{"id":4488,"date":"2026-05-02T22:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T22:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/?p=4488"},"modified":"2026-05-02T22:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T22:23:13","slug":"cheesy-beef-rice-pasta-bake","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/02\/cheesy-beef-rice-pasta-bake\/","title":{"rendered":"Cheesy Beef, Rice &#038; Pasta Bake"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Cheesy Beef, Rice &amp; Pasta Bake (Family Comfort Casserole)<\/h3>\n<p>This cozy oven bake is the ultimate comfort food: tender pasta shells, seasoned ground beef, fluffy rice, sweet bell peppers, and a blanket of bubbly melted cheese. It\u2019s hearty, budget-friendly, and perfect for feeding a crowd.<\/p>\n<h2>\u00a0Ingredients<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>250 g (about 3 cups) medium pasta shells<\/li>\n<li>1 cup cooked white rice<\/li>\n<li>500 g ground beef<\/li>\n<li>1 green bell pepper, diced<\/li>\n<li>1 red bell pepper, diced<\/li>\n<li>1 small onion, finely chopped<\/li>\n<li>2 cloves garlic, minced<\/li>\n<li>1 cup tomato sauce<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp paprika<\/li>\n<li>1 tsp Italian seasoning<\/li>\n<li>Salt and black pepper to taste<\/li>\n<li>2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese<\/li>\n<li>2 tbsp olive oil<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>\u00a0Instructions<\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Cook the pasta<\/strong><br \/>\nBoil shells in salted water until <em>al dente<\/em>. Drain and set aside.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brown the beef<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a large pan over medium heat, add olive oil, onion, and garlic. Saut\u00e9 2 minutes.<br \/>\nAdd ground beef, salt, pepper, paprika, and Italian seasoning. Cook until browned.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Add the veggies<\/strong><br \/>\nStir in diced bell peppers and cook 3\u20134 minutes until slightly soft.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make the mixture<\/strong><br \/>\nAdd tomato sauce and cooked rice to the beef mixture. Stir well and simmer 2\u20133 minutes.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Combine with pasta<\/strong><br \/>\nIn a large bowl, mix the cooked pasta with the beef-rice mixture.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Assemble<\/strong><br \/>\nTransfer to a greased baking dish. Top generously with mozzarella.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bake<\/strong><br \/>\nBake at <strong>180\u00b0C (350\u00b0F)<\/strong> for <strong>15\u201320 minutes<\/strong> until the cheese is melted and lightly golden.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Serve hot<\/strong><br \/>\nLet it rest 5 minutes, then scoop and enjoy that cheesy pull!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>\u00a0Tips<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Add sliced olives or mushrooms for extra flavor.<\/li>\n<li>Swap beef for ground chicken or turkey.<\/li>\n<li>Sprinkle chili flakes if you like heat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Enjoy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cheesy Beef, Rice &amp; Pasta Bake (Family Comfort Casserole) This cozy oven bake is the ultimate comfort food: tender pasta&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4488"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4490,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4488\/revisions\/4490"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/recipes.ukbiddingdirectory.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}