This tomato Mozzarella pasta bake is our Sunday family dinner: 500 g penne, 800 g passata, 250 g Mozzarella, 100 g Parmesan, a handful of basil. Total time is 60 minutes, with just 15 minutes of active work. The Thermomix® handles the sauce and slicing in 10 minutes, and the oven does the rest. Makes 4 generous portions, often enough for two days.
We make this for family Sundays and for meal prep (divide into 4 containers, reheat the next day in the oven or microwave). Vegetarian, family-friendly, and with the right ingredients a proper Italian classic, not a ready-made bake from the chiller aisle.
Tomato Mozzarella Pasta Bake, Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 14 ✓
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 30 g sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- 20 g olive oil
- 400 g vegetable stock liquid
- 500 g passata
- 200 g full-fat cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp white pepper
- 2 tsp dried basil
- 400 g macaroni pasta
- 400 g cherry tomatoes
- 300 g Mozzarella
Instructions 0 / 6
-
1
Chop onion and garlic.
Peel onion and garlic, halve the onion, then place in the mixing bowl together with the sun-dried tomatoes. Chop for 6 sec / speed 5 and scrape down with the spatula.
-
2
Sweat.
Add sugar and oil and cook for 3 min / Varoma / speed 1 without the measuring cup.
-
3
Add liquid.
Add vegetable stock, passata, cream cheese, salt, pepper and basil and cook for 10 min / 100°C / speed 2.
-
4
Add tomatoes.
Meanwhile, spread the pasta in the baking dish. Wash the cherry tomatoes, halve or quarter them, and mix through the pasta.
-
5
Mix ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan. Drain the Mozzarella, cut 150 g Mozzarella into cubes and mix through the pasta and tomatoes. Slice the remaining Mozzarella.
-
6
Bake the pasta bake.
Pour the sauce over the pasta, arrange the Mozzarella on top and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for approx. 30 to 35 minutes. Check it is cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes.
Tip: If you prefer a bit more heat, add 1/2 to 1 dried chilli in step 1.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Which tomatoes make or break the bake
Sieved San Marzano tomatoes are the best thing we can buy for Italian sauces. These varieties are low in acidity, fruity, and regulated under the official DOP standard (protected designation of origin). Mutti Polpa or Cirio Polpa work equally well. Discount passata without a brand name often contains too much water and too little tomato, and the bake turns watery.
Many recipe sites and Cookidoo simply write “passata” without specifying quality. We recommend DOP tomatoes or Italian branded varieties. The difference in flavour is noticeable, and the price difference is around 50 cents per jar.
The Bufala question with Mozzarella
Mozzarella di Bufala (made from buffalo milk) has 50% more fat than Fior di Latte (made from cow’s milk), which gives the bake more creaminess. For a pasta bake, though, Fior di Latte works perfectly well, because the Bufala flavour is largely lost during baking. If you use 250 g Mozzarella: put 200 g into the bake and 50 g on top, so the cheese pulls into nice strings when melted.
Drain the Mozzarella on kitchen paper for 10 minutes before using. Otherwise a lot of liquid ends up in the bake and makes it soggy. Dry Mozzarella plus a rich tomato base is the key to success.
Pasta half-cooked, sauce concentrated
As with any pasta bake: cook the pasta for only 5 minutes instead of the full 11. It will finish cooking in the oven with the sauce. Simmer the sauce in the Thermomix® with garlic, onion, olive oil, tomatoes, salt, pepper and 1 tsp sugar for 10 minutes at 100°C on speed 1. The sugar balances the acidity of the tomatoes, which is the classic Italian method from Marcella Hazan’s standard work “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking”.
Layer, bake, rest
In a baking dish (25 x 35 cm), start with a thin layer of tomato sauce, then the pasta, then the tomato and Mozzarella mix, then Parmesan on top. Bake for 25 minutes at 200°C top and bottom heat, then switch on the grill for the final 3 minutes for a golden crust. Leave to rest for 5 minutes after baking so the bake cuts cleanly into portions.
Six variations to keep things interesting
With chicken (300 g cooked diced chicken breast), with spinach (200 g frozen spinach stirred into the sauce), four-cheese version (Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Parmesan and Pecorino), spicy (1 tsp chilli flakes in the sauce plus salami), Greek-style (feta instead of Mozzarella, olives and oregano), vegan (vegan Mozzarella alternative and nutritional yeast instead of Parmesan).
What goes well with the pasta bake
As a side, we serve a colourful raw vegetable salad or a lamb’s lettuce salad. Garlic bread goes well alongside. For more Italian classics, browse our Italian collection, and for more bake recipes, see our bakes category.
Goes well with: Parmesan and tomato soup.
You might also like: Quick Parmesan Pasta with the Thermomix®.
