Seafood Pasta Bake (Printable Version)

A comforting casserole of pasta and tender mixed seafood in creamy tomato sauce.

# What You Need:

→ Pasta

01 - 10.5 oz penne or rigatoni

→ Seafood

02 - 10.5 oz mixed seafood (shrimp, mussels, squid, scallops), thawed if frozen

→ Sauce

03 - 2 tbsp olive oil
04 - 1 small onion, finely chopped
05 - 2 garlic cloves, minced
06 - 14 oz canned chopped tomatoes
07 - 2/3 cup heavy cream
08 - 2 tbsp tomato paste
09 - 1 tsp dried oregano
10 - 1/2 tsp chili flakes (optional)
11 - Salt, to taste
12 - Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

→ Cheese Topping

13 - 3.5 oz mozzarella, grated
14 - 1.5 oz Parmesan, grated
15 - 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

# How To Make It:

01 - Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease a large baking dish.
02 - Boil pasta in salted water, cooking 2 minutes less than package instructions. Drain and set aside.
03 - Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
04 - Add chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
05 - Stir in heavy cream and simmer for 2 minutes. Adjust seasoning as needed.
06 - Gently fold in mixed seafood and cook 2 to 3 minutes until just opaque, avoiding overcooking.
07 - Toss cooked pasta with the sauce and seafood mixture. Transfer everything to the prepared baking dish.
08 - Evenly sprinkle grated mozzarella and Parmesan over the top.
09 - Bake in the preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes until golden and bubbling.
10 - Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • The seafood stays tender because it spends barely any time in heat, a trick that actually surprised me the first time I nailed it.
  • Everything comes together in one dish, which means less cleanup and more time enjoying actual company.
  • It looks restaurant-worthy but tastes like home cooking, the kind of dish that makes people linger at the table.
02 -
  • Overcooking seafood is the only real mistake you can make here, so set a timer and stick to it—tender shellfish is worth the precision.
  • The pasta should be slightly underdone because it continues cooking in the oven and in the residual heat, which sounds like a small thing but changes everything about the texture.
  • Taste the sauce before the seafood goes in because this is your last chance to adjust salt and acidity without disturbing delicate proteins.
03 -
  • Slightly undercooking the pasta is not a mistake—it's the secret that keeps everything from turning into mush once the oven is involved.
  • Fresh seafood and good cheese make more difference here than anywhere else, so this is the place to splurge if your budget allows.
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