and you don’t want it to go mushy.
If the bolognese is very liquidy after adding the chopped tomatoes (it can be, depending on the water content of the meat you use), just simmer for longer to boil off some of the extra liquid. It’ll intensify the flavours too!
If you want to inject some extra veg into this dish, consider celery, carrot, courgette, peas.