Cheesy Beef Pasta Bake
- 50 mintotal time
- $3.12£2.08a serving
- 790723calories
- 4041 gprotein
Serves 4; price is an estimate. Dinner Plan is a paid weekly plan for your household and budget. You see your week before you pay.
Pasta tossed in a beef and tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella and baked until bubbling.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 12 oz dried pasta (penne, rotini or spaghetti), short shapes such as penne
- 1 lb ground beef (80/20)
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese (Parmesan-style), grated (optional)
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: wheat (gluten), milk. Optional extras contain egg. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the packet says, then drain.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat, add the ground beef and wash your hands after handling the raw meat. Brown the beef for 6–8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink remains (160°F). Add the yellow onion for 5 minutes, then the garlic for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste, tomatoes and Italian seasoning, and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Mix the pasta into the sauce and tip into a baking dish. Scatter over the mozzarella, and the hard cheese if using.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden.
Leftovers: Fridge 3 days; reheat covered until piping hot.
Ingredients
Serves 4.
- 350 g dried pasta (penne, fusilli or spaghetti), short shapes such as penne
- 450 g beef mince (20% fat)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 × 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
- 30 g tomato purée
- 125 g grated mozzarella
- 30 g vegetarian Italian-style hard cheese, grated (optional)
- 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt, to taste
- black pepper, to taste
Contains: gluten, milk. Optional extras contain egg. Always read the labels if you cook for someone with an allergy.
Method
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Cook the pasta in salted boiling water for 2 minutes less than the packet says, then drain.
- Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large pan on medium-high heat, add the beef mince and wash your hands after handling the raw meat. Brown the beef for 6–8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink remains (71°C). Add the onion for 5 minutes, then the garlic for 1 minute.
- Stir in the tomato purée, tomatoes and mixed herbs, and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Mix the pasta into the sauce and tip into a baking dish. Scatter over the mozzarella, and the hard cheese if using.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden.
Leftovers: Fridge 3 days; reheat covered until piping hot.
Nutrition per serving
| Calories | 790 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 40 g |
| Carbohydrate | 79 g |
| Fat | 35 g |
| Fiber | 8 g |
| Sodium | 468 mg |
| Calories | 723 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 41 g |
| Carbohydrate | 78 g |
| Fat | 30 g |
| Fibre | 6 g |
| Sodium | 230 mg |
Worked out from the ingredients, 481 g a serving; optional extras and salt to taste aren't counted. US and UK values differ a little because each uses that country's food data and products. US values from USDA FoodData Central.UK values from McCance and Widdowson's Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset 2021, under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
What it costs
About $3.12 a serving in the US (range $2.39–$4.14) and £2.08 in the UK (range £1.59–£2.75). That's the share of each ingredient this recipe uses; basics like oil, salt and spices aren't counted.
Prices are estimates. Item prices come from public price data where available (US: Bureau of Labor Statistics and USDA; UK: Office for National Statistics). Where that data has no match, we use our own estimate. Ranges set using Open Prices data (Open Food Facts, ODbL). Prices as of October 2026. How we estimate
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