The Cheesy Sausage Pasta is  a baked pasta dish that can be made to your tastes. I like to use the colored spiral pastas. This time I used Ronzoni Garden Delights Radiatore. They look like little corkscrews and they hold lots of sauce. My husband works at a meat market that makes their own fresh sausage and I like to use their sausage. Use your favorite sausage whether it be fresh, smoked, or Italian.

This pasta can be assembled ahead of time and baked later. Sometimes I have time to get dishes ready before I go to work and they can be popped in the oven when I get home.

The original version of this recipe comes from Taste of Home.

Here are the ingredients: spiral pasta, fresh sausage out of the casings, onions, garlic, jar of favorite spaghetti sauce, shredded cheese, and oregano.

Cook pasta according to box instructions.

While the pasta is cooking, fry the sausage, onions and garlic over medium heat until the sausage is no longer pink. Mix in the spaghetti sauce and oregano. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer the entire mixture about 20 minutes.

Next, it’s time to assemble the layers. Start with about 1/2 cup of the meat sauce in the bottom of a 2 1/2 quart oven safe casserole dish to create a base. Drain the pasta and spoon half of it over the sauce. Top with 1/2 of the remaining meat sauce. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the shredded cheese. Then, just repeat the layers – pasta, sauce, cheese.

Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake for 350 for 25-30 minutes. Then, uncover and bake 5-10 minutes longer until the cheese is bubbly and melted.

This Cheesy Sausage Pasta recipe can be served with the garlic knots that were tested by Jess a few weeks ago. They’re a perfect match! Here’s the printable recipe: