I had a completely different plan for cooking today, but you know what? In the end I decided I just wanted some comfort food. This Cheesy Rigatoni Skillet is just another version of my favorite easy comfort food—pasta, sauce, cheese, and whatever vegetables I can work into the mix. I’ve made several similar recipes in the past, but I figured why not document another one. Today’s was an east, skillet lasagna inspired variation with spinach and mushrooms.
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Substitution for Mushrooms
Not into spinach and mushrooms? No problem. Brown some Italian sausage in the skillet first and use that in place of or in addition to the spinach and mushrooms. This Cheesy Rigatoni Skillet is super flexible! And, thanks to the fact that sliced mushrooms were the same price as whole mushrooms today, and the convenience of my garlic press, I had ZERO CHOPPING to do for this recipe. That’s an easy meal win if I do say so myself. :) (Okay, so I added some chopped parsley for the photos, but wouldn’t have if I were not a food blogger who’s livelihood depended on pretty photos.)
Goes great with: Homemade Garlic Bread, Tomato Cucumber Salad, Focaccia Rolls
Cheesy Rigatoni Skillet with Mushrooms and Spinach
Servings 4Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil ($0.26)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced ($0.24)
- 8 oz mushrooms, sliced ($1.99)
- 24 oz pasta sauce (your favorite) ($1.49)
- 1/4 lb fresh spinach ($1.50)
- 8 oz rigatoni ($0.84)
- 8 oz whole milk ricotta ($1.25)
- 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan ($0.20)
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella ($0.94)
- Salt and Pepper to taste ($0.05)
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the rigatoni. Once boiling, add the pasta, and continue to boil until tender. Drain in a colander and set aside until needed.
- After starting the pasta water, begin the sauce. Add the olive oil and minced garlic to a large skillet and sauté for about one minute over medium heat, or just until the garlic becomes fragrant. Add the sliced mushrooms, a pinch of salt and pepper, and continue to sauté until the mushrooms have released all their moisture and begin to brown on the edges (about 5-7 minutes).
- Add the sauce to the skillet. Stir the sauce as it heats, dissolving any browned bits off the bottom of the skillet. Once the sauce is heated through, add the spinach, and continue to stir and cook until the spinach has wilted (about 5 minutes more).
- Once the rigatoni has been cooked and drained, stir it into the skillet with the sauce and vegetables and allow everything to heat through.
- In a small bowl, stir together the ricotta, Parmesan, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the ricotta mixture to the skillet, in dollops over the surface. Gently fold the ricotta into the pasta, leaving it only about half mixed, so there are still pockets of ricotta within the sauce and pasta.
- Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the pasta, place a lid on the skillet, and let it heat over medium-low until the cheese is melted. If you want the cheese to brown a bit, place it under your oven’s broiler (without a lid) and watch closely until it develops a few browned spots. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Really, is there anything better than cheesy pasta??
How to Make Cheesy Rigatoni Skillet – Step by Step Photos
Begin cooking 8oz. of rigatoni according to the package directions (boil for 7-10 minutes). Once it’s finished, drain in a colander and set aside. While the pasta is cooking, begin preparing the sauce. Add 2 Tbsp olive oil to a large skillet along with 3 cloves of minced garlic. Sauté over medium for about one minute, or just until it becomes really fragrant, then add 8 oz. sliced mushrooms and a pinch of salt and pepper. Sauté the mushrooms until they release all their moisture and they begin to brown on the edges. Mushrooms are kind of interesting to cook because at first they absorb all the oil and the skillet seems dry, then they begin to soften and release water and you get a lot of steam and maybe even some liquid pooling in the skillet. Then that liquid dries up again and the mushrooms finally begin to brown. :)
Then add 24oz. of your favorite sauce. I bought this sauce on a whim because there was a sign that said it was 40% off (it did NOT ring up 40% off and I didn’t notice ’till I was home, boooo.) and it happens to be REALLY good. So good that I want to go back to the store and buy six more. And no, this is not sponsored in any way, I just wanted to share that it was surprisingly good. It has just a touch of cream and chablis, which gives it a really subtle amazing flavor. I want to eat it as a soup. Ha!
After adding the sauce, stir it as it heats and make sure all the brown bits are dissolved off the bottom of the skillet. Once the sauce is hot, add 1/4 lb. fresh spinach.
Stir and cook the spinach in the sauce until the spinach has fully wilted (about 5 minutes).
By this time your rigatoni should be finished cooking and drained. Add the rigatoni to the sauce and stir to combine.
In a small bowl, stir together 8oz. whole milk ricotta, 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan, and a pinch of salt and pepper. I will say that ricotta varies quite a bit from brand to brand and I’ve had some that are really not very good. I would stay clear of fat-free ricotta, for sure. I used Breakstone’s today and it was great (again, not sponsored).
Add the ricotta mixture in dollops on top of the pasta. Gently fold the ricotta into the pasta, leaving it only about half mixed, so you still have some nice big caches of cheese throughout.
Finally, sprinkle 1 cup shredded mozzarella over top and either place a lid on the skillet and let it heat over medium-low until the cheese melts, or place it under your oven’s broiler (no lid) until the cheese is melted and slightly browned. Serve hot.
Total comfort in a skillet right there.
I’ll take a big ol’ plate of that Cheesy Rigatoni Skillet, please and thank you!
How many does this serve? I can’t find it any where. Thanks!
Hi Shirley! It serves four people.
I’m on a diet and have to write down all my calories, etc. I couldn’t find the nutrition facts anywhere. Would it be possible to at least know the calories and fat grams per serving? Thanks! (It was delicious, btw!).
Thanks for the request! We do get that request a lot, but unfortunately we don’t have a reliable source for the nutrition information. The calculators and databases that most bloggers and websites use to calculate the info can be extremely inaccurate, and for something that can so severely impact the health of people with health conditions, we just don’t feel comfortable publishing unreliable numbers. We prefer to leave it up to the reader to use the database or calculator they trust. I’m sorry and I wish accuracy were easier than shipping the food off to a lab for analysis!
Hey Kelly! I know this post is fairly old…and maybe you’ve found a solution. There are probably more than a few sites now that are pretty smart at calculating the recipe for you, but “Whisk” is one that seems to work easily and well with your site.
Cheers! Making this casserole tonight! :D
Hi Anna! Yes, we now have nutrition facts included with every recipe. They’re located at the bottom of the recipe card. :)
Love this recipe! It’s become a staple in my rotation. Sometimes I add ground italian turkey sausage and always use baby Bella mushrooms for a meatier texture. I use Prego traditional sauce and it’s so so good. Made it again tonight !
tasty. i added in ground turkey when i was cooking the mushrooms. There was water pooling up at the bottom like you said, so i cooked it for a little longer to have most of it steam away/be absorbed by the meat and mushrooms. Super delicious, although I wish i plopped the ricotta on the top and let it steam/heat up there. Instead I mixed in the ricotta altogether then reheated it, so I don’t get that amazing white look on top like you had. Still fun, and tasty!
This was very good. I’ve been on a roll making these recipes and my picky husband has enjoyed all of them so far. Didn’t change a single thing in any recipe either.
Make your own marinara or just use quality crushed tomatoes – the can illustrated has 450 mg sodium per half cup! Approx 675 mg sodium in a portion of the recipe before you add in the cheeses., and only if a portion with 2 oz of pasta is big enough for you (come on, who does less than 1lb of pasta for 4 people?)
Love this, have made it multiple times! Question, would this freeze well? Thanks!
It should freeze fairly well. :) Sometimes when pasta isn’t super saucy it can be a little dry after thawing and reheating, but that doesn’t usually bother me too much. You might try freezing just one portion first to see if the changes bother you at all.
This is the first time a recipe from you didn’t turn out well. I bought extra ricotta for this :(
Not your bad, of course: the pasta sauce I picked wasn’t that good. I’ll probably have a go at it again when I make some of that sauce myself.
I made this the other night for dinner and it was very good and easy to make. The leftovers were also good for lunch the next day. I will definitely make this again.
My 15-yo daughter picked this out to make for dinner last night. We had a great time making it and it was delicious! I have looked all over town for this Hunt’s sauce though and have never been able to find it. Where did you get it??
I think they stopped making it and I’m devastated! That was my first time trying it and I haven’t been able to find it since. :( It was on sale that day so I think they were clearing out stock of it. It was sooooo good.
I’ve tried other Hunts pasta sauces with great success. I also used jarred sauce and it came out great. Yeah, I made this recipe a time or ten. We love it! Thank you, Beth!
Made this last night- we loved it! It IS comfort food. I usually don’t like ricotta – but in this recipe, was devine. I omitted mushrooms and added 12 oz of sliced organic chicken Italian sausage (1/2 regular and 1/2 spicy) and upped the garlic. Only slightly more involved than using a jar of spaghetti sauce over spaghetti, but much more delicious! Thank you!
Question! Maybe dumb, but could you use cream cheese instead of ricotta. – available in my fridge.
P. J.
I wouldn’t use cream cheese as a substitute here. The texture and flavor are too different from ricotta.
Made this twice and it was awesome; I added it to my regular rotation since it’s so fast to make. I added about half the amount of ricotta & divided it into 4 servings & it was 467 calories according to My Fitness Pal (in case anyone else does crazy calorie counting like me). Thanks for another winner, Beth!
Another big hit from budget bytes! Quick, easy, tasty–who could ask for more! Thank you, Beth. I think I’ll plan a month’s worth of recipes from your website.
Have you refrigerated and then eaten later? Does it still taste good with the melted cheese in there stored and then microwaved?
I enjoyed the leftovers after reheating in the microwave.