• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Trending: Healthy New Year
  • About
  • Shop
  • Work with Me
  • Contact

Cooking for Keeps

  • All Recipes
  • Course
    • Appetizers
    • Bread
    • Breakfast
    • Casseroles
    • Cocktails
    • Dips
    • Main Course
    • Pasta
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Side Dishes
    • Soups & Stews
    • Stir Fries
    • Sweets
  • Protein
    • Beef/Lamb
    • Chicken/Poultry
    • Pork
    • Seafood
    • Vegetarian
  • Method
    • Casseroles
    • Slow-Cooker
    • Grilling
    • Minimal Ingredients
    • Quick
    • Air Fryer/Instant Pot
    • Oven
    • No cook
    • Stovetop
    • Kid Friendly
    • Dinner Party Worthy
    • One Pan
Home Breads/Pasta/Pizza

Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Eggplant and Spinach

By: Nicole 11 Comments
Posted: 03/26/13 Updated: 08/05/19

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.

Done 3

I’m not even going to complain about the snow.

And the cold.

And that it’s almost April and it’s not 60 degrees and sunny.

Oh, and did I mention the snow?

No, I’m not going to do that to you.

Complaining is unladylike.

BUT let’s talk about others complaining, that just might make me feel a tiny bit better about (not) complaining myself. Because I’m totally not.

Pasta

So, you know how some people have the problem where they repeatedly make the same meals over and over?? And people (kids, spouses, even pets!) in the family complain that all meals are boring and consequently beg for something different in the weekly rotation?

Well, I have the opposite problem –it totally irks me out to have repeat dinners close to one another. My mind is constantly running with new ideas for meals, and I think in any given ten minute period I have about a million different food-related ideas running through my head, so it only makes sense for me to put those thoughts into reality.

Eggplant

You would think this wouldn’t really be problematic but rather welcomed and celebrated – but it is. My future husband is a creature of habit – he loves Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings, pasta, burgers, plain chocolate chip cookies, beer and the occasional whiskey. Although he doesn’t shoo anything away, he could happily live off of those things the rest of his life. So rather than a spouse or kid complaining that we need some variety in our meals, Kevin complains –well complain is a strong word – Kevin gently informs me that he’d be happy if I made some of his favorite dishes a little more frequently – and you know what? I kind of would too.

Spinach

I easily forget about the power of the go-to meal. It’s a meal that puts a feeling of comfort in your body; a meal that can cheer you up even on the worst of days; and a meal that comes together so effortlessly you barely even have to use your brain. Ahh – I forgot what those were like…

I’m not saying I don’t ever cook the same things twice, because I do – just not in the same month…err or maybe two months. I’m working on changing that, so I’ve been trying to make dinners that both Kevin and I love one day a week.

SAUce2
This week started with one of our all-time favorites – baked rigatoni.

I make this dish slightly different every time (shocking!), but the heart is always the same – rigatoni, red sauce, and LOTS of fresh mozzarella cheese. Usually I’ll add in some type of meat – chicken, spicy Italian sausage, or turkey sausage, but this time in sticking with my “healthy” pledge, I decided to go vegetarian. I added diced carrots to the red sauce to bulk up the usually bare tomato sauce, roasted up some hearty eggplant to fill in for the absence of meat, and then threw in some spinach for good measure.

Now, the key to the ooey gooey cheesy nature of this rigatoni is to use fresh mozzarella that is cubed NOT shredded – this is an absolute MUST. Otherwise, the cheese will melt, but will be rather disappointing in the ooey gooey cheesy-ness (totally technical terms by the way).

Before Bake

This is one meal we never get sick of – maybe it could end up in your weekly rotation too…

Baked Rigatoni with Eggpant, Fresh Mozzarella and Spinach

Baked Rigatoni with Eggplant, Spinach and Mozzarella

5.0 from 2 reviews
Baked Rigatoni with Roasted Eggplant, Spinach, and Fresh Mozzarella
 
Print
Author: Nicole-Cooking for Keeps
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • Sauce:
  • ½ cup diced onion
  • ½ cup diced carrot
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ cup red wine
  • 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon dried basil
  • ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • Assemble Pasta:
  • 17.5 ounces rigatoni
  • 1 eggplant, cut into bit size pieces
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 cups fresh spinach
  • 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into small cubes
  • ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 2 slices of white American cheese, from the deli counter
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a large casserole dish.
  2. Heat olive oil over a medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add onion, carrot, and garlic. Cook until softened, about five minutes. Season with a little salt.
  3. Pour wine in the pan; simmer until reduced, about two minutes. Add crushed tomatoes, sugar, garlic powder, basil and salt. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Set aside.
  4. Roast Eggplant: Drizzle chopped eggplant with olive oil and roast in a 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.
  5. In the meantime bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Add a liberal amount of salt and then the pasta. Cook until just under aldente (it will cook more in the oven.) Remove eggplant from oven and season with a little bit of salt, set aside. Turn heat down to 350 degrees.
  6. Combine pasta with sauce, eggplant, spinach, and mozzarella cheese, transfer to greased dish. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and dot with pieces of white american cheese.
  7. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cheese is melted and hot all the way through.
3.2.2265

Done1

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved over time into an equal love of showing you an elevated meal can be easy, approachable and most importantly, tasty. Dive in and find something perfect for you and your family!

Read more...

You May Also Like...

  • Cheesy Baked Spinach Casserole is for all you spinach lovers out there! This easy casserole is a dump-stir-and-bake dish that's packed with hearty spinach, sharp cheddar cheese, and a touch of nutmeg. It's the perfect healthy side dish for just about any meal. 
    Cheesy Baked Spinach Casserole
  • Creamy Fontina Rigatoni with Roasted Garlic, Portabellas and Pulled Chicken
  • 6-Ingredient Healthy Baked Eggplant Parmesan

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

Reader Interactions

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Have a question? Submit your question or comment below.

Recipe Rating




Rate this recipe:  

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  1. Rosie @ Blueberry Kitchen says

    Posted on 3/27/13 at 2:39 pm

    Oh yum, your pasta looks so delicious!

    Reply
  2. Ronja @ a dash of faith says

    Posted on 3/27/13 at 3:29 pm

    This looks absolutely delicious! I love those chunks of mozzarella in there.

    Reply
  3. Karyl says

    Posted on 3/28/13 at 10:20 am

    I”m going to try this Nicole; it looks delicious and hides those veggies.

    Reply
  4. K. says

    Posted on 4/6/13 at 6:28 pm

    YUM! I baked this a couple weeks ago with my sister-in-law & it was delicious. We added extra mozzarella & skipped the American cheese, but it was just as cheesy. I LOVED IT! I gave up eating meat during Lent so we found your recipe on foodgawker & It was so quick, easy, and delicious! We’ll definitely be making this recipe more often & maybe tweaking it a bit with different vegetables & types of pasta, and definitely with meat now.

    I definitely love the versatility of this recipe. It’s so easy to change up a few things & it’s like whole new dish!!

    Reply
  5. Paula says

    Posted on 1/24/14 at 3:26 am

    Tried this tonight and loved it. Usually I find pasta casseroles too dry so I added some more tomato….and more cheese….and more spinach,,,,It ended up with sauce in the bottom of the dish (no bad thing for me) I used double the mozarella and some feta instead of the American cheese (it’s what was lying around) and it was really excellent. Next time I may add more eggplant as I LOVE the stuff. I don’t usually even write reviews on recipes but this was exceptional!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 1/24/14 at 3:37 pm

      Awesome Paula!!! So glad you enjoyed it!!

      Reply
  6. Maria says

    Posted on 1/25/14 at 5:20 pm

    Do you cut the eggplant before your roast it? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      Posted on 1/26/14 at 6:16 am

      Yes!

      Reply
  7. Jane says

    Posted on 2/21/19 at 7:45 pm

    This is delicious! I added an extra smaller can of crushed tomatoes along with the large can. Instead of carrots, I added yellow and red pepper to the onion (I actually used shallots as it was all I had). This dish is all about the sauce! Didn’t use American cheese, used a combination of shredded mozzarella and pecorino Romano on top along with some toasted pine nuts. Also doubled the cubes fresh mozzarella…Thankyou!

    Reply

Primary Sidebar

hey

Meet Nicole

Welcome! My lifelong passion for delicious food and cooking has evolved into an equal love of showing you easy elevated meals can be approachable and most importantly, tasty.

Read More

Browse by Difficulty

Easy easy Medium medium Advanced hard

Reader Favorites

Best Chicken Enchilada

Best Chicken Enchilada Recipe

Italian Stromboli

Italian Stromboli (5 Ingredients!)

French Onion Chicken Skillet

French Onion Chicken Skillet

One Pot Mexican Past

One Pot Turkey Mexican Pasta

Subscribe to latest recipe updates

Loading

Trending

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Coconut Curry Meatballs

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

Spinach and Ground Beef Stuffed Shells

Stuffed Pasta Shells with Ground Beef and Spinach

Never miss a recipe!

Loading

By Course

Appetizers

Breakfast

Quick and Easy

Main Course

Soups

Salads

Side Dishes

Sweets

Explore

About Nicole

Shop Favorites

Press

Work With Me

Privacy Policy

Accessibility

Contact

© 2025 Cooking for Keeps
Site Credits Designed by Melissa Rose Design Developed by Once Coupled
Back to Top