Hey everyone, welcome to my recipe page, if you're looking for Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe, look no further! We provide you only the best Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe here. We also have wide variety of recipes to try.
Before you jump to Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe, you may want to read this short interesting healthy tips about Choosing Fast Food That’s Good For You.
Just about any article you read about bettering your health or losing weight is going to tell you to ignore the drive through and cook all of your meals instead. This is literally very true. Now and then, though, you definitely do not need to make a whole meal for your family or even just for yourself. Sometimes you just wish to reach the drive through on the way home and call it a day. There isn’t any reason that you shouldn’t be allowed to do this and not be tormented by remorse about slipping on your diet. This is because many of the famous fast food restaurants out there are trying to “healthy up” their choices. Here is how to eat healthy and balanced when you hit the drive through.
Go for the side dishes. It wasn’t that long ago that all you could get in a fast food diner was French Fries. Now most of the fast food selections have been widened a great deal. Now lots of them offer salads. Chili can be a different option. Baked potatoes can also be bought. You can choose fruit. There are a lot of options that don’t require eating something deep fried. When deciding on your supper from the drive through, select a variety of side items instead of choosing a pre-made “meal deal”. This makes it possible for you to keep the calorie count low and lower your fat intake.
Standard logic tells us that one certain way to get healthy and shed pounds is to by pass the drive through and to remove fast food restaurants from your thoughts. While this is usually a good suggestion all you need to do is make a few good selections and traveling to the drive through isn’t anything to worry about–when you do it in moderation. Sometimes what you need is to let another person make your dinner. When you want healthy menu items, you do not have to feel bad about visiting the drive through.
We hope you got benefit from reading it, now let’s go back to baked rigatoni and meatballs recipe. You can cook baked rigatoni and meatballs using 19 ingredients and 5 steps. Here is how you achieve it.
The ingredients needed to cook Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
- Prepare 1 box (16 oz.) rigatoni noodles
- Get 2 cups ricotta cheese
- Prepare 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- Provide Sauce:
- Use 1 tbsp. olive oil
- Provide 3 cloves garlic, minced
- Prepare 3 cans (8 oz.) each unsalted tomato sauce
- You need 1/4 cup heavy cream
- Use 1 tsp. each dried basil, dried parsley
- Use 1/2 tsp. each salt, granulated sugar, onion powder
- Provide 1/4 tsp. pepper
- Take Meatballs:
- Prepare 1 lb. ground beef
- Take 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- Prepare 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- Prepare 1 large egg
- You need 1 tsp. dried parsley
- Take 1/2 tsp. each salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil
- Take 1 tbsp. olive oil
Instructions to make Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs:
- First thing to do is get your sauce going. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Once it's hot, add the garlic. Cook and stir just until it's fragrant… only a minute or two. Then pour in the tomato sauce, cream, sugar and seasonings. Once it starts to simmer, reduce the heat down to low and start preparing the meatballs.
- For the meatballs, place the ground beef, breadcrumbs, cheese, egg and seasonings into a large bowl. Use your hands to mix and incorporate everything together. Then roll the meat mixture into mini meatballs. Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Once it's hot, add the meatballs to the skillet in batches. Cook and roll them around in the skillet every few minutes until they are browned on all sides. Then remove them from the skillet and stir them gently into the sauce.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13" baking pan and set it aside. Heat a large pot of salted water over high heat. Once it begins to boil, stir in the rigatoni pasta and cook according to package directions, until al dente. Drain and return to the pot. Then stir the ricotta cheese into the hot pasta. Add the sauce and meatballs to the pot and stir it all together. Then turn it out into the greased pan and sprinkle the mozzarella cheese evenly over the top.
- Bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until heated through and the cheese has a nice golden color. Serve immediately.
- If you only wanted to bake a smaller serving at a time, you could turn out the pasta mixture into two greased 8x8"baking pans instead of the larger 9x13". Top one with cheese and cook it immediately. Let the second one cool down completely, then top with the cheese, wrap it up tightly and place it in the freezer. The night before you're planning on baking it, place it in the fridge to thaw out overnight, then bake it for 30-40 minutes or until 165°F throughout. Each 8x8" pan will serve 4 people.
If you find this Baked Rigatoni and Meatballs recipe useful please share it to your friends or family, thank you and good luck.
