Baked Ziti
This baked ziti recipe is a weeknight-friendly pasta casserole with a creamy homemade meat sauce and three kinds of melty Italian cheese. Perfect for family dinners and entertaining!
Servings: 6 servings
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 ounces ziti noodles
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 pound breakfast sausage or Italian sausage
- 2¾ cups marinara sauce
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
- ¾ cup heavy cream
- ⅓ cup shredded parmesan cheese divided
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- fresh basil leaves cut into ribbons, for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. Cook your ziti pasta in a pot of salted boiling water. Drain the pasta and place it back into the pot. Set aside.
- Prep the oven. Preheat your oven to 425°F.
- Prepare the sausage. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Crumble the sausage into the skillet and cook until no longer pink, about 5 to 6 minutes. Drain the excess fat from the skillet and return the skillet to the burner.
- Make the sauce. Add the marinara sauce and red pepper flakes to the sausage. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer the sauce for 10 minutes over medium heat.
- Add the cheese. Add the heavy cream and half the Parmesan cheese into the prepared sauce. Stir well.
- Combine the sauce with the pasta. Add the sauce to the pot with the pasta and stir well.
- Assemble. Transfer half the pasta to a 9-inch baking dish. Top the pasta with ricotta in small dollops, then add the remaining parmesan and half of the mozzarella cheese. Layer the remaining pasta and finish off with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake. Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake the pasta for 15-20 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
- Finish and serve. Remove the ziti from the oven and let it rest and cool for 5 to 10 minutes. Garnish with freshly chopped basil and serve.
Notes
- Instead of marinara, you can use plain tomato sauce. To give the tomato sauce extra flavor, combine it with garlic powder and Italian herbs.
- You can substitute ricotta for cream cheese or cottage cheese.
- For this recipe, you can use ground beef or even ground chicken.
Nutrition
Calories: 730kcal | Carbohydrates: 51g | Protein: 32g | Fat: 44g | Saturated Fat: 21g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 16g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 128mg | Sodium: 1267mg | Potassium: 740mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1358IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 300mg | Iron: 3mg
