With pasta and sauce bound with melted cheese, what’s not to love about a pasta bake recipe? In fact, we’d go as far as saying that pasta bakes are our favourite comfort food — especially in winter.
If you’re looking for a cheesy, carby baked pasta recipe, then you’ve come to the right place. We have creature-comfort lasagna recipes (make sure you try chef Sarah Cicolini’s version with romanesco) and warming cannelloni dishes, plus a healthy dose of mac and cheese. For a show-stopping pasta bake, look no further than Buon Ricordo’s gravity-defying timballo Napoletano.
Here are our best pasta bakes to cook in 2025.
Baked pasta
“This is my all-time favourite Maltese dish,” says chef Jacqui Challinor.
Fusilli with greens, fennel and feta
Think of it as spanakopita, in baked pasta form.
Macaroni and cheese
Melted cheese, pasta baked under a golden crust. What’s not to love?
Mushroom and Fontina rigatoni
Make the most of winter produce with a rich pasta bake that pairs a medley of fresh and dried mushrooms with a punchy washed-rind cheese.
Cauliflower mac and cheese
For this recipe, we’ve added cauliflower to the classic comfort food. (And three different cheeses and crunchy rye breadcrumbs, too.
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Sarah Cicolini’s lasagne with romanesco
It’s the layered Italian classic you know and love, but Santo Palato’s Sarah Cicolini has swapped out the meat for Roman cauliflower.
Dan Puskas’s mushroom lasagne
This all-veg lasagne, courtesy of Sixypenny’s chef-owner Dan Puska, is packed with umami-rich mushrooms.
Lobster pasta with lemon crumbs
The pasta bake takes a luxe turn.
Ham and provolone mac and cheese with fried egg
If there were such a thing as breakfast pasta, this would be it.
Embla’s cheddar gnocchi, crushed tomato and olive oil
This Roman-style gnocchi is rich with the sharp flavour of cheddar, making it an ideal side dish for robust stews, braises and roasted meats.
Maccheroni al formaggio
Australian Gourmet Traveller pasta recipe for maccheroni al formaggio (macaroni and cheese).
Paul Carmichael’s macaroni pie
The Momofuku Seiobo chef turns this simple dish into a Christmas essential.
Buon Ricordo’s timballo Napoletano
This is an celebratory pasta bake with quail eggs, veal meatballs and rigatoni coated in a fresh Napoletana sauce.
Ultimate mac and cheese
This is comfort food at its best.
Guy Grossi’s toasted-flour pasta with silverbeet
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for toasted-flour pasta with silverbeet.
A classic lasagne
The ultimate in comfort food.
Cauliflower and hazelnut strozzapreti with Gorgonzola
This more substantial take on the classic cauliflower and cheese adds strozzapreti to the mix for a very moreish pasta bake.
Sarah Cicolini’s beef and ricotta cannelloni
This cannelloni recipe is the type of pasta dish that will impress your dinner guests to no end. Save it for occasions when you need to pull out all stops.
Pasticcio
Australian Gourmet Traveller pasta recipe for pasticcio.
Kathy Tsaples’ yiouvetsi
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for yiouvetsi by Kathy Tsaples.
Mushroom cannelloni
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for mushroom cannelloni.
Paccheri with sausage ragù and mozzarella
This chunky sauce of pork and fennel sausage, red wine and tomato finds its way into every crevice and gap of this baked pasta dish.
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