Description
Looking for simple Trader Joe’s Meal ideas for your busy nights? Try this Easy Trader Joe’s Cheesy Pasta Bake Recipe for dinner! You just need 3 ingredients and about 30 minutes or less. This recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1/2 bag (6 ounces) Trader Joe’s red lentil sedanini (or sub pasta of choice)
- 1/2 jar (12.5 ounces) Trader Joe’s organic basil marinara sauce (or sub sauce of choice)
- garlic powder, optional (to taste – I used about 1/2 teaspoon)
- salt, optional (to taste)
- 1 ball of fresh mozzarella
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package instructions. For the sedanini – this is 5-6 minutes. Drain the cooked pasta.
- In either a medium-sized rectangle casserole dish (approximately 11″ x 7″ x 2″ – see note for my exact dimensions) or same pot you used to cook the pasta, mix the cooked pasta and sauce. Stir in additional spices, if using. Add additional sauce if you want the pasta bake to be more saucy. Do you. 😉
- Spread the pasta mixture flat in the baking dish, slice the mozzarella somewhat thinly, and evenly distribute the mozzarella slices on top of the pasta. I try to cover as much of the pasta as possible, but it’s okay if there are some gaps.
- Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is nice and melty.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for a bit until it’s safe to eat. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- I used a non-metal, ceramic, non-stick casserole dish, so I don’t use non-stick spray, etc. If your casserole dish requires it, prep your dish as needed to prevent food from sticking.
- My casserole dish is 12.2″L x 7.4″W x 2.3″H with a 62.8 ounce capacity. A similar size dish should work just fine. Of course, if you make the recipe larger to feed more, you’ll need to use a larger casserole dish accordingly.
- For the pasta, I used about half the bag of Trader Joe’s red lentil sedanini. It was about 2 cups of dry pasta.
- For the sauce, I used about half the jar of Trader Joe’s organic basil marinara sauce. It was about 1 1/2 cups.
Keywords: Vegetarian, Gluten-Free, Pasta, Trader Joe's, Easy, 3 Ingredients, 30 Minutes or Less
