Do you and your family love pasta and meatballs? This cheesy meatball casserole recipe comes together easily with frozen meatballs, marinara sauce, and pasta. Easy with minimal prep, it’s perfect for busy weeknights!
Your Shopping List
Here’s a quick-reference checklist of the common ingredients you’ll need for this family favorite recipe. A full list of ingredients with measurements is available in the printable recipe card below.
- Frozen meatballs – look for Italian meatballs from the frozen foods section of your grocery store.
- Penne rigate pasta – penne works well for this recipe, however, you could substitute most other medium-sized pasta, like rotini, rigatoni, ziti, or Gemelli.
- Pasta sauce – a simple marinara sauce or tomato sauce works well for this recipe, however, feel free to choose a flavor that suits your tastes. If you like a robust sauce, add another 1-2 teaspoons of dry Italian seasoning, garlic powder, or onion powder. Or to be a big hit, all of them.
- Water – water is needed to help the pasta bake and become tender.
- Shredded mozzarella cheese – you can use either regular or part-skim mozzarella shredded cheese for this recipe. Next time I’ll do a mix of cheese and more cheese.
This Is How We Do It
One of my favorite parts of this recipe is that it’s super quick and easy. check out exactly how to make it below.
- Add pasta and water. In a casserole dish or 9 x 13” pan coated with cooking spray, add the uncooked pasta, water, and pasta sauce. Stir these together well.
- Defrost meatballs. In your microwave, using the defrost setting, defrost the meatballs. Once the meatballs are no longer frozen, add them to the pasta and sauce mixture. If they aren’t defrosted, they won’t have enough time to cook, but make sure they also aren’t hot, otherwise they won’t be juicy meatballs.
- Cover and bake. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake the casserole. About halfway through baking, stir the mixture to ensure the pasta and meatballs bake evenly.
- Top with cheese and bake. Add the shredded mozzarella cheese to the top of the casserole and bake until the cheese is completely melted and light golden brown.
- Enjoy. Serve with your favorite side salad or vegetables. And I like to add more cheese, specifically freshly shredded parmesan cheese and fresh hand-torn pieces of fresh basil from the garden.
5S Philosophy 👩🏻🍳
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- Salt – Mozzarella cheese adds a little saltiness to the dish and your meatballs will likely have a bit in them as well. Taste your marinara sauce and add a little extra salt there, too, if you feel like it needs it.
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- Seasoning – Jazz up your sauce with crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, or Italian seasoning — or sprinkle them on top of the casserole before serving.
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- Sauces – The beauty of this recipe is that you can choose any marinara that you like. Go with a more basic sauce if you’re feeding a crowd with varied palates or opt for a spicy version if you prefer!
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- Swaps – Instead of traditional meatballs, try using ones made with ground chicken or ground turkey.
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- Senses – There’s nothing quite like the aroma that wafts through the kitchen when you make Italian-inspired meals! Plus, everyone loves the look of a good cheese pull when this is being served.
Sidekicks that Shine
This baked pasta dish is fantastic served with your favorite green salad with Italian dressing. It can also be paired with fresh or frozen vegetables, like garlic parmesan broccolini, green beans, or peas. And of course, garlic bread.
Storage and Freezing
You can store the casserole in its original dish or transfer it to individual airtight containers for easy reheating.
How to Store
When refrigerated in an airtight container or large freezer bag, pasta and meatballs will keep for up to five days.
Can I Freeze Meatball Casserole?
You can also freeze this casserole. Check out my tips for how to freeze a casserole for the best method. Be mindful that pasta and cheese never defrosts or tastes as well as it does when freshly cooked.
Helpful Tips & Answers
When baking frozen meatballs, it is not necessary to sauté them before baking. Make sure the meatballs are thawed and no longer frozen before adding to the sauce.
Sure! Get our your crockpot and follow the same instructions, but cook for an hour or so on low. Check periodically for the pasta to be al dente cooked and tender meatballs.
A keto meatball casserole is literally just meatballs, cheese and sauce. No pasta! If you make this, do not add extra water. It isn’t needed since you aren’t cooking pasta. The cooking time will be the same. You can also use zucchini noodles, but it won’t need the extra water either.
More Easy Recipes
We love pasta recipes — here are a few more!
Meatball Casserole Recipe
Ingredients
- 14-32 ounces bag of frozen meatballs
- 1 pound box of penne pasta (16 ounces)
- 24 ounces jar of marinara sauce
- 3 cups water
- 8 ounces mozzarella cheese , shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly spray a casserole dish or 9 x 13” pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a large microwave safe bowl, add the 14-32 ounces bag of frozen meatballs. Using the defrost setting, defrost the meatballs for 5-7 minutes or until completely thawed.
- To the prepared baking dish or pan, add the 1 pound box of penne pasta, 24 ounces jar of marinara sauce and 3 cups water. Using a rubber scraper, stir to combine. Add in the thawed meatballs.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 35 minutes, stirring the casserole halfway through baking.
- Remove from oven and top the casserole with the 8 ounces mozzarella cheese. Bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and light golden brown.
- Let the casserole cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- If you've tried this recipe, come back and let us know how it was in the comments or star ratings.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
I do a half recipe since I live alone, but this is so easy and still tastes like you spent all day preparing it.
This turned out great! The only thing I changed was used 1/2 Alfredo and 1/2 marinara. Will definitely be making this regularly!
Such perfect comfort food! I know my family would just love this. 🙂
I am always looking for an easy yet yummy weeknight dinner idea for my family. I love that this dish involves minimal prep work and is done in under an hour.
Seriously the easiest weeknight recipe ever. We always have homemade meatballs in the freezer (my husband is Italian so that’s the only kind he will eat) and I love not having to boil and drain pasta.
This came together so quickly and everyone loved it! Thanks for such an easy recipe!
Made this RIGHT after seeing it and wow, it did not disappoint! Just as delicious and cozy as it looks.