Sausage Mozzarella Supper for a Crowd

This is a church supper, reunion, or fundraiser recipe built to feed a serious crowd. Twenty pounds of Italian sausage, 12 pounds of corkscrew pasta, and 13 pounds of mozzarella get layered across eight 6-quart baking pans with a mushroom-loaded spaghetti sauce.

The method stays simple even at this scale. Brown the sausage, drain the fat, mix it with the sauce, mushrooms, tomato juice, onions, and Italian seasoning, then layer it lasagna-style with the cooked pasta and sliced mozzarella. Shredded mozzarella goes on top for a bubbly, golden finish.

Covering the pans for the first hour lets everything heat through and meld, then the last 15 minutes uncovered browns and crisps the cheese on top.

Pro Tips

• Brown the sausage in batches. Twenty pounds in one pot steams instead of browning, and you lose all that caramelized flavor.
• Cook the pasta just short of al dente. It continues cooking in the sauce during the hour-long bake and will turn mushy if overdone up front.
• Tomato juice thins the sauce so it stays saucy across eight pans. Without it, the sauce gets absorbed into the pasta and the dish dries out.
• Prep and assemble the night before, then refrigerate covered. Add 15 to 20 minutes to the bake time if going straight from the fridge to the oven.

Variations

• Half-batch: Cut everything in half for about 75 servings and four pans, which fits most home ovens.
• Vegetarian option: Swap Italian sausage for a mix of sliced zucchini, bell peppers, and extra mushrooms in one or two pans for guests who don’t eat meat.