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Baked Ziti is a classic comfort food, loaded with Italian sausage, marinara sauce and three types of cheese. Perfect for a weeknight dinner for the family or for feeding a crowd!
This baked ziti is the perfect low key, non fussy pasta dish. It’s flavorful thanks to using Italian sausage. Grab a jar of your favorite Marinara sauce to save time. Plus it’s cheesy and melty thanks to using THREE different types of cheese. Prep ahead of time and be ready to pop this into the oven when needed, or double up (or more..) to feed a crowd.
Serve this Baked Ziti with a side of salad drizzled with Homemade Italian Dressing, or go all out with this Italian Chop Salad. Or serve up some Baked Zucchini Fries for a fun side dish.
Ingredients Needed for Baked Ziti:
- Sausage: Use a mild sausage to make this family friendly. If you are looking for more spice feel free to grab the spicy sausage. Other substitutions would include ground turkey or chicken, but you will want to season those with some Italian seasoning to get more flavor.
- Marinara: Make your own sauce for this recipe, or simply grab a jar of your favorite brand. We will be doctoring it up slightly to add a bit more flavoring to the entire dish.
- Ziti Noodles: This dish can be made with any other short noodle variety. Penne or Rigatoni are great options to substitute with.
- Cheese: Since this is a cheesy dish, and I don’t recommend making this dish while omitting the cheese.
Find the complete recipe card below with measurements and full instructions.
How to Make Baked Ziti
- Cook the Pasta: bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt. Cook the noodles until they are al dente, they should still have a firm bite to them. Drain and set aside.
- Prepare the Sauce: Cook the sausage, breaking it up while it cooks. Add the onion and garlic. Pour in the marinara sauce (homemade or store bought) and season with basil, salt, and black pepper. Taste and adjust as needed. Add a small amount of sauce to the noodles to ensure they are coated in the sauce, this gives more flavor to the finished dish!
- Prepare the Cheese Mixture: in a bowl combine the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan and black pepper. Stir to combine this together.
- Layer the Pasta: prepare the dish by spreading a layer of sauce in the bottom of the dish. Just enough to coat the dish. Then add half of the noodle mixture. Top the noodles with half of the cheese mixture. Then repeat the layers: sauce, noodles, ricotta cheese mixture.
- Top with Shredded Cheese: top the entire dish with some extra shredded cheese.
- Bake: cover the dish with foil, tent it slightly so that the cheese doesn’t stick and pull away when removed.
- Remove foil: after baking for 20 minutes, remove the foil and continue baking for an additional 10 minutes. Broil if desired for 5 minutes to get more browned spots of cheese on top.
Serve
Baked Ziti is a hearty and flavorful main dish. Pair it with some cheese or garlic bread to soak up extra sauce. Complete the meal with a salad such as our Italian Chop Salad, Antipasto Salad, or house salad with homemade Ranch Dressing or Blue Cheese Dressing.
Storage
- Store: Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
- Reheating: Bake covered with foil at 350℉ until warmed through. Time can vary depending on amount being reheated. Can take 20-30 minutes.
- Freezing: Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Make Ahead Directions: Prepare the dish according to directions, cover with foil and store in the refrigerator before baking. Store 1-2 days, remove to room temperature and allow the dish to warm while pre-heating the oven. Bake according to directions.
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Baked Ziti
Ingredients
Cheese Mixture
- 1 cup mozarella cheese shredded
- 1 (15 oz) ricotta cheese
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉.
- Cook the Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add a tablespoon of salt and stir to combine.
- Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook until al dente (still have a firm bite). Drain the noodles, add back into the pot and set aside.
- Prepare Sauce: In a large skillet cook the sausage over medium heat, breaking it up while it cooks. When the meat is mostly browned add the onion and cook until the meat is fully browned and the onion is softened and translucent.
- Add the garlic to the meat mixture and cook an additional 30 seconds.
- Pour in the marinara sauce, basil, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer.
- Coat Noodles: Spoon about 1 cup of sauce into the noodles to coat.
- Prepare Cheese Mixture: in a medium size bowl combine the ricotta, mozarella, parmesan, and black pepper
- Prepare Dish: In a 9×13 baking dish spread a layer of sauce over the bottom of the dish.
- Layer in half of the pasta mixture. Spoon half of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles
- Spoon half of the red sauce over the noodles and cheese.
- Continue layering with the remaining halves of the noodles, cheese and sauce.
- Top the dish with 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with foil, tenting to ensure the foil isn’t stuck to the cheese as it melts.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 10 minutes, or broil for 5 minutes. Until top layer of cheese is nicely browned and bubbling.
- Top with fresh parsley (or basil) and fresh grated parmesan if desired.
Notes
- Sausage: substitute with spicy, or even ground chicken or turkey if desired. If not using an Italian seasoned sausage, add some Italian seasoning to the ground meat being used.
- Pasta Noodles: can substitute the ziti with another type of short noodle like Rigatoni or Penne.
- Marinara Sauce: use a homemade sauce or a store-bought sauce. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed in the sauce.
- Store: Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
-
- Freezing: Store in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight.
- Reheating: Bake covered with foil at 350℉ until warmed through. Time can vary depending on amount being reheated. Can take 20-30 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe first published November 5, 2014. Updated March 5, 2021 and April 3, 2024.
Photography done by @KJandCompany
I made this recipe for my family this week and they loved it! I did halve the recipe since we are awful at eating left overs but it turned out great and was so easy.
Making this now….2lbs of pasta is a lot! Phew!…would be great if you had more specific sizes…for example…size of pan needed and amount of sauce (jars of sauce come in so many sizes). Thanks!
It is a lot of pasta! Like I said it’s our go to dish when we have a large group to feed 🙂 And you’re absolutely right! I should give more info, I will get that added to the recipe once I check the ounces of sauce that were in the jars we used. And the baking dish we used was 9×11.
Baked Ziti is one of those comfort foods that I could eat at least once a week. I have a sick amount of ricotta in our fridge right now.. I think I totally need to whip this up!
Oh heck yes, YUM! I cannot even remember if I have ever had Baked Ziti before in my life!
I love the pop of green from the herbs & the top layer looks utterly scrumptious. I always love that part. :] // itsCarmen.com ☼ ☯
There’s nothing I love more for dinner than a big bowl of cheesy noodles! Looks awesome Serene!