Baked Cheese Tortellini with Meat Sauce

Everyone loves a good baked pasta dish. And this Cheese Tortellini with Meat Sauce recipe hits all those warm, Italian comfort food notes. This dish uses a homemade meat sauce of beef and chicken sausage but you could use ground turkey, pork sausage or any combination that you like. In a pinch, jarred sauce works just fine. I’d just use a good quality sauce like Raos.

The sauce takes a while to make (as do all great, Italian meat sauces) but this can be made in advance. Then, when you are ready to make this dish, you can just assemble and bake. You can even prep the whole thing the day before and bake off on the day you are serving it.

A couple of tips to make this dish ahead of time so you just have to bake the day of serving:

. Make your sauce one to three days before serving. Let it cool completely before assembling the dish.

. Use fresh, store bought tortellini. I’m a big fan of Rana’s cheese tortellini but Buitoni also works. You find these in the deli section of the supermarket and they are fresh, not frozen.

. Can you use frozen tortellini? Absolutely. I just prefer the fresh pasta.

. Do not cook the tortellini before assembling. They will cook in the sauce as they bake. Since you are assembling this the day before, don’t worry if they are frozen. They will thaw in the sauce and cook up beautifully. NOTE: If you are making the sauce and this dish same day, I’d let the frozen tortellini sit on the counter for at least a half hour before assembling. It will help with even cooking.