This Easy Baked Ziti is a great Italian casserole recipe for feeding a oversupply filled with layers of pasta, sausage, and cheese. This is my favorite recipe when I have to entertain company.

Baked Ziti

Piece of cake BAKED ZITI

For the showtime twelvemonth of our spousal relationship whenever I cooked I instinctively made enough food for x people at least without even thinking nigh it. I was just used to cooking for a ton of people being from such a large family.

Dorsum then John could nigh kill a whole 9X13 pan of food by himself…but things change. His metabolism has slowed down and he doesn't consume nearly as much equally he used to. Equally for me…I'm still trying to find my metabolism from those days. It must exist hiding in a closet somewhere with my pre-birthing hips!

My mom'due south house is still the gathering identify on Sunday. Every Dominicus my mom all the same makes plenty food for around 40 people. Sometimes only 10 people come over, sometimes a huge crowd. Although I live thousands of miles away from her now, on Sundays I still tend to melt big meals.

I am always looking for recipes to feed a oversupply since nosotros like to have friends over to our house for dinner frequently. This easy Baked Ziti recipe is great because both the kids and the adults will similar information technology. It's also a great accept in repast for someone who is sick or but had a baby.

In full disclosure, I have two baked ziti recipes. This Baked Ziti is a fiddling more complex and uses more than pans. It's more traditional. This ziti recipe is a little easier and better for when you don't have as much patience or time.

Add a salad and some garlic staff of life and you're set up. This like shooting fish in a barrel Baked Ziti recipe makes a heaping 9X13 casserole so if you are only feeding your little family yous should half it. The sour cream and Provolone give information technology bully flavor. Information technology has a similar gustatory modality to lasagna without all the hard work!

INGREDIENTS

  • GROUND ITALIAN SAUSAGE– Sausage is my preferred ground meat but yous could employ basis beef or footing turkey also. For actress flavour use hot sausage.
  • ZITI– really any short pasta or tubed pasta can be used (penne pasta or rigatoni) in this pasta broil but ziti pasta is great for this recipe. The shape of the ziti noodles is practiced for this sauce and filling.
  • ONION
  • GARLIC – I like to use fresh minced garlic but you can use garlic pulverisation as a sub.
  • MARINARA SAUCE– y'all can use homemade marinara sauce simply as far equally jarred sauce I really similar Rao'due south marinara. It tastes bootleg. Tomato plant paste doesn't provide plenty tomato plant flavour in the pasta sauce.
  • SOUR Foam– ricotta cheese is sometimes used in pastas but sour cream is the unexpected special ingredient that makes this creamy.
  • MOZZARELLA CHEESE– I don't use fresh mozzarella but shredded mozzarella cheese, Italian cheeses of any kind can be used.
  • PROVOLONE CHEESE
  • PARMESAN CHEESE
  • ITALIAN SEASONING

Baked Ziti

Tips for How to Make Baked Ziti:

  1. It's important to melt your pasta al dente. The pasta continues to melt when you bake information technology and yous don't want the ziti to be soggy.
  2. The recipe calls for Italian sausage but using a hot sausage will give information technology a lot of flavor if yous like a little heat.
  3. If yous desire to make ahead of fourth dimension and freeze, this Baked Ziti freezes well.Baked Ziti

OTHER ITALIAN RECIPES

  • Unstuffed Shells Casserole
  • Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
  • One-Pan Baked Ziti Skillet
  • Craven and Spinach Stuffed Shells
  • Sausage Baked Ziti
  • One-Pan Spinach Artichoke Pasta
  • Craven Broccoli Alfredo
  • One-Pan Chicken Parmesan Pasta

Baked Ziti

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This Easy Baked Ziti is a great Italian casserole recipe for feeding a crowd filled with pasta, sausage, and cheese.

  • 1 pound dry ziti pasta
  • 1 onion, diced finely
  • 1 pound Italian sausage
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • two teaspoons Italian seasonings
  • ii (26 ounce) jars marinara sauce (I similar Rao'southward)
  • 6 ounces Provolone cheese, sliced ( 9 rounds)
  • one cup sour cream
  • 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
  • grated Parmesan cheese
  1. Bring a large pot of salted h2o to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente co-ordinate to package directions, almost eight minutes; drain.

  2. In a large skillet, brown onion and sausage (or beef ) over medium oestrus. Drain the fat. Add minced garlic and cook for a minute or then. Add the marinara sauce and Italian seasonings to the cooked sausage, and simmer 15 minutes.

  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, 1/two meat sauce mixture, all of the Provolone cheese, all of the sour cream, remaining ziti, remaining sauce mixture and and so mozzarella cheese. Meridian with grated Parmesan cheese.

  4. Spray aluminum foil with cooking spray then it doesn't stick to the cheese. Bake for xx minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the foil and broil for an additional 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starts to dark-brown. Top with fresh basil if desired.

Easy Baked Ziti