Baked ziti with ricotta and meat sauce is classic comfort food, and it will become one of your family’s favorite meals.
If you are looking for a hearty, cheesy, comforting family dinner that is a slam dunk with even the pickiest eaters, you came to the right place.😉👌🏻 This one is perfect to put in the family dinners rotation.
Plus, it makes a bunch, so you are setting yourself up for some leftovers (most likely).
Ingredients
For tastiest results, always use the best quality ingredients you have access to.
To make this baked ziti recipe, you will need the following:
- ziti or penne pasta
- olive oil
- Italian sausage or ground beef
- garlic
- marinara sauce (homemade or store bought)
- ricotta cheese
- egg
- mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- fresh basil
- Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper
Store-bought marinara is perfectly fine, or you can use homemade if you want.
You can also substitue ground beef (seasoned generously with garlic powder, salt and pepper) for the sausage in a pinch.
In a pinch, I have also made the ricotta mixture without an egg, and it still works fine.
Of course, for best results, follow the original recipe as is.
How to make baked ziti
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9×13-baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add in a pinch of salt. Pour in the pasta and cook the pasta until al dente then drain the pasta using a colander.
Drizzle pasta with a little olive oil and toss so it doesn’t stick together. Pour the pasta into a large bowl and set aside.
While the pasta is cooking you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat up a large sauté pan over medium heat.
Once the pan is hot, add the Italian sausage and cook for about 5-7 minutes until it is no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. For the last minute of cooking, add in the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Use a spoon (or even paper towels) to remove any excess fat from the pan and discard the excess fat and set the cooked sausage aside.
In a medium size mixing bowl, combine together the ricotta, egg, ¾ cup of mozzarella cheese, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, basil and Italian seasoning. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.
Reserve ½ cup of the marinara sauce and then add the rest of the marinara, cooked sausage and ricotta to the bowl with the pasta and toss well. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.
Now it’s time to assemble baked ziti in a baking dish. Here is how to do it.
Spread the reserved ½ cup of sauce into the bottom of the 9×13 pan. Pour half of the pasta in an even layer over the sauce and top with half of the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Repeat with the remaining pasta and cheese.
Place the baked ziti into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is nice and melty and the edges and top are slightly golden brown.
Remove, let cook, garnish with some chopped basil, serve hot and enjoy!
Y’all let me know if you try it.
FAQs
Follow the recipe ingredients exactly to ensure the correct ratio of sauce to pasta, and you should have the perfect texture.
This recipe works best baking uncovered.
Yes, this recipe boils the pasta before baking. This ensures the casserole isn’t dried out, and it provides the best, most consistent texture.
Adding the egg simply helps hold/ bind the casserole together a bit better to prevent oozing when you are serving. That being said, it is still perfectly delicious without an egg.
Store in the refrigerator for 3 – 5 days. Yes, you can freeze. I recommend preparing the baked ziti casserole through all the assembly steps, and do not bake it. Freeze it prior to the baking steps, and make sure it is well covered. Thaw it and bake it when you get ready to enjoy it.
I love baked ziti with french bread or homemade sourdough bread and any of my green salads from my salad recipe archives. I really like the Italian chopped salad or Greek salad to serve with this recipe.
Yes! I recommend preparing everything all the way through the assembly steps, and refrigerate until you are ready to bake it.
Other recipes you may enjoy
If you liked this baked ziti recipe, here are some similar recipes you may enjoy.
- Lazy lasagna
- Chicken pesto pasta
- Shrimp scampi linguine
- Pasta primavera
- Pasta e fagioli soup
- Caprese orzo pasta salad
- Tortellini soup
- Chicken pasta bake
- Chicken tetrazzini casserole
- Lasagna soup
Baked Ziti Recipe
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Baked Ziti with ricotta and meat sacue
Baked ziti with ricotta and meat sauce is classic comfort food, and it will become one of your family's favorite meals! Easy and tasty👌🏻
Ingredients
- 1 pound ziti or penne pasta
- 1 tablespoon olive oil – plus more to drizzle over pasta to prevent sticking
- 1 pound Italian sausage or ground beef
- 2 cloves of garlic – peeled and minced
- 32 oz marinara sauce homemade or store bought
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt
- Ground black pepper
- Chopped basil – optional for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spray a 9×13-baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add in a pinch of salt. Pour in the pasta and cook the pasta until al dente then drain the pasta using a colander. Drizzle pasta with a little olive oil and toss so it doesn’t stick together. Pour the pasta into a large bowl and set aside.
- While the pasta is cooking you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. Heat up a large saute pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the Italian sausage and cook for about 5-7 minutes until it is no longer pink, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon as it cooks. For the last minute of cooking, add in the garlic and cook until fragrant. Use a spoon to remove any excess fat from the pan and discard the excess fat and set the cooked sausage aside.
- In a medium size mixing bowl, combine together the ricotta, egg, ¾ cup of mozzarella cheese, ½ cup Parmesan cheese, basil and Italian seasoning. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to taste.
- Reserve ½ cup of the sauce and then add the rest of the marinara, cooked sausage and ricotta to the bowl with the pasta and toss well. Season with more salt and pepper if needed.
- Spread the reserved ½ cup of sauce into the bottom of the 9×13 pan. Pour half of the pasta in an even layer over the sauce and top with half of the shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Repeat with the remaining pasta and cheese.
- Place the baked ziti into the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes until the cheese is nice and melty and the edges and top are slightly golden brown.
- Remove, let cook, garnish with some chopped basil, serve hot and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutritional information is approximate and was calculated using a recipe nutrition label generator.
We used Italian turkey sausage for this recipe, and that was used in the calculation. Using pork sausage is delicious too, but will change the nutritional value.
Megan Timmerman says
I made this for my friend and I for movie night! Simple to make and absolutely delicious!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Megan! Glad to hear it❤️
Kendall says
made this last night and it was incredible!!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Woo hoooo! So happy to hear that.❤️🙌🏻
Victoria Gavriloff says
Currently 6 months pregnant. I’ve been craving baked Ziti. This was amazing!!! Definitely satisfied my craving.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Victoria!❤️
Donna says
D-lish, I used Gluten free ziti and stood up well against pasta, even my guests couldn’t tell.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay Donna! I am so happy to hear that.🥰👍🏻
Chris Santa Ana says
Trying this one tonight. My wife and her best friend are at a casino and coming home tonight. Planning on having this ready for them when they get here. This has been so easy and looking forward to it. Thank you for sharing.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
I hope y’all enjoyed it!
Chris says
It was great. In fact, we doing it again for XMAS Eve dinner. I did notice in the recipe it calls for shredded Parmesan, but the pic looks like grated. Curious if it should be shredded or grated. I think the last one I used grated.
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay! I am so glad you enjoyed it. Either grated or shredded will both work great, and I have used both.
Kristen Dollason says
Amazing recipe. Easy and delicious. Comfort food at it’s best!
Marjorie @APinchOfHealthy says
Yay! I am glad you enjoyed it, Kristen❤️
Janet says
I LOVE good ziti, but, alas, hadn’t found one… until now! This is much simpler than most and the taste is amazing! Thank you so much!