Cottage Cheese Pasta Bake

Made with only a handful of ingredients, this super simple cottage cheese pasta bake is a cheesy, delicious casserole that the whole family will love. Loaded with tender pasta, cottage cheese, marinara sauce, spinach, basil, and garlic, then topped with melted mozzarella, this pasta casserole is sure to have everyone reaching for seconds.

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with cottage cheese. I still remember how I was not a huge fan the first time I had it in my teenage years but after giving it another chance recently, I’ve been truly obsessed. Who am I with three tubs of cottage cheese in my fridge???

 

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• You only need a handful of ingredients to make this cottage cheese pasta bake! It uses less than 10 ingredients!
• You can easily customize this recipe in so many different ways! This is such a wonderful base recipe that you can make every week and not feel bored. Add some meat, change the cheese, switch up the vegetables, and more!
• The ingredients are pretty nutritious and it only takes less than 40 minutes to make, making for a wholesome but quick family dinner on a busy weeknight.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• penne pasta — I use penne pasta, but you can use any short pasta shape such as rigatoni, farfalle, ziti, fusilli, etc.
• marinara sauce — my go-to jar of marinara is Rao’s. I usually grab a jar from Costco as they come in two 770 mL jars.
• cottage cheese — cottage cheese is a low-calorie cheese with a mild flavor. It’s soft, white, and creamy and it comes in different milk fat levels and curd sizes. I’m using 2% MF (2% milk fat) and usually just pick whichever container is on sale! I’d skip the low-fat version for this pasta bake, as you want the extra fat to make the filling creamy. Cottage cheese is a wonderful source of protein, so it’ll leave you feeling satiated. One cup of 2% MF cottage cheese (220 grams) has 24 grams of protein!
• spinach — to make this recipe easier to make in a pinch, I use frozen spinach as it’s easy to pick up a few blocks on sale and leave it in the freezer. You can use fresh spinach if you prefer.
• garlic — the more garlic, the better. Make sure to mince it finely. You can grate it if you’d prefer. Too large and they would cook through in the oven.
• salt & pepper
• basil — I love fresh basil but you can always swap for dried basil or skip it.
• mozzarella — shredding your own mozzarella is ideal as it melts more smoothly but you can use pre-shredded if it’s more convenient.

How to Make Cottage Cheese Pasta Bake

• Preheat oven to 400F and bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
• Cook the pasta for one minute under al dente, according to package instructions. Drain when finished and add it to a large baking dish.
• Add the jar of marinara sauce to the baking dish.

• Add the cottage cheese, spinach, garlic, salt, pepper, and basil to the baking dish.

• Mix everything together in the baking dish until well combined and top with shredded cheese.
• Bake for 20 minutes in the middle rack and then broil for 2 minutes or until the cheese is golden and bubbly.
• Let rest for a couple of minutes before serving.

Recipe Tips and Notes

• Make sure you squeeze out all the liquid from the frozen spinach before adding it to the pasta. If using fresh spinach, saute it with some oil in a skillet.
• I recommend cooking the pasta one minute less than you need to according to the package as the pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
• This is the large rectangular baking dish I use. Its size is 15.5″x8″, but you can use a smaller one if that’s all you have on hand. You might have to mix together everything in a different bowl before adding it to your baking dish and topping it with cheese.
• Allowing the pasta to rest for a bit before digging in will give the pasta bake some time to set. You don’t want all the cheese to slide off!
• If you want to add some meat such as beef, saute it first in a skillet until browned with the garlic before you add it to the baking dish. Ground beef can be swapped for ground pork, chicken, turkey, or a meat-less option such as lentils.
• You can add other veggies including diced onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and bell peppers.
• Want to add extra protein? Add some cooked shredded chicken to the casserole dish along with the pasta before laying the shredded cheese on top.

Make Ahead Tips

• Meal prep: once cooled, store the cottage cheese pasta bake in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. You can reheat it in the microwave or in a skillet.
• Freezer: allow pasta cool before transferring them into an airtight freezer-safe container before storing them in the freezer. Freeze for up to 3 months.

More Pasta Recipes to Try

• Individual Freezer Tomato Pesto Beef Pasta
• Taco Pasta
• Gochujang Pasta
• One Pot Chicken, Broccoli, and Peas Pasta
• Lemon Ricotta Pasta
• One Pot Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Other places to connect with me
@carmyshungry on Instagram
Facebook
Shop my Amazon faves
Email: [email protected]