This 15 Minutes Cheesy Baked Pasta Recipe is the best pick me up that I ever have. Cheesy, savoury, hearty and most importantly, low effort! All my cravings were satisfied and I could always go for more!

For this 15 Minutes Cheesy Baked Pasta Recipe, you will only need a few ingredients to prepare it. Certainly, you will need a pasta of choice. However, what’s important is also to have vegetables and meats that are easily cooked. Best is if they do not need any cooking at all.

My choice of vegetables is broccoli which remains lightly crunchy after the short baking process. Then, I chose ready-to-eat luncheon meat as the choice of meat. As such, I had minimal cooking to do and I got on to assembling the dish pretty quickly!

Also, here’s a breakdown of the timeline if you’re curious!

  • 7 minutes: Boiling of pasta, to al dente (to adjust accordingly)
  • 2 minutes: Mixing of pasta with pasta sauce, cheese, vegetables and meat
  • 1 minute: Transferring to baking dish
  • 3 – 4 minutes: Baking (I used an air fryer, oven works too, but make sure to pre-heat early!)

If you’re feeling super empowered or on a tight time crunch, make sure to wash the dishes along the way! There are also methods that you can utilise to save the number of dishes to wash. For instance, you can drain the pasta from the saucepan and to mix the ingredients in the sauce pan itself.

I will also be sharing a video soon.

Without further ado, the recipe!

Fast 15 Minutes Cheesy Baked Pasta
by Javier Tan September-19-2023

Looking for the best pick me up? This 15 Minutes Cheesy Baked Pasta is exactly what you need, and with minimal effort too!

Ingredients

  • 3/4 Cup of Pasta of Choice
  • 3/4 Cup of Pasta Sauce (I used ready made Mixed Herb Tomato Sauce)
  • 1 Cup of Mozzarella Cheese (3/4 for mixing, 1/4 for topping)
  • 1/2 Cup of Broccoli or Vegetable of Choice, Chopped into Small Pieces (To blanch if something softer is preferred)
  • 1/2 Cup of Ready to eat Luncheon Meat / Sausages, Chopped into Small pieces
  • Salt, Herbs and Pepper, to taste

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat your oven to 200C or air fryer to 180C.
  2. Boiled pasta in salted water until al dente (according to packaging instructions).
  3. Then, drain the pasta and mix it with pasta sauce, vegetables, meat, cheese and other seasoning.
  4. Next, transfer to a baking dish and to top it off with the remaining cheese.
  5. Bake for approx 5 – 6 minutes (if oven) and 3 – 5 minutes (if air fryer) until nicely golden brown on top. Please note that timing may differ from appliance to appliance and best to check along the way!
  6. Serve and enjoy. I topped mine with dried parsley!

Details

  • Prep time: 10 mins
  • Cook time: 5 mins
  • Total time: 15 mins
  • Yield: 1 Serving of The Best Pick Me Up Cheesy Baked Pasta

Notes:

  1. If you would like to be updated for more recipes which I strive to create to perfection for sharing and for free, do check out my Instagram, Facebook Page, or YouTube 🙂 Thank you so much for all of your support! Feel free to tag me or link back here!
  2. Best served on the day itself. If you’re storing the leftovers, leave it covered in the fridge. Then, bake at 140 degrees C for 10 minutes when you would like to consume again (the baked pasta may be drier).
  3. Feel free to ask if you’ve further questions!

Enjoy!
– Bakeomaniac, Javier Tan