Inspired by the classic stuffed bell peppers dish, this comforting pasta casserole holds all those flavors inside. No need to choose, you can have two great dishes in one.
PASTA CASSEROLE
What was that? Was that actually a weather forecast for temperatures below 70 coming up? Oh, only for three days…Well, we need to take advantage of “cooler” weather with some comfort food.
What does “comfort food” mean to you? I didn’t even realize that “comfort food” can mean different things to different people. My husband and I went out to a great new restaurant a few weeks ago and we ended up having a long conversation about comfort food with our server. We started talking about the chef’s signature dish, which was beef with homemade demi glace and mushroom risotto, and the server referred to it as “the ultimate comfort dish.” My husband and I started talking about what makes a dish “comforting.”
To me, it’s the actual food and ingredients that make me feel like it’s comforting food. Something that would make you feel cozy and warm while you’re eating it. Pasta, soup, casseroles, and hot cocoa are definitely dishes that I would put in that comforting category. My husband on the other hand, thinks of comfort food as more of familiar dishes or favorite dishes from childhood.
So how about you? What do you consider comfort food, actual ingredients or memories?
MORE RECIPES TO TRY
Bacon Chicken Alfredo Casserole
Cheesy Pesto Chicken Stuffed Shells
Three Cheese Chicken Alfredo Bake from Plain Chicken
Cheesy Spinach Dip Chicken Pasta Bake from Crunchy Creamy Sweet
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Stuffed Peppers Pasta Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 med. yellow onion
- 1 lg. green bell pepper
- 1 lg. orange bell pepper
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/3 cup tomato sauce
- 5-6 leaves of basil
- 1 1/2 tsp oregano
- Salt
- Fresh cracked black pepper
- 3/4 to 1 lb dry farfalle pasta
- 1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar-Jack cheese mix
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the package directions, drain and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a casserole dish. (2 1/2 - 3 quart baking dish will work.)
- Slice onions and peppers thin.
- Preheat a large cooking pan over medium heat. Add some vegetable oil, onions and peppers. Cook veggies until softened.
- Add ground beef to the pan. Break it up as much as possible, cover, and cook for a few minutes. Stir well breaking up clumps of beef. Add tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Mix and continue to cook, covered, until beef is done.
- Stir in oregano and chopped basil. Stir in pasta and transfer the mixture into a prepared baking dish.
- Spread shredded cheese all over the top and bake for 15-17 minutes.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Bailey Lucas says
I have made this dish prob 20 times. My changes are more seasoning – Italian and minced garlic. I also use double the sauce or even a jar of spaghetti sauce!
LyubaB says
Glad you like it, Bailey!
Carol Day says
Made it tonight. The guys liked it. I did add garlic and wostershire. My husband doesn’t like tomatoes and wostershire gets rid of the taste. Served with garlic bread. It did fill a 13×9 pan and I didn’t add all the pasta. Will make again. Thank you for sharing
LyubaB says
Glad you liked it, Carol!
Serena - Senior Center says
We usually make a Stuffed Pepper casserole with rice at my work for the Meals on Wheels program and came across this recipe – we tried it a few weeks ago and I think they really liked it! Will defiantly put it into our rotation of recipes.
LyubaB says
Hi Serena,
Thank you so much for all that you do! I am so happy that they liked the recipe! 🙂
Rene says
So good! This has become a family favorite.
LyubaB says
Hi Rene,
I am so happy your family likes the recipe! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know. 🙂
Jessica says
This was a big hit, very good. Couple of small changes I made…. I used a good bit more tomato sauce then the recipe called for. I would say I used 1-1 1/2 cups. even using that amount, it wasn’t very saucy (which is good, because my husband doesn’t like much sauce). I also had to substitute a little dried basil for fresh, just eyeballed. Also, added 2 cloves chopped garlic.
LyubaB says
Hi Jessica,
I am glad you enjoyed it and were able to make it your own. Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Gail says
Have you tried making this a day in advance and do the last step the next day?
Carol D. says
Making this tonight for the second time. We really enjoyed it the first time. Even the leftovers got eaten up which never usually happens with just the two of us. Often they get shoved to the back of the fridge and we forget about them but not this dish. We had to eat it up the next day! BTW I cook my pasta al dante’ for oven recipes so when they are cook in the oven with the rest of the casserole they don’t over cook. In this instance I like to have a little extra juice in it so it works well to use the whole can of tomato sauce. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Melissa says
This was really great! I made it with Spaghetti Squash instead of pasta and used a Rao’s Arabriata Sauce. I also used half ground beef and half spicy Italian sausage. It was delicious! My husband liked it a lot and getting him to eat veggies is a challenge. Thanks for the great recipe!
Lyuba says
Thank you, Melissa. That sounds amazing!
Angela Hess says
Made this tonight, yummo!!
Lyuba says
Thank you, Angela! I’m glad it worked out!
Danielle says
Is it really a whole box (1 lb) of pasta? I followed your recipe exactly and mine doesn’t look like yours. It’s a lot of pasta! A lot! A scoop is almost all pasta and barely any meat or veggies. Also it says it serves 4 but mine was to the very top of a 9×13. Seems like more than 4 servings!?!? Did I do it right?
lyuba says
Hi Danielle!
I’m sorry it didn’t work out quite like you expected. I did use the 1 lb of farfalle pasta (not mini) and the only thing I can think of it a difference in pasta. From my experience, I noticed that some pasta does expand in size more than other while it cooks. Different shapes and whether it’s whole wheat pasta does make a difference. May be there was a pasta difference in the one you used. The baking dish you see here holds only about 1/2 of what a 9×13 casserole dish would hold and it was pretty full but definitely not that much.
As for vegetables and meat, a pound of beef is quite a bit but the peppers could have been small. I use the big, fat ones, so there was quite a big of veggies.
I hope this helps!
Thank you.
Dee Buckley says
This is a Great recipe, easy and fun to make. I’m a caregiver in a home of 5 elderly ladies and they Loved it. I added a bit more veggies then were called for, other then that I completely followed the recipe. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful comfort food recipe.
lyuba says
Awe, thank you, Dee! Always feel free to add extra veggies to your taste 🙂
Vicky says
Only 1/3 cup tomato sauce for 1 lb. of pasta? Also it doesn’t say when to add it.
lyuba says
Hi Vicky,
Thank you for letting me know that I missed that step. You would add it whole cooking the ground beef. Note that it is tomato sauce, not pasta sauce. They’re sold in cans, usually next to tomato paste. There is quite a bit of juice coming off of beef and veggies cooking, so no need for additional sauce. But, if you feel like having a saucier dish, you can definitely add some more!
I hope you enjoy it!
Vicky says
Thanks for responding!