Pasta bake from the Thermomix® is our go-to on days when time is short. Raw fusilli straight into the dish, sauce on top, done. No pre-cooking chaos.
The key is the ratio: 700 g of liquid to 400 g of fusilli. The pasta absorbs the sauce during baking, cooks through at the same time, and binds the starch. Pre-cooking makes the bake mushy because the pasta swells twice over.
Pasta Bake with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 13 ✓
- 200 g mountain cheese (e.g. Bergkäse or Gruyère)
- 200 g bacon lardons
- 30 g butter
- 200 g crème fraîche
- 200 g double cream
- 300 g milk
- 1 1/2 tsp vegetable stock powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 10 g lemon juice
- 2 spring onions
- 150 g Mozzarella
- 400 g fusilli
Instructions 0 / 7
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1
Grate the cheese.
Place the cheese in the mixing bowl, chop for 6 sec / speed 8 and set aside.
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2
Steam the bacon.
Place the bacon lardons and butter in the mixing bowl and steam for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1.
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3
Preheat the oven.
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan.
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4
Cook the sauce.
Add all ingredients except the pasta, spring onions and Mozzarella to the mixing bowl, mix for 10 sec / reverse direction / speed 4 and heat for 5 min / 100°C / reverse direction / speed 1.
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5
Slice the spring onions.
Meanwhile, wash the spring onions and slice into rings. Set one third of the rings aside for the topping. Cut the Mozzarella into thin slices.
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6
Mix in the pasta.
Place the pasta in the baking dish and mix with the spring onions and grated cheese.
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7
Bake.
Pour the sauce over the pasta, place the Mozzarella on top and scatter the remaining spring onion rings over it. Bake the dish for 35 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven.
You can of course leave out the bacon lardons to enjoy this pasta bake as a vegetarian dish.
Nutrition per serving
Why fusilli and not other pasta shapes
Fusilli have more surface area than penne or macaroni. That means they absorb more sauce and cook more evenly. With penne the middle often stays hard while the ends are already falling apart. We always use fusilli because the shape holds up perfectly through the 35 minutes of baking.
Mountain cheese instead of Gouda or Emmental
Mountain cheese has a higher fat content and melts more slowly than Gouda. This stops the cheese layer on the pasta from turning oily or stringy. Emmental goes rubbery when baked. Mountain cheese stays creamy and adds a nutty flavour that complements the bacon without overpowering it.
Steam the bacon at Varoma, do not fry it
3 minutes at Varoma on speed 1 sweats the bacon without making it crispy. Crispy bacon turns chewy in a bake. We want to render the fat from the bacon and develop the roasted aromas, but keep the lardons soft. The butter stops the bacon from sticking to the bottom of the mixing bowl.
Reverse direction is essential for the sauce
Crème fraîche and double cream will split at speed 4 without reverse direction. Reverse direction stops the dairy from being thrown against the blades and separating. 10 seconds is enough to combine everything. The 5 minutes at 100°C thickens the sauce slightly without bringing it to a full boil.
Slice the Mozzarella thinly, do not tear it
Thin Mozzarella slices melt evenly and form a closed layer. Thick pieces or torn Mozzarella stay cold in the middle and go brown on the outside. We slice the Mozzarella with a sharp knife into 3 mm slices and lay them overlapping on top of the pasta.
Mix the pasta with the cheese before adding the sauce
The grated mountain cheese is mixed through the raw pasta, not sprinkled on top. This ensures the cheese melts into the sauce during baking and forms a creamy base. Cheese on top burns, cheese between the pasta binds.
160°C fan, not top and bottom heat
Fan heat distributes the warmth more evenly than top and bottom heat. With top and bottom heat the surface browns too quickly while the pasta is still hard inside. 160°C is the point at which the sauce is absorbed slowly without boiling. Higher temperatures cause the sauce to evaporate before the pasta is cooked through.
The vegetarian version works just as well
Leave out the bacon lardons and replace the butter with 2 tbsp olive oil. The sauce stays just as creamy but loses the salty contrast. We add 1 tsp more vegetable stock powder to make up for the seasoning.
Leftovers for the next day
The bake keeps for 3 days in the fridge in a sealed container. The pasta absorbs even more sauce in the fridge and becomes firmer. When reheating in the microwave, add 2 tbsp milk over the portion to make it creamy again. In the oven, reheat at 160°C covered with foil for 15 minutes.
Freezing does not work. The dairy products separate on thawing, the pasta goes mushy and the Mozzarella turns rubbery.
How this recipe differs from other versions
Goes well with: Baguette.
Most Thermomix® pasta bake versions use penne or macaroni with minced meat and sieved tomatoes, then 30 to 40 minutes at 200°C with Gouda on top. We deliberately skip pre-cooking the fusilli and work with crème fraîche, double cream and bacon instead of tomatoes and mince. At 160°C fan for 35 minutes the sauce stays creamy rather than evaporating. Gouda and Emmental become too greasy or rubbery for us, which is why we use mountain cheese through the pasta and Mozzarella on top. The vegetarian version works with courgette, broccoli or spinach in the same ratio without any adjustment.
More quick Thermomix® main courses: One-Pot Salmon Pasta, Sweet Potato Gratin, Pizza Dough.
