With rigatoni pasta, creamy fontina cheese and prosciutto, this baked rigatoni with béchamel sauce is Italian comfort food 101.
Who doesn't love a good old fashioned baked pasta dish - from meat lasagna to baked ricotta gnocchi to baked cheddar mac and cheese. You know what you'll be eating will taste fantastic.
Today however is about this baked rigatoni in a béchamel sauce that is loaded with prosciutto. I mean cheese, pasta and ham? What could be better?
So a few years back, I helped my Mom cook for her Christmas Tree Trimming party which is a yearly tradition at our house. To make it easy to prepare for about 50 people, I decided on an Italian them.
At the time I was making pretty much everything from Giada De Laurentiis and it was on Food Network that I found what I like to now call my "fancy" mac and cheese. Yes I know it's not macaroni so maybe it should be called rigatoni and cheese but either way it's delicious.
When my wife and I first met, I quickly found out about her love of cheese and pasta. So I told her one day I was going to make this mac and cheese that had prosciutto in it. She was actually skeptical about it as she wasn't a huge fan of prosciutto, thinking it was just too salty.
The truth was she just never had great prosciutto, but with this recipe the prosciutto acts as the salt and just gives a great contrast to the creamy, nutty flavor from the fontina cheese sauce. And now she requests this baked rigatoni for her birthday month every year.
Jump to:
Recipe Ingredients
- Unsalted butter - helps create roux for the béchamel sauce.
- All-purpose flour - works with the butter in making a roux.
- Whole milk - whole fat is best but you can use part-skim or skim milk.
- Fontina cheese - has a slight nuttiness.
- Parmesan cheese - gives salt and additional nutty flavor.
- Prosciutto - adds salt and flavor to the baked rigatoni.
- Rigatoni - can use other types of pasta, but this works best.
- Nutmeg - complements the two cheese perfectly.
- Black pepper - enhances the flavor.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Melt ½ cup butter in pan over medium heat and add flour, whisking until mixture starts to bubble.
- Gradually add the milk and continue whisking until the sauce is creamy. Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes until it thickens and you can coat the back of the spoon.
- Remove from the heat and add 1 cup fontina, prosciutto, nutmeg and pepper.
- While sauce is cooking bring to boil a large pot of water. Boil the rigatoni for 2 minutes less than instructions say as it will finish cooking in oven.
- Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish and add the drained pasta and sauce, mixing thoroughly, making sure all the pasta is coated. Top with the rest of the fontina cheese, Parmesan and diced butter.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbling. Let the baked rigatoni rest for 5 minutes before serving.
FAQs
In its simplest form, béchamel sauce comprises flour and butter that has been cooked together to make a roux with some milk and seasonings like nutmeg.
It is a great base sauce that is used to create countless other sauces, including any macaroni and cheese recipe you've had.
While you can use pre-shredded bagged cheese, you more than likely won’t get that stringy, gooey cheese pull that you would get if you grated the cheese yourself. It also doesn’t taste as good.
For this baked rigatoni recipe, to me the star is the cheese. Well that and the prosciutto. You want that melted, crusty cheese texture that just adds to how good this recipe is.
Yes. Just prepare all the way to where the rigatoni is in the baking dish. Cool before topping with the remaining cheese so it doesn’t melt. Then refrigerate or freeze before baking the day you need it.
You can keep in the fridge for about 3 days before using. You can freeze for 3 months before baking. If you freeze, you need to allow to that before baking per the recipe.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- No overcooked pasta – cook the rigatoni al dente according to the package instructions. The pasta will finish cooking in the oven while it’s in the sauce.
- Freshly grated cheese – don’t use pre-shredded cheese. It doesn’t taste as good and also has additional ingredients that you don’t need.
- Stir constantly – once the milk is added, you must stir constantly as it heats up and becomes thick. Otherwise you’ll have burnt milk on the bottom.
- Lots of sauce – who likes a dry baked pasta? At first when making this, you’ll think it is too much sauce but believe me when that the rigatoni soaks it up.
Other Pasta Recipes
- Almond Pesto Fettuccine
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Tortellini Bolognese
- Garlic Butter Pasta
- Crab Mac and Cheese
If you’ve tried this baked rigatoni with prosciutto or any other recipe on Chisel & Fork, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube to see more tasty meals and anything else I'm up to.
Baked Rigatoni with Prosciutto
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 quart (4 cups) milk
- 2 cups grated fontina cheese
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ lb prosciutto, cut into small pieces
- 1 lb rigatoni
- Pinch of nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 3 tablespoon unsalted butter, diced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F. Melt 1 stick butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth and mixture starts to bubble. (About 2 minutes) While stirring, gradually add the milk and continue whisking until the sauce is creamy.
- Simmer the sauce for about 10 minutes until it thickens and you can coat the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat and add the prosciutto, 1 cup fontina, nutmeg and pepper. I've found this sauce does not need salt as you get plenty of salt from the prosciutto and cheese.
- While sauce is cooking bring to boil a large pot of water. Boil the rigatoni for about 7 minutes or just 2 minutes less than the instructions say. You don't need to cook all the way as it will cook the rest of the way in the oven.
- Grease a 13x9 inch baking dish and add the drained pasta and sauce. Mix thoroughly, making sure all the pasta is coated. Top with the rest of the fontina cheese, Parmesan and 3 tablespoon of diced butter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbling. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes
- No overcooked pasta – cook the rigatoni al dente according to the package instructions. The pasta will finish cooking in the oven while it’s in the sauce.
- Freshly grated cheese – don’t use pre-shredded cheese. It doesn’t taste as good and also has additional ingredients that you don’t need.
- Stir constantly – once the milk is added, you must stir constantly as it heats up and becomes thick. Otherwise you’ll have burnt milk on the bottom.
- Lots of sauce – who likes a dry baked pasta? At first when making this, you’ll think it is too much sauce but believe me when that the rigatoni soaks it up.
Leave a Reply