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5 from 1 vote

Spinach & Ricotta Pasta Bake

You won't miss the meat in this filling and tasty pasta bake, which only requires 15 min prep!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
55 minutes
Servings: 6
Author: By Nagi

Ingredients

  • 10 oz (300 g) ziti pasta, uncooked or other short pasta of choice
  • 1.5 cups (150 g) mozzarella cheese, shredded or more

Ricotta Mixture

  • 1 lb (500 g) ricotta (Note 1)
  • 1/2 cup (50 g) parmesan cheese, grated
  • 2 garlic cloves , crushed
  • 12 oz (350 g) frozen chopped spinach (Note 2) thawed and excess liquid pressed out
  • 1 cup (100 g) Mozzarella cheese, grated
  • ¾ tsp salt & pepper

Shortcut Pasta Sauce

  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced 
  • 24 oz (700 g) tomato passata (Note 3)
  • 1 tsp EACH onion and garlic powder
  • 2 tsp dried Italian Mixed Herbs (Note 4)
  • 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes (optional)
  • 1 tsp EACH sugar and salt
  • black pepper
  • 2 tbsp water if needed

To Serve

  • parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
  • Pasta Sauce: Pour out about 1/4 cup of the passata (to make room to add flavourings). Add the remaining Pasta Sauce ingredients into the bottle, screw the lid on and give it a shake.
  • Cook pasta for time per packet MINUS 1 minute.
  • Scoop out 1 mugful pasta cooking water, drain and set aside.
  • Ricotta Mixture: Mix Ricotta Mixture ingredients in a very large bowl. Use a splash of pasta cooking water if needed to make it creamy.
  • Add pasta and stir to combine. Transfer to a heatproof baking dish.
  • Top with Pasta Sauce, top with cheese. Loosely cover with foil.
  • Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for a further 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve while hot.

Notes

1. Ricotta - Some ricottas are soft and creamy, others are a bit drier and more crumbly. Use pasta cooking water to loosen ricotta so it can be tossed through the pasta.
2. Spinach - or use 1 large bunch of fresh, shredded.
3. Tomato passata is strained pureed canned tomatoes. Readily available in supermarkets nowadays, usually alongside pasta sauces, same price as canned tomatoes. US/Canada best sub - what you know as Tomato Sauce (eg. Hunts)
4. Mixed Italian Herbs is a dried herb mix you can get from the supermarket which costs the same as other herbs. You can substitute with a mix of other dried herbs - basil, parsley, oregano and thyme go particularly well.
Storage - Keep leftovers in the fridge and reheat in microwave. To freeze, assemble but do not bake, then freeze. Thaw then bake per recipe.