Baked Ziti
Prep Time: 30 minutes | Cook Time: 40 minutes | Stand Time: 10 minutes | Total Time: Approx. 1 hour, 20 minutes | Serves: 8-10
What is it about pasta with a meat sauce and lots of melty cheese that just seems so satisfying? This is a “stick to your ribs” dish for sure. Lots of meat and yummy marinara topped two kinds of shredded cheese… hold on to your pants!
You can substitute rigatoni for the ziti if needed. You could even use all ground beef, but I think the sausage/ground beef is a perfect duo.
This can serve a small group or you can halve it and freeze a pan for later. The recipe is for a lasagna pan, but you can put it into two 9×9 pans. It will fit into a 9×13 but will be mounded somewhat. But, seriously, what trivial things for an amazing meal. We love leftovers in our home, so this makes enough for us 4 (or 5 when the oldest is home), plus another evening meal. Can we all say, “Yay!” for not having as many dishes to clean the next day?
A delicious, mouth-watering side for this Baked Ziti would be my Buffalo Bread. Crispy around the edges, warm and soft in the middle. Flavors of butter, garlic, and Parmesan… my family named this bread. Funny story you can read on the webpage by clicking the link.
If you’re up to a more elaborate bread, you can check out my Compound Butter made into garlic bread. It. Is. Awesome. The first time I used my compound butter for bread, my daughter and I just stood around the pan eating. It was wonderful!
A salad or veggie on the side would be a full meal for sure.
Freeze any leftovers wrapped extremely well or placed in an airtight container for up to 3 months… if there are any leftovers. Yumm.
Baked Ziti
Equipment
- Deep lasagna pan
Ingredients
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- 1 pound Italian sausage, mild or hot, see Notes
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 red onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning,
- 2 24-ounce jars store-bough marinara, or homemade
- 1 15-ounce ricotta cheese, whole milk or part skim
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
- 3 tablespoons fresh basil, choppeed
- 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
- 16 ounces Mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/2 cup Parmesan or Asiago cheese, shredded
- kosher salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large stockpot, cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Add a good pinch, about a tablespoon, of kosher salt to the water and allow to come to a rolling boil. Cook the pasta until “al dente,” having a little “bite” to it (not super-soft). Drain the pasta. Pour the pasta back into the stockpot and set aside. (*I try not to add oil to the cooking water because I’d like for the sauce to stick to the tubes of ziti.)
- In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, parsley, basil, white pepper and ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt and set aside.
- Heat a large stock pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat; add the sausage and ground beef. Allow the meat to brown, not stirring for about 2 minutes. Then break up the meat with a spoon and stir.
- Add the chopped onion and garlic and stir the mixture and allow to cook until the onions are just softened and the meats are no longer pink. Drain the fat from the meat mixture.
- Add the marinara and Italian seasoning to the meat mixture and stir. Allow the mixture to come up to a boil, then lower the heat to low; cook for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.
- After tasting for seasoning, let the sauce continue to cook on low for another 5 to 10 minutes to allow the flavors to “marry.”
- Pour the sauce over the noodles in the stockpot and stir to combine thoroughly.
- Grease a deep lasagna pan.
- Pour half of the noodles-meat mixture into the pan and spread evenly.
- “Dollop” the ricotta evenly across the mixture.
- Pour the remaining half of the noodles-meat mixture over the ricotta.
- Top with Parmesan and Mozzarella cheeses.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbling.
- Remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 10 minutes. Serve warm.
Notes
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