I’m so excited to share this recipe with you today because this is one of my favorite easy meals. And it’s such a great recipe to make during the holidays when you have leftover ham to use up. If you don’t have leftover ham, you can buy a ham steak from the store and use that instead. I have loved making this Cheesy Baked Penne recipe for so many years. It’s time for you to try it too!
How to make Cheesy Baked Penne:
The first thing you’ll do is make a simple white sauce. In one pan, you’ll heat up the milk until it’s piping hot. You can even do this in a large glass measuring cup in the microwave if you don’t want to mess up a pan. In another pan, you’ll melt butter, stir in flour and season it with a little nutmeg and pepper. Then you’ll gradually whisk in the hot milk to create the sauce. It won’t be a thick sauce. That’s okay! Then you can set aside the sauce while you prepare the pasta. You’ll want to cook it to an al dente (barely tender) state.
Next, you’ll combine the cooked pasta, ham, cubed Provolone cheese and Parmesan cheese in a bowl with the sauce.
Then it’s all spooned into a casserole dish and sprinkled with a little more Parmesan cheese. You will notice that the sauce is probably not as creamy as you’re expecting. Again– that’s how it’s supposed to be. It will thicken up as it baked in the oven, and it’s used to further cook the pasta and make it more tender. This Cheesy Baked Pasta will bake for 25 minutes covered, and then another 10 minutes uncovered.
The result is a wonderful, steaming hot, melted cheese, ham and pasta casserole that is so delicious!
Substitution ideas:
The recipe calls for using penne pasta, but you can use any pasta for this recipe. Try using shells, rigatoni, fusilli or something along those lines. Use leftover turkey or chicken in place of ham. The provolone cheese really adds great flavor in this baked pasta recipe, but you can certainly change up the cheeses, if you’d like. Try using mozzarella in place of the provolone, or add in a little mozzarella with the provolone and the Parmesan to make it super cheesy! Try adding in sautéed mushrooms and green onions too (or leave out the peas and add in mushrooms/green onions instead).
I hope you will try one of my favorite, easy baked pasta recipes! Enjoy!
Here are a few more recipes using ham that you might like to try:
Ham and Lentil Soup Ham and Cheese Manicotti Baked Ham and Cheese Sliders Creamy Parmesan Noodles with Ham Ham and Cheese Potato Croquettes Ham and Bean Skillet Spaghetti Leftover Ham Casserole Ham and Cheese Baked Gnocchi
