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A good casserole should be a balanced, healthy, and filling meal in every serving. This sour cream noodle bake is all that and more, with tons of uniquely comforting flavors intermingling to become your new favorite casserole.
If you have a little extra time to spare in the kitchen, why not make your own Marinara Sauce to use in your noodle bake? Also, don’t forget to serve your noodle bake with a side of Classic Homemade Garlic Bread!
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Sour cream doesn’t get as much use as it should when it comes to homemade dishes, so why not break the mold and use it in this unique noodle bake recipe?
Sour cream provides not only sourness and creaminess but also intense freshness, perfectly complementing the cheese, meat, and tomatoes that make up the rest of this noodly dish.
Did you know?
You can even use sour cream you’ve frozen. Check out our post on how to freeze sour cream to learn more.
This recipe is the kind of thing that will leave every person at the dinner table feeling full, so there is no need to prepare side dishes or worry about making dessert, either!
Do You Have To Use Rotini Pasta?
This recipe uses plentiful amounts of rotini pasta, which is that incredibly spirally, twisty pasta shape that is almost sharp to the touch.
The main reason why this shape of pasta is so perfect for this kind of recipe is that all of its edges create a bunch of little nooks and crannies, perfect for holding onto the sauce.
However, while the shape of rotini pasta quickly makes it the best choice for this kind of noodle bake, you could easily substitute other pasta with similar shapes as well.
For example, although it doesn’t have nearly as many little crevices, Fusilli is a great pasta choice to help the sauce, and all your ingredients cling to the pasta.
Another slightly different option is Penne. Though Penne doesn’t have those little spirals, twists, and turns to capture sauce, it does have a giant hole in the middle, perfect for holding onto the sauce and turning each piece of pasta into an essentially sauce-carrying device.
If you go with Penne, though, keep in mind that with the sauciness of this dish, you will be at risk of the pasta pieces exploding all over you if you aren’t careful.
How To Make Your Sour Cream Noodle Bake Taste Just Like Lasagna
This noodle bake is a recipe that crosses food genres; it has many classic Italian flavors yet is mixed with Mexican cheese, as well as plenty of sour cream and cottage cheese.
These varying ingredients help to make this recipe unique, and they all taste good when paired together, but you might be looking for something a bit more familiar in flavor.
If you want to try turning this into a more classic Italian lasagna, it is super easy and only requires a few simple changes.
For starters, when preparing the tomato and meat mixture, sprinkle in about two teaspoons of Italian seasoning to help encourage those uniquely Italian flavors.
From there, you only need to make one significant change: remove the Mexican cheese blend entirely and use only mozzarella.
Not only does mozzarella have that Italian flavor, but it also contributes a ton of that stretchy cheesiness that makes you think about the tasty delights of Italian cuisine, especially lasagnas.
With just these few changes, you can turn your sour cream noodle bake into basically just an incredibly rich and delicious lasagna!
Could You Make Your Own Mexican Cheese Blend?
This recipe uses a supermarket classic, the Mexican cheese blend, to not only provide the majority of the needed cheesiness in this recipe but also give a ton of slightly spicy, umami flavors from the seasonings usually added to Mexican cheese blends.
Not everyone can easily find Mexican cheese blends, however, so what should you do if you struggle to find any?
Well, why not make your own?
Most Mexican cheese blends consist of Cheddar cheese, Monterrey Jack, and potentially a little bit of Oaxaca or mozzarella.
From there, the cheese is mixed with a cornstarch and salt mixture to help prevent clumping and a few seasonings that are vaguely Mexican in origin.
These are typically things like cumin, paprika, cayenne, and a little bit of pepper and MSG.
So, if you can’t find a Mexican cheese blend at your local supermarket, feel free to make your own by combining those ingredients really well and then using that instead!
Splurging and getting some Oaxaca cheese is worth it if you can find it as well; it is just like mozzarella when it comes to stretchiness but has this totally different, delicate, almost fresh taste that can’t be beaten.
Looking for more delicious Pasta recipes? Try these out:
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
Sour Cream Noodle Bake
Ingredients
- 3 cups dry rotini pasta
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 medium white onion diced
- one 15 ounces can of tomato sauce Flavored is best
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup Parmesan/Asiago/Reggiano shredded cheese
- 3/4 cup green onions diced
- 3 cups Mexican Cheese Blend shredded
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch baking pan and set aside.
- Cook the pasta until it’s al dente (still have some texture to it so it’s not mushy when it bakes.) Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. Toss with a little bit of olive oil if desired to prevent it from sticking and set aside.
- In a large skillet, fry the beef and white onion together for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are soft and the beef is no longer pink; drain the grease. Stir in the tomato sauce, garlic and pepper. Stir and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
- In s large bowl, mix together the sour cream, cottage cheese, shredded Parmesan cheese mixture and 1/2 cup of the green onions. IF you have picky eaters leave the green onions out I learned the hard way! You can top with green onions on personal servings instead.
- Mix the pasta into the sour cream mixture until coated completely.
- Spoon half of the pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish. Top with half of the beef mixture and 1 cup of the Mexican cheese blend. Repeat with pasta mixture, beef mixture and remaining 2 cups of Mexican cheese. If you want it cheesier on top, add more cheese!
- Bake in the preheated oven, uncovered, for 25 to 30 minutes or until the casserole is thoroughly heated and the cheese is melted. Top with the remaining green onions.
Notes
Nutrition
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Well this is a winner😀
Susie Bohne says
Great comfort casserole. My husband grew up eating “hot dishes” in the Midwest and most recipes were prepared with sour cream and/or cheese of some type … saw this one and decided it would be right up his alley – it was: he loved it … me too!
Susie Killebrew Bohne says
Great comfort casserole. My husband grew up eating “hot dishes” in the Midwest and most recipes were prepared with sour cream and/or cheese of some type … saw this one and decided it would be right up his alley – it was: he loved it … me too!
Care says
Our entire family grew up loving sour cream and large curd cottage cheese. My mother had an infinite about of recipes using sour cream and/or cottage cheese from potato soup to the most heavenly cheese cake you could possibly imagine. Most all of our veggies had SC and our Friday special was SC, CC and wide noodles cooked and then fried and then topped with the SC and CC! (Meatless Friday)
Our trips to the store always included milk, butter and sour cream. Ahhhh, the good old days! Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Love ❤️ your website…..
Nancy Morris says
Easy, quick and delicious! The only thing I added, because I didn’t have enough tomato sauce, was about 1/2 can of Rotel tomatoes. This a keeper for sure, and will be making it again, soon ! ❤️ Thank you
Maball says
Very good, one of the better versions of this classic, probably because of all the tasty garlic.
Shellie Ann LaTourette says
Making this Today March 8, 2021. CAN’T WAIT. Can I pre make this and Bake later today? Have a Blessed Day💞
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes! Just refrigerate it then bake it later!
Kathy says
My hubby hates cottage cheese. May I substitute another cup of sour cream? Looks so yummy, I really want to try it but cottage cheese is a deal breaker for hubby.
Glenna Hartnett says
Sub ricotta for the cottage cheese
Gina west says
Made this and loved it! Me husband does like eat sour cream or cottage cheese if he taste it he lets me know so i make him something diffrent for him for dinner. He gave this one a ” honey that was good and yes i know you put SC and CC in it but im taking some to work that okay? Yeah
Jaime R Pisaruck says
Very, very good!
Rachel says
Hi, I’m not much of a cook myself, but your directions were easy to follow and my husband and I really enjoyed this casserole. Thanks very much fur sharing it. If you have other recipes that even a novice like me can make, please share them! ?
Charlotte Wilson says
Could you post more reviews? I use them to tweek according to my family.s taste.
On another note
Was so happy to see a ground beef casserole that wasn’t Mexican or Italian. Not much variety out there.
Thanks!
Mimi Miller says
Want to see more of your recipes
April says
Five stars allllllll around for this! So rich and decadent can’t wait to make it again!
Wade Ray says
Looks and sounds delicious