Rigatoni sausage bake

Rigatoni sausage bake

A great way to get kids to eat spinach, this is a healthy, comforting sausage supper dish

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 45 - 50 mins

Freezable

Method

  1. Slit the sausages and remove them from their skins, then chop them into small pieces. Heat the oil in a pan, add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, until softened and lightly browned. Stir in the sausages and fry until lightly coloured. Add the carrot, then stir in the wine, stock, tomato purée, and season.
  2. Bring to the boil, then simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes until thickened. Taste and season. Set aside.
  3. Put the butter, flour and milk in a pan. Gently heat, whisking, until thickened and smooth. Add a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg, season, then simmer for 2 minutes.
  4. Preheat the oven to 190C/Gas 5/fan 170C. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta, stir well, then cook, uncovered, for 10-12 minutes, until tender. Remove from the heat, stir in the spinach and, when just wilted, drain well.
  5. Tip half the pasta into a shallow ovenproof dish, about 2.2 litre/4 pint, and level. Spoon over the sausage sauce, then cover with the remaining pasta. Pour the white sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle with the cheddar. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Leave for 5 minutes before serving.
Try

Make ahead

The joy of this dish is that it can be made ready to bake several hours ahead or frozen, so it's perfect if you are having friends round or want to get the cooking out of the way early.

Per serving

749 kcalories, protein 31.0g, carbohydrate 84.0g, fat 33.0 g, saturated fat 16.0g, fibre 5.0g, salt 2.32 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2002.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 21-40

  • Binder photo Reesy

    25 September 2008

    Reesy rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I made this for a family meal which got a big thumbs up from everyone & several requests for the recipe as it was so tasty. Even my 27yr old brother, who dislikes all vegetables, loved it. After i informed him he'd just eaten carrot, onions and spinach he still said he'd happily eat it again - so its definately a winner on that front too!!

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  • Binder photo nessynoo

    21 October 2008

    nessynoo rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very tasty,Hubby liked it even though he's not a sausage fan!. Easy to do as well, will make again.

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  • Binder photo Jaydi

    04 November 2008

    Jaydi rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Very nice, though it did take me an hour and a half to make it. (I am slow.) And three of us managed to plough through about 80% of it. Though admittedly we were ravenous from having to wait so long. :) I would make it again though.

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  • Binder photo Heather

    18 November 2008

    Heather rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This is so yummy

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  • Binder photo WendyKr

    11 January 2009

    WendyKr commented on this recipe

    Recently remade this with twice as much sausage sauce and some grated cheese in the white sauce and it works really well!

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  • Binder photo lusucanna

    23 February 2009

    lusucanna rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo maxismummy

    08 March 2009

    maxismummy rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    This is delicous and have made it a number of times now, also a bit hit with my young children, makes loads and freezes surprisingly well too.

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  • Binder photo David O'Connell

    16 March 2009

    David O'Connell rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    I first tried this recipe about 6 years ago. It is now a staple in our house, and the kids have grown up with it. It gets requested every week, and my 8 year old son says it's his favourite dinner ever (when we are away on holiday, he complains that he can't have it in restaurants). Oh, and he wine left over makes a perfect accompaniment to the meal! Heaven.

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  • Binder photo BB is the chef

    16 March 2009

    BB is the chef rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very nice but i think the proportion of ingredients could be reviewed especially the pasta and milk amount for the white sauce.

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  • Binder photo maxismummy

    11 April 2009

    maxismummy commented on this recipe

    I have just made this again this morning and forgot to add the other thing I do is, rather than add the spinach when the pasta is still in water, drain it first then wilt the spinach just in the warm pan of pasta. Somehow seems less 'soggy' as it is also going to be cooked in the oven. Might be a personal thing as I like my spinach as raw leaves best anyway. Looking forward to eating this again tonight yum!

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  • Binder photo SamB

    24 April 2009

    SamB rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Was surprised at how tasty this recipe was. Big plus that you can make in advance, gives you a chance to clean up all the pots!

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  • Binder photo recipe1

    02 May 2009

    recipe1 rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Delicious & very big portions as this is filling! Reckon half quantities still serve 4 with extra veg on side etc. (did grilled pepper/ courgettes/ mushrooms which went well Used butchers tomato & basil sausages and some sun dried toms, garlic and dried basil to sauce- very tasty! Lots of pans to wash is only disadvantage!

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  • Binder photo Lisa

    13 May 2009

    Lisa rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    My family really liked this one but thought it needed a bit more of the sausage sauce so next time I will use 8 sausages (ok I didn't weigh them just used 6 I found in the freezer!). I wasn't expecting it to make such a huge quantity, but I froze half for another day. You do need a very large pan for 500g of pasta. A great dish which you can make, chill and heat up when you get in. My children are 4 and 8 and they would definitely eat it again.

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  • Binder photo Ellen

    24 May 2009

    Ellen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This was lovely lovely lovely! Would recommend it!

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  • Binder photo ClairSP

    04 June 2009

    ClairSP commented on this recipe

    Delicious and well worth the effort!!! i added garlic to and omitted the red wine as didn't have any open, just added a touch more red wine vinegar. It was really, really tasty and despite the white sauce and cheese wasn't too heavy as some pasta bakes can be. Definitely going to be a regular in our house.

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  • Binder photo Peter747

    06 July 2009

    Peter747 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Really good although will add some garlic next time. Also 500g of pasta is a HUGE amount so will probably cut that down to 400g. Will definitely do again

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  • Binder photo NiniB

    06 July 2009

    NiniB rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Favourite dish ever! If it were up to my husband we'd have this every week! However, I tend to reduce my wine/sausage mixture for 20-25 mins rather than the recommended 15 to make it even thicker.

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  • Binder photo emmamac

    21 August 2009

    emmamac commented on this recipe

    Made this with some caramelised red onion sausages and a tin of tomatoes as I didn't have any puree. It was great. Everyone had seconds and it will definitely be a regular midweek meal. Very tasty. I probably cut the sausages a bit too big - would cut them into little bits next time so you a piece in each mouthful.

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  • Binder photo Jen

    21 August 2009

    Jen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    WOW this is a delish dish!! I must admit though, I changed quite a lot of the recipe, but it was really yummy! I chucked in some frozen peas instead of spinach, because thats all I had in. I used beef stock instead in veg stock and I used tinned tomatoes. I added chilli powder to give it a kick, and also added paprika and garlic. I left out the red wine because we didn't have any and didn't use nutmeg in the white sauce. This is just one of those dishes you can tweek as much as you like. Definately a winner in our house, this is going to be a weekly dish!

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  • Binder photo duttiep

    01 September 2009

    duttiep rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    As there are only two of us, I decided to halve the recipe. When I saw the amount of sausage though, I decided to cook the full amount. What a wonderful meal. Will last a while, or may freeze it. Just enough time to wash the pans while it's baking in the oven. Will definitely cook it regularly from now on.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 45 - 50 mins

Freezable

Great idea with pasta

Ingredients

  • 400g good quality pork sausages
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 onion , chopped
  • 1 large carrot , grated
  • 150ml red wine
  • 300ml vegetable stock
  • 3 tbsp tomato purée

FOR THE SAUCE

  • 50g butter
  • 50g plain flour
  • 600ml milk
  • freshly grated nutmeg
  • 500g rigatoni or penne
  • 200g fresh spinach
  • 140g mature cheddar , grated
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Per serving

749 kcalories, protein 31.0g, carbohydrate 84.0g, fat 33.0 g, saturated fat 16.0g, fibre 5.0g, salt 2.32 g

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