Fri. Jan 24th, 2025

Dorm Chef: How to make the perfect rigatoni in a mug

Pasta is one of the easiest and most popular dishes to make. Living in a dorm makes pasta one of the most extravagant meals to make. Simplifying this dish even more is a necessity. The easiest way to do that is by using a mug.

I’d love to give rigatoni in a mug a fancier name. But that would defeat the purpose of keeping things around here simple. This week we’re trying out a crave-busting portion of pasta for when you want to be watching carbs, but need a hit of noodley, tomato and cheesy goodness. 

 

What you need:

  • 1 cup red pasta sauce of your choice
  • 2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • Enough rigatoni noodles to pack long-ways into your mug of choice
  • ⅓ cup shredded mozzarella cheese (protip: fine shred is your friend for a more even melt in the microwave)
  • 1 tbsp parmesan cheese

 

Do the thing:

  • Boil your water and cook your noodles (a larger bowl than your mug if you have one, but otherwise, we make do with what we have)
  • Drain and set the noodles aside to cool
  • Drip and spread a couple of spoonfuls of sauce into the bottom of the mug
  • Sprinkle about half of your mozzarella on top of the sauce, followed by half of the Italian seasoning, and repeat the sauce/cheese layers
  • Going in a spiral starting along the outer edge working in, pack the mug as tight as you can with vertical rigatoni noodles
  • Cover the tops of the noodles with more sauce
  • Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top
  • Microwave for approximately 2-3 minutes
  • For a fancy plating option, place a plate over the top of the mug immediately after coming out of the microwave and flip it, so the whole dish comes out in its gooey cheesy glory
  • Enjoy. 

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