Beefy Cheesy Tortellini Bake

Name: Beefy Cheesy Tortellini Bake
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef; 3 large cloves garlic (minced); 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder; 3/4 teaspoon dried basil; 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley; 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional); Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste); 1 24-ounce jar marinara/pasta sauce; 1 22-ounce package frozen cheese tortellini; 8 ounces mozzarella cheese (grated (about 2 cups)); 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

197 · Feb 15, 2017 · 34 Comments

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Beefy Cheesy Tortellini Bake is loaded with tortellini, marinara sauce, and mozzarella cheese for an effortless pasta dinner that the whole family will love!

Does anyone else ever get stuck in a dinner rut? As a food blogger, you may think that’s a problem I would never encounter. After all, I post several new recipes each week. I have a whole archive of favorite family recipes. I have lots of food blogger friends who collectively post exponentially more than that. And as part of my job, I spend an inordinate amount of time pinning recipes on Pinterest (incidentally, have I mentioned how much I love my job?). 😉

Nevertheless, despite being immersed in all of this great recipe inspiration, sometimes I flat-out don’t know what to make for dinner. And on those occasions, I open the freezer, stare inside, and hope that something speaks to me.

This exact scenario played out a few weeks ago and, frantically flagging me down on the freezer shelf from between a bag of peas and a box of chicken breasts, was a package of cheese tortellini. And it was squawking, “Turn me into something good!” Okay, so maybe it didn’t exactly happen that way. Maybe I’m slightly hallucinogenic due to a combo of cold meds and sleep deprivation (thanks to my 2-year-old waking up about three too many times last night). Maybe the tortellini was simply sitting there, as tortellini typically does, and I randomly had the bright idea to substitute it for noodles in a spaghetti-esque pasta bake.

So that’s exactly what I did. I basically made a batch of spaghetti sauce using ground beef and my favorite jarred pasta sauce, though you could certainly substitute homemade marinara if you happen to have some on hand. (To up the vitamin intake, I even got sneaky and added some finely grated zucchini to the meat sauce using my favorite method for hiding veggies in a recipe, but shhhh…don’t tell my kids…or my hubby)! 😉 Then I tossed in my cheese tortellini and a bit of freshly grated mozzarella, poured everything into a baking dish, topped it with more cheese, and popped it into the oven until hot and bubbly.

Dinner doesn’t get much more effortless than pasta + sauce! But actually it does, because for this recipe, I didn’t even have to dirty another pot by boiling the tortellini separately. I simply ran it under some warm water in a colander before adding it to the meat sauce and then everything cooked up all together in the oven. If that’s not the definition of easy peasy, I’m not sure what is. And as a bonus, the kids loved this. Pasta and cheese and beefy tomato sauce (and hidden veggies, to boot)…how can you go wrong?!

Just because I try to cook plenty o’ things from scratch doesn’t mean that I don’t keep a few all-natural pantry and freezer staples on hand for quick dinners when I’m otherwise lacking inspiration. And as a result, this Beefy Cheesy Tortellini Bake is one of those perfect meals for when you’re short on time and ingredients but you still want to throw together something that everyone will enjoy.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to hop on Pinterest and try to figure out what I’m making for dinner tomorrow…and the next day…and the next… 😉