This recipe was an entry into the Pacific Foods Everyday Chef Challenge: Baked Penne with Spinach, Roasted Red Peppers and Bacon.
The challenge was to come up with a recipe using one of Pacific Natural Foods Creamy Soups + spinach. My family loves baked pasta dishes, and I love that they’re so easy to assemble. I thought their Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup would make a fabulous base for a new baked pasta recipe, so I created a creamy sauce out of it.
It worked wonderfully… the creamy, sweet flavors of Roasted Red Peppers and Tomato do delicious things for pasta. I incorporated spinach, bacon and roasted red peppers. And there’s plenty of cheese too!
This recipe makes a whole bunch, which is a good thing since it tastes even better the next day!
Baked Penne with Spinach, Roasted Peppers and Bacon
Recipe Details
Ingredients
SAUCE
- One 16 ounce container Pacific Natural Foods Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
- 2 cups 2% milk
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- freshly ground pepper, to taste
PASTA
- 1 pound penne pasta (or ziti), cooked until tender, but still firm to the bite
- 1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- ¾ cup chopped jarred roasted red peppers
- 1½ cups cubed Provolone cheese
- 8 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 1½ cups shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
- freshly ground black pepper
- kosher salt
Instructions
SAUCE
- Heat soup and milk in a medium saucepan until small bubbles begin to form around the edges (just until hot).
- In a larger saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add flour and stir well. Continue to cook, stirring, until thick and smooth, about 2 minutes. Slowly begin adding hot soup/milk mixture to the large saucepan, whisking constantly while adding. Sauce will start out lumpy and become smooth as the liquid is incorporated.
PASTA
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9x13 inch pan (or other 2½ quart baking dish) with nonstick spray.
- In a large bowl, toss cooked pasta with the sauce. Break apart the spinach with your fingers and add it to the bowl. Also add red peppers, provolone cheese and ¾ cup of Parmesan. Stir until ingredients are evenly distributed.
- Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle with bacon crumbles and top with remaining Parmesan cheese. Finish with a good dose of freshly ground black pepper and a sprinkle of kosher salt.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake until sauce is bubbling around the edges and the center is hot (about 10 minutes more). Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Pacific Natural Foods Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup can usually be found in your market's natural food's aisle.
- Don't use generic pasta for this recipe. In baked pasta recipes, generic pasta tends to overcook. Make sure that you only cook the pasta to "al dente" state, about 5 minutes for penne. It will cook more in the baking process and become more tender.
- Substitutions: You can sub mozzarella for the Provolone, but the provolone will give the dish more flavor. Try using Applewood Smoked Bacon in this recipe too... so delicious.
- I kept the salt low in this recipe using salted butter and a sprinkle of kosher salt on top of the pasta. Add more salt if you'd like.
I cannot find the soup mentioned. What do you recommend for substitution? Tomato soup with extra peppers or spaghetti sauce with more peppers?
I’d just use roasted red pepper or tomato soup.
Terrible. Too long winded. You should have done a quick receipe! I am guessing you’re not a busy mum and don’t have a man to look after and that. I am a busy mum to 5 boys, a hubby and 3 dogs! I need quick recipes. Cannot believe you had the nerve to write a long receipe
I find this to be a very odd comment. If you don’t like this recipe, please move on to one that suits your needs 🙂
Coming back to comment on my success! I enjoy reading peoples comments on recipes so wanted to let everyone know that it really is a great dish. I served it with some sausage on the side so this was more like a side dish. I halved the recipe and there was still so much. Very tasty! Seemed like something you would get in an Italian restaurant. The only thing I did differently is used fresh spinach. I didn’t cook it, just tore it into pieces and threw in and mixed. Provolone definitely gave it flavor so don’t substitute anything else. Thanks for the creation!
How big are the chunks of provolone? Just wondering if they melt down enough.
Just chop into small pieces. Yes, they should melt down.
Do you know if it’s been tried with gluten-free pasta (and another type of flour) – hoping to be able to substitute gf pasta. Looks great – want to try it, one way or the other.
I have not tried it with gluten free pasta. I’ve heard that Delallo makes a great GF pasta. I’d try it with that one.
Also, any chance anyone has tried to do this as a make ahead?
Holy cow was that good. Stellar good. Like I didn’t want to feed my kids because it was so good I didn’t want to share, good. We used apple wood smoked bacon and provolone. And the recipe was easy to cut in 1/2 for our family size. I can’t believe you didn’t win the contest with that.
This recipe is excellent! I used diced fresh tomatoes instead of the canned peppers and it turned out so delicious 🙂
I enjoyed this so much that I shared it with friends. Wonderful recipe! Loved it!
Made it the other night. Used whole wheat pasta (in hopes of disguising it) and it soaked up all the sauce. I was sad because i had made bread to sop up the sauce.
It was pretty good. I was hoping for more bacon flavor and I had to add salt but the hubs (who pretty much LOATHES casseroles!) liked it. (and the heavens opened and the angels sang!!!)
Thanks for the great recipe!
I made this the other night — very good! There is so much flavor in this dish, I love it! I think next time, though, I might use a little less spinach and more red peppers.
This pasta looks phenomenal!
What an awesome pasta dish!!!
Oh, my gosh! Baked pasta is one of my favorite dishes, so many ways to adapt this! Looks delicious!
I love bacon and I love pasta. I’m sure I’ll love them together. You got my vote!
Wow! That looks positively divine. Bacon and cheese, yes please 🙂
Wow – this looks absolutely delish! I’m starving now!
I love your creativity! This dish looks wonderful. I love baked pasta dishes 🙂 I think you’ve earned my vote 😉
Oh my gosh, this looks SO yummy. I’m going to have to try out this recipe myself if it tastes even half as good as it looks. Voted for you too! How could I not after seeing this recipe?
These pictures are soooo delicious! They made me want to curl up with a big bowl of it. I also love the red pepper and spinach combo and of course, the cheese….looks beautiful!
OMGosh – What a gorgeous looking pasta dish! You definitely have my vote. The photos alone are edible!
Just voted for you! That looks fantastic, and I love that the leftovers taste even better… yum! Good luck!
Just voted for your recipe! This looks amazing. I know my family would love it!!
Going to vote for your recipe in just a second, but had to stop to say how fabulous this both looks and sounds! It’s definitely on my must-try list!
good luck!
Just voted for you! Good luck, this looks delicious!!
Voting for you! If you win, you’ll make it for all of us, right? 🙂
This looks great Lori! My grandmother always says, “everything tastes better with bacon”
Now on my way to vote! Thanks for sharing another yummy recipe!
You got my vote for sure! This pasta dish looks amazing, my whole family would love it.