From the roundup: 24 Fall Casserole Recipes for Cozy Comfort Dinners

Bubbling sauce, rigatoni tubes that stay just firm enough to hold their shape, and a top layer of melted cheese pulled tight against the pasta is what you get when this sausage and fennel baked rigatoni casserole comes out of the oven. The fennel is the part worth talking about because it looks intimidating raw and smells strongly of licorice, but sliced thin and cooked down with the Italian sausage it turns completely sweet and soft, and three of my five kids have never once identified it as a vegetable. I get the sausage browned, the fennel and onion softened in the same pan, and everything combined with the sauce in about 20 minutes, then the oven takes it from there for close to 30. A full pan like this almost always means leftovers, and the rigatoni actually holds up better the next day once it has had time to soak into the sauce overnight.

Why you will love this

One skillet for the sauce means minimal cleanup before the casserole dish even comes out.
Rigatoni tubes hold the sauce inside each piece, so every bite has flavor all the way through.
Fennel sweetens as it cooks and blends into the sauce, no detectable licorice flavor in the finished dish.
The casserole reheats well for days, and the leftovers are honestly better the next day once the sauce has had time to settle.
You can fully assemble it ahead and refrigerate it unbaked, which makes it a reliable option for busy nights.

Tips for success

Pull the pasta out of the boiling water 2 minutes before the package says it’s done. It will finish cooking in the oven, and if you start with fully cooked pasta you’ll end up with mush.
Core the fennel before slicing and cut it as thin as you can. Thick pieces won’t soften in time and you’ll have crunchy bites in an otherwise soft casserole.
Cover the dish tightly with foil for the first part of baking to keep moisture in, then uncover for the last 10 to 15 minutes to get the cheese browned and bubbling. Skipping the foil at the start is the most common reason this dish comes out dry.
If your sausage releases a lot of grease when you brown it, drain most of it off before adding the fennel and onion. A little fat is fine for flavor, but too much makes the finished sauce greasy.

What to serve with it

A simple green salad with red wine vinaigrette cuts through the richness of the cheese and sausage.
Crusty bread is worth it here because there will be sauce left in the dish worth soaking up.
If you want a vegetable on the table without making a second dish, roasted broccoli goes in the oven at the same temperature and is done around the same time.

Substitutions

Turkey Italian sausage works well if you want something lighter, just drain it the same way. Penne or ziti can replace rigatoni in a pinch since they hold sauce similarly. If someone at the table won’t eat fennel, you can swap in a second bell pepper and a little extra onion, though you’ll lose the depth it adds to the sauce.

To skip the cream and keep it a straight red sauce, just leave it out. The sauce will be thinner but still coats the pasta well. A handful of baby spinach stirred in when you toss the pasta with the sauce adds greens without changing the flavor much, and it wilts completely by the time the casserole comes out of the oven.

Make-ahead and storage

You can assemble the whole casserole, cover it tightly, and refrigerate it unbaked for up to 24 hours. Pull it out while the oven preheats so it isn’t ice cold going in, then add about 10 extra minutes to the covered bake time. Leftovers keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

To reheat, cover the dish with foil and warm it at 350°F. If it looks dry when you pull back the foil, add a few tablespoons of water or marinara before covering and reheating. The casserole also freezes well baked or unbaked for up to 2 months. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator before baking or reheating so the center warms through evenly.

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