Pasta Bake with White Sauce

45 min.
Our creamy pasta bake with white sauce is a popular dish that brings together the famed deliciousness of Italian, French, and Middle Eastern cuisines. This lasagna-like white sauce pasta bake with beef ragù and Middle Eastern spices is quick and easy to cook. Try it this Ramadan to experience flavors that will delight your taste buds with cheesy and creamy béchamel and a wonderfully spiced tomato ragù.

Ingredients

4 portions

Pasta:

Meat:

Instructions

  • Pasta:

  • Meat:

  • Assemble the pasta:

Tip

Béchamel usually thickens as it cools down, so it is recommended to serve this dish warm and fresh. Keep leftover pasta bake with white sauce in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the fridge. To reheat it, you can put it in the microwave or heat it slowly in the oven. You may need to add some milk if the sauce is too thick.

Questions about pasta bake with white sauce

With this simple recipe, preparing a delicious lasagne-like cheesy pasta bake with white sauce is easy as pie. To learn more about it, keep reading our questions and answers below.
What is pasta bake with white sauce?

Pasta bake with white sauce is a lasagne-like dish with layers of penne, rigatoni, farfalle, conchiglie, or the like, flavourful meat and tomato ragù, and creamy white sauce. The white sauce for pasta bake is a so-called béchamel sauce with cheese and a slight hint of nutmeg. Sprinkled with shredded mozzarella and baked to golden brown perfection, it makes for a filling dinner that is irresistible for kids and adults alike. It is quick and easy to prepare and, as such, perfect for busy nights.

How to make pasta bake with white sauce?

In the mood for a filling Italian-inspired white sauce pasta bake with Middle Eastern influences? Look no further! Simply boil penne, rigatoni, or the like in salted water. As you do, prepare the meat and tomato ragù. Place half of the pasta in a dish and cover it with a third of the light yet creamy béchamel with cheese. Then add the tomato and meat ragù and the remaining pasta. Cover the meat and pasta in white sauce and top with a layer of mozzarella. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes before enjoying your delicious pasta bake with white sauce.

How to make a pasta bake meat sauce?

Making a Middle Eastern-infused meat ragù is neither difficult nor time-consuming. It is a basic meat sauce with only a few ingredients, and it is perfect for many dishes like our pasta bake with white sauce. Our recipe is a Middle Eastern-inspired meat ragù, meaning you get even more flavour than in a regular ragù. Start by sautéing onion and garlic in oil, then add minced beef and spice mix and cook until the meat is brown and crumbly in texture. Add fresh, diced tomatoes and tomato purée. Let it simmer for around 10 minutes and add cinnamon, pepper, oregano, and vinegar and season it to taste with salt.

What spices are good in a white sauce pasta bake?

A pasta bake with white sauce is best with lots of spices to ramp up the cheesy, basic white sauce. Traditional spices for this lasagne-like dish include oregano, thyme, and basil. Fragrant options like fennel seeds or caraway seeds, however, also make for interesting additions to the meat and tomato base of this pasta bake with white sauce. For a Middle Eastern twist, add popular spices like cinnamon, cardamom, cumin, or cloves to bring forth the warming qualities of the nutmeg-spiced béchamel.

Other recipes you will love

Creamy baked pasta with béchamel sauce

Pasta with white sauce is a match made in heaven. If you agree, our pasta bake with white sauce recipe is just what you are looking for. Even in a lighter version, our pasta white sauce is rich, creamy, and delectable. Enriched with cheese and flavoured with warming, earthy, and slightly sweet nutmeg, it is perfect for rounding out Middle Eastern dishes with plenty of flavours.

If you have ever wondered what the difference between béchamel and white sauce is, the answer is that there is no difference. They are the same mouth-wateringly delicious sauce, and our version simply adds cheese to make it even better.

If using béchamel for pasta has made you more interested in the classic French sauce, you will be delighted to know that you can find béchamel in many of our other recipes like creamy potato bake, spinach cannelloni, and creamy mushroom soup.

Serve a layered pasta bake full of warm spices

This baked pasta with béchamel and beef ragù shares many characteristics with Italian lasagne. Both are made by layering pasta, tomato and meat ragù, and béchamel. Unlike traditional lasagne, this baked pasta with white sauce may be made with any pasta type. Mid-sized varieties like penne, rigatoni, farfalle, and conchiglie are great choices as all are well suited to thick sauces.

Our meat and tomato ragù is made with a base of ripe, sweet-tangy tomatoes and intense tomato purée. With garlic and onion, its flavours are deep. The vinegar brings a bit of acidic sourness to ensure the tomato sweetness does not overpower the savouriness of the beef. This makes space for the wonderfully warming spices to shine.

A spiced Middle Eastern twist on an Italian classic

To give it a distinctly Middle Eastern quality, the tomato and meat ragù for our pasta bake with white sauce is flavoured with cinnamon. This warming spice has a characteristic sweet-spicy flavour that is quite fragrant.

The spice's earthy and woody undertones lend it well to sweet as well as savoury dishes. It complements the slightly nutty taste of nutmeg in the béchamel well and is a great Arabic twist that makes this pasta bake with white sauce perfect for iftar.

Our version also features the Italian favourite oregano. This aromatic spice adds a slightly bitter taste with earthy and minty notes as well as a cooling property that balances the vibrant cinnamon perfectly, making for a complex and irresistible flavour profile in our pasta bake with white sauce.

Make it your own

Feel free to change the ingredients of this recipe according to your preferences. If you want to go all out on vegetables, remove the beef mince, and replace it with more vegetables than the chopped tomatoes. You can add carrot, onion, mushroom, beans, or a mix of different family favourites. You can also swap minced beef with chicken or lamb mince, creating a different but still equally delicious white sauce pasta bake.

If you need ideas for side dishes, you can serve your cheesy pasta with white sauce with garlic bread, maybe even cheesy garlic bread, soup, or a Middle Eastern rocca salad. Use parsley to garnish the pasta bake with white sauce for a dash of peppery freshness that is sure to brighten the hearty dish and make it look enticing when you serve it.

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