16 comforting pasta bakes you need in your life

Versatile, cheap and comforting, pasta bakes are ideal autumnal fare, great for feeding a hungry family and adaptable for whatever ingredients you have to hand. Here are some of our all-time faves...

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Chicken pasta bakes

One of our favourite ways to get two meals from one roast chicken, pasta bakes are the big family feed you need on cold evenings. Keep it simple with our chicken pesto pasta bake, indulge in this cheesy chicken and broccoli bake or get a little bit fancy with this creamy tarragon chicken version.

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Mac 'n' cheese

We love mac 'n' cheese, and we love baking it even more to get that crisp, golden layer of extra cheese and/or breadcrumbs. If you struggle with a dairy intolerance, check out out lactose-free version here; and when you've got nothing in the fridge, turn to your cupboards to make this tuna and tomato mac. Otherwise, we highly recommend this roasted garlic mac — it's our all-time fave.

Isn't everything better with bacon? This tasty mac 'n' cheese
with chopped streaky bacon rashers is a good way to convince the kids to eat their broccoli!

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Bolognese bakes

What is lasagne if not a classic pasta bake using Bolognese sauce? For something a little different that the kids will love, check out this easy cheesy baked spaghetti Bolognese.

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Cannelloni

Stuffed baked pastas are pasta bakes too! This chicken, spinach and ricotta cannelloni is our spin on a classic vegetarian dish (and if you're veggie, feel free to omit the chicken!). While it's not at all traditional, we also love our creamy ham and leek cannelloni, bringing Irish flavours to an Italian dish.

Need even more inspiration? Check out these five other ways with pasta bakes
!