Cheesy Spinach Tomato Pasta Bake recipe loaded with fresh spinach, tomatoes, garlic, parmesan and mozzarella cheese. This hearty and healthy vegetarian recipe is the perfect pasta dish for a busy weeknight. This recipe is super kid friendly because kids love baked pasta and cheese, even if you make sneak in some greens and make it a spinach pasta bake.
My 5 year old baby girl adores “ba-sketti” (or spaghetti for the rest of the world) but since she is 5, if it doesn’t look exactly like her adorable little mind thinks it should, then I have a problem. Hence my conundrum last week when I placed this gorgeous dish on the table for dinner after I had mistakenly told her earlier in the day that we were having spaghetti for dinner. She wasn’t too happy with the “yucky green pieces” that she saw but once I bribed her with some homemade french bread to give it a taste, she devoured her helping and had another after!
This spinach pasta bake recipe is one that I had forgotten all about until I was doing some organizing of my recipe collection and I felt like a kid on Christmas morning when I found the well worn 3×5 recipe card with this gem on it.
As a food blogger, I get so involved creating new recipes that I often forget about the home run classics that I’ve already got in my repertoire! I always love an easy pasta recipe and this really does come together really quick, so don’t be afraid to whip it up on a busy weeknight.
Spinach Tomato Pasta Bake VIDEO
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Grilled Italian Vegetarian Panini 
Mediterranean Quesadillas
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Cheesy Spinach Tomato Pasta Bake Recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
An easy pasta recipe that uses all your favorite vegetables then bakes in the oven to make all the cheese melted and golden brown!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound box penne pasta
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 – 14 oz cans Italian seasoned tomatoes, undrained
- 16 ounces fresh spinach
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 C freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 8 oz mozzarella cheese, cubed
Instructions
- Cook your pasta in salted water according to the package directions to al dente, then drain and set aside. Do not rinse the cooked pasta!
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and when hot, add the onion. Sauté until the onion is beginning to soften, then add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute. Add the undrained Italian tomatoes, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to simmer and reduce for about 15 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Add the spinach in large handfuls, mixing it in after each handful. Allow the spinach to wilt a bit and then add another large bunch of spinach, repeating until all the spinach has been added. Add 1/3 C of the parmesan cheese and mix it in before pouring the sauce over your cooked pasta.
- Add cubed mozzarella cheese before tossing the sauce with the pasta, then combine until the sauce and cheese is evenly distributed. Transfer the pasta to a greased large casserole dish then sprinkle on the remaining parmesan cheese before placing under the broiler until the cheese browns on top.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/10 th
- Calories: 339
- Sugar: 3 g
- Sodium: 561 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 42 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 18 g
- Cholesterol: 24 mg
Keywords: easy pasta recipes
This sounds AMAZING!!
Thanks Mariel 🙂
Can you freeze?l
Yes, you can freeze it but pasta does get a bit soft after freezing
Made this tonight. Was great! Thanks for the recipe!!
You are so welcome Jennifer!
About how many does this feed?
Easily 8 adults Layla!
How many calories?
Howdy Nicole! I don’t have the nutritional information for this recipe but there are a lot of great online calculators to help you figure it out.
The food was fantastic and fed so many people. Thanks for the fabulous recipe
You are very welcome Madison!
Did I read this wrong? 4 cans of tomatoes?
Howdy Jamie…you read correctly 🙂
Is this a recipe you can make ahead and freeze successfully?
Hey there Kelli! I’ve never been a fan of freezing pasta because it tends to be mushy. It will work as a freezer meal, but I would leave the pasta a bit undercooked by a minute or two if you are planning on freezing it.
About how long might it be that i leave the pasta in the oven and at what temperature?
Hey Julia! You need to use the broil function of your oven, so it isn’t a temperature. Put it pan close under the broiler and leave it there until the cheese melts and lightly browns. Just watch it closely because once it begins to brown, it will quickly go too far!
Hi, I’m excited to make this! I know you said you don’t typically like to freeze pasta but if I plan to make it a day in advance and reheat it, how long would you recommend to put in oven and at what temperature?
Thanks! Jen
If you are going to do this Jen, I would not use the oven when you make it the day before but then reheat it, covered, at 350 until hot.
Amazing recipe thanks
You are very welcome Jennifer!
What did I do wrong? Mine is so soupy!!
Hey Lindsay! Without seeing exactly what you did, I can only guess. My first thought is that you didn’t reduce the liquid in the pan enough. It really should be fairly thick before you are done reducing it.
Thanks for this recipe! I have now made it twice and both times the dish turned out great and it was a big hit with my dinner guests. The first time I made this pasta bake, I did it just as the recipe was written. And the second time I made it, i added some pre-cooked frozen meatballs to the sauce when it was simmering. It was delicious! This is a straightforward recipe and I will definitely make it again. Thanks!
★★★★★
Thanks Dee for sharing your version and it does sound delicious with meatballs!
Making this right now for lunch for my daycare. I do vegetarian meals 3 days a week so this might be added to my repertoire. Tasting soon!
Awesome Holly! I would love to know what you think 🙂
Just made this for a friend who had surgery…so glad I made it in two smaller casserole dishes so I could have the other one! I can’t stop eating it! Thanks so much for the recipe! So much flavor!
★★★★★
I am so glad you love it as much as I do Sarah!
Absolutely delicious! My whole family loves this recipe!
★★★★★
I’m so glad Jackie!
Wow, this was yummy! My family loved it! I was thinking of adding meatballs, but it really doesn’t need it!! Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
You are very welcome!
Hi! Is there a way to post the calorie content of this?? Im trying to keep track!
Hello Caroline! I don’t have that information, but there are a ton of amazing online calorie calculators if you are interested.
If I don’t have spinach do I have to alter the recipe or just keep it out?
You can just keep it out but of course, I encourage you to give it a try with the spinach!
Can you eat this cold and will it still be good?
It would be good, but the cheese would be firm if you are ok with that 🙂
I just made this recipe. It was extremely soupy. Very frustrating. Had to throw it out.
★
Crystal – if you follow the directions as written, there should be absolutely nothing soupy about this dish. You have to give the sauce the required time to reduce or you will end up with a very soupy dish. I hope you try it again!
Love this recipe! I used 3 14.5 oz cans instead. And added meatballs. Yum.
★★★★
Glad you made it work Kat!
Made this for Christmas. The mozzarella cheese tended to clump together, but otherwise this was delicious. Went over well with my family
★★★★
thanks for your feedback Ashley!
I found this too, so I started to add the mozzarella cubes immediately after I drain the pasta, and then set aside with the lid on. It melts quite a bit before I add the sauce.
I found this recipe through Pinterest, and it is now a family favourite. It is, in fact, my daughter’s very favourite meal.
★★★★★
Thanks Sherry! I’m glad you love it as much as I do!
I pinned this to my fiancé and it’s one of her favorite things to make! Thank you!
★★★★★
You are welcome Nick!
What kind of tomatoes do you use? Diced, crushed, stewed?
Hi Gina! Great question. I used petite diced but honestly, any of those options will work just fine. My kiddos just prefer a smaller piece of tomato
I have made this recipe on 3 occasions and it has been a well-received dish each time. The last time I added some baked meatballs to it and it was delicious. I just pulled up the recipe to make it for friends tomorrow again. Easy, tasty, reliable. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe
★★★★★
Thank you Dee for coming back and sharing your review!
We had this for a meatless Monday and it was delicious! I added a bit more mozzarella cheese because we LOVE cheese 🙂
★★★★★
I’m so glad you loved it! And thanks for coming back and leaving your review. It helps a lot!
So good and so easy! Thank you
★★★★★
You are very welcome! Thanks for the review 🙂
Hi! Do you think cheddar cheese would work well with this recipe? Do you think it would change the taste?
Hello! It would definitely change the taste because cheddar is a much less neutral cheese compared to mozzarella. At a minimum, I would use half of each.
If I wanted to use jarred pasta sauce to save on time, how much would I need?
Hi Joanne! The honest answer to your question is I don’t know. I worry using a jarred pasta sauce just because it is a sauce, compared to this pasta bake having pieces of tomato, spinach, and cheese throughout the pasta. The recipe was designed not to have a traditional sauce so that it would be a lighter, fresher taste compared to jarred sauce.
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
★★★★★
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I had to use 4 cans of Italian stewed tomatoes because my grocery store didn’t have Italian diced tomatoes. I broke them up and I also added hamburger! It was so good! I will definitely make this again!
★★★★★
Thanks for coming back Angie and leaving your review! It helps so much 🙂