Baked Spaghetti with a Creamy Vodka Sauce
Baked spaghetti with vodka sauce is a fantastic meal to serve when you're feeding a crowd. A creamy vodka sauce baked with thick bucatini pasta comes together for an easy comfort meal that you can prepare in twenty minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 lb sweet Italian Sausage
- 1 lb hot Italian sausage
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- ¼ cup fresh basil (chopped)
- 16 ounces prepared vodka cream sauce (2 cups)
- 1 lb bucatini pasta
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese (1 ½ cups)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese (grated)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove the casings from the sausages and add to the pan breaking apart as they cook. Cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add onions and salt and pepper and cook until the onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add fresh basil and garlic and cook an additional minute. Add prepared vodka sauce and reduce heat to low. Let it simmer for 10 minutes.
- While the sausage is cooking, cook pasta in a pot of salted water until it is al dente. Drain.
- In a large bowl, combine half of the ricotta and half of the parmesan along with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the hot pasta and toss to coat. Add the sausage mixture and mix well. Ad the remaining ricotta and parmesan and mix. Pour into a very large baking dish or 2 smaller ones and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake until bubbly and golden, about 45 minutes.
Barbara's Notes + Tips
- This can be refrigerated before baking, just bring to room temperature before placing in the oven.
- You can half the recipe
- You can freeze this prior to baking or after it has baked. Just let it come to room temperature before baking.
- You can substitute any shaped pasta for the bucatini.
- You can substitute marinara sauce for the vodka sauce.
Nutrition
Calories: 573kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 37g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Cholesterol: 92mg | Sodium: 1005mg | Potassium: 473mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 507IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 274mg | Iron: 2mg
