Creamy Sausage Alfredo Bake
Italian sausage is combined with a garlicky homemade alfredo sauce, tossed with rigatoni pasta and mozzarella cheese, then baked until bubbly and golden brown. The creamy alfredo sauce tucks away into the tubes of the rigatoni pasta, oozing out with every perfect bite.
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 1 lb. spicy Italian sausage ground or casings removed from links
- 12 oz Rigatoni or similar tube pasta
- 6-8 garlic cloves, minced divided
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 stick butter
- 2.5 cups heavy cream half and half can be subbed
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2.5 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with nonstick spray
- In a large skillet, add two tablespoons of olive oil. Saute onions for about two minutes or until translucent then add in half the garlic. Cook for another minute then add in the sausage to crumbles and cook through.
- Set sausage/onions aside in a bowl, strain out most of the grease (leaving about 1 tbsp for flavor).
- In the same pan over medium low, melt the butter, then add in the remaining garlic and saute about 1 minute until fragrant. Pour in the cream slowly whisking to combine with the butter. Allow the cream to simmer about 5 minutes.
- Start to boil a pot of salted water for pasta while the alfredo simmers.
- To the cream, add in the parmesan, whisking until it incorporates. Taste and adjust salt, pepper and red pepper flakes as needed.
- Cook the pasta to al dente according to the package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.
- Strain and return pasta to the pot, pour in the alfredo sauce, sausage/onions and 1 cup of mozzarella cheese. Mix it all together until it's combined, adding a few splashes of pasta water if needed to loosen.
- Pour pasta into the prepared casserole dish, top with remaining cheese and bake for 30 minutes or until it's bubbly and slightly golden brown.