Baked ziti is cheesy, saucy, and baked until bubbly, for the kind of cozy dinner that always disappears fast. With layers of ziti, creamy ricotta, and hearty sausage sauce, it’s an easy pasta bake that is perfect for weeknights, potlucks, and make-ahead dinners.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights
- Flavor: Savory Italian sausage, tangy tomato, and creamy ricotta melt together with mozzarella for a rich, comforting dish.
- Why Make It: This is an easy-to-make-ahead casserole that serves 8 with a thick and hearty sausage sauce.
- Serving Suggestions: This baked ziti has quickly become my go-to for feeding teens and house guests, especially paired with garlic bread and a Caesar or Italian salad.
Best Ingredients for Baked Ziti
- Meat: Choose mild or hot sausage. This can be replaced with ground beef or ground turkey. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning to the meat.
- Pasta Sauce: Choose your favorite pasta sauce, as it is the main flavor of the dish.
- Pasta: I use ziti in this recipe; however, penne, rigatoni, or other tube-shaped pasta can be used in place.
- Cheese: Ricotta adds a creamy layer to this recipe. You can replace it by blending cottage cheese with an egg until smooth.
- Topping: Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over the top for a browned, bubbly topping. Just before serving, add freshly grated Parmesan cheese and some fresh herbs like parsley or basil.
- Variations: Add chopped spinach to the ricotta mixture (squeezed dry). Stir sautéed mushrooms or diced zucchini into the sauce for extra veggies.
How to Make Baked Ziti
- Prepare the sausage sauce and the cheese mixture in separate bowls (full recipe below).
- In a large pot, cook the pasta al dente.
- Layer the sauce, pasta, and cheese in a greased dish.
- Top with mozzarella and bake.
For cleaner slices, let baked ziti rest 10 to 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Fridge, Freezer, Reheat
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Baked or unbaked ziti will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To reheat, cover with foil and warm at 350°F until hot throughout. Add a splash of water or sauce if it looks dry. To reheat single portions, microwave in short bursts, loosely covered, stirring once if possible.
Italian Comfort Classics
Did you enjoy this Baked Ziti? Leave a comment and rating below.
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 small yellow onion diced
- 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce or marinara sauce
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
- ½ cup water
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 16 ounces ziti
- 15 ounces ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- ¼ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- thinly sliced fresh basil leaves or chopped fresh parsley for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
- In a large skillet, over medium-high heat, brown the sausage and onion, breaking it up with a spoon. Drain any fat.
- Add the pasta sauce, tomatoes, water, and Italian seasoning. Simmer uncovered for 12 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Meanwhile, boil ziti in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Drain well.
- In a small bowl, mix ricotta, egg, parsley, 1 cup mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan cheese.
- Add 1 cup of sauce to the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Layer half of the ziti, top with all of the ricotta mixture, and half of the sauce.
- Add remaining ziti, remaining sauce, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until golden and bubbly.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Dinner, Entree, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine Italian© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
5 out of 6 in the family love it. It is great the next day for leftovers.
Crowd favorite! Doubled the recipe to make two 9×13 pans. Used 1lb hot Italian sausage and 1lb lean ground beef. Didn’t find it necessary to add water to the sauce, so left that out. Made the rest of it true to recipe and it’s excellent!
Tasted amazing! My 8 year old and I made this together, and he thoroughly enjoyed helping.
Very tasty
Easy and full of flavor
great recipe, I really liked the addition of the ricotta layer in the middle. I thank that really made this dish.
I added about 1/2 jar of Calabrian chili paste to the meat sauce to bring the heat up.
I don’t know who your feeding but 8 servings? I can feed double that with the quantity this made. and no way this fits in a 9×13 dish, I used a large lasagna pan and it fit perfectly.
thanks for the recipe!
I made this last week and also made it again today. Recipe is outstanding and delicious. Did not have to add anything.Thank you,please keep the great recipes coming. I’ve made so many of your recipes and all are perfect.
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Ric!
This was good but was a little to heavy in the cheese mixture in comparison to the tomatoes/red sauce. I also think it could have used more spice. Next time I plan to reduce the cheese mixture and add another can of diced tomatoes. I will also add some Arlie and red peppers to the red sauce.
Love this recipe! The flavors meld together so well… adding the egg to the ricotta cheese really works wonderfully… it is incredibly versatile recipe ..depending on what I have on hand, I have used sausage or ground beef and once a combo of both …sometimes I have had to use cottage cheese instead of ricotta..a few times I used feta cheese when I was out of Parmesan ..also have used macaroni when I was out of ziti (I just told the fam it was a “Pasta Bake”). Anyway, I love this recipe and have used it so many times I thought I should leave a review. Thank you for giving me one of my favorite go-to-recipes!
I am so happy to hear you love this recipe Shannon!
Just found this recipe and it is absolutely amazing. It was very easy to prepare and very easy to double for my large family. Thanks for posting this!
fabulous recipe and very easy. it’s a keeper!
Your baked ziti recipe is ‘Cest Magnifique, it’s the best baked ziti recipe I ever made. My very fussy family loved it. Your cooking advice and guidelines are very helpful. Thank you.
I am so happy to hear you found this recipe helpful Irene!
This is an absolutely delicious recipe! I made a few minor modifications, which I think really made it that much better. I diced up one red bell pepper and Zucchini and broiled them until there was a little char. I then added those veggies to the sauce. I also omitted the egg because I wanted it to be less firm/more cheesy and creamy. What really took this recipe to the next level was buying a block of Mozzarella and shredding it myself and then adding about an extra cup. The cheese melts so much better when you don’t buy the pre-shredded stuff. Everybody absolutely loved this recipe! Thanks!!
Just making this. Haven’t eaten it yet. I got most of the way through the recipe and realized that the recipe NEVER says what to do the meat mixture. When do you add this? It doesn’t say anything other than brown it, add seasoning, tomatoes and simmer. When do you add to the 9×13 with the rest of ingredients. I guess mine is going on top.
Hi Keith, in step 6, it says Add a thin layer (about 1 cup) of sauce to the bottom of a greased 9×13 pan. Layer half of the ziti, top with all of the ricotta, and half of the sauce.
In step 7, you Add remaining ziti, remaining sauce, and top with cheese.
Hope that helps!
We all liked the recipe, but I was a bit confused when I read “CHEESE – Ricotta cheese makes up the creamy cheese layer. You can swap it out by blending cottage cheese with an egg until smooth”. We personally don’t like Ricotta cheese. I did swap the Ricotta cheese out for cottage cheese, but then was confused. Do I need to add an addt’l egg or were you referring to the egg in the recipe?
I believe you mean to use the egg in the recipe, not add an addt’l egg. Possibly the sentence should read “CHEESE – Ricotta cheese makes up the creamy cheese layer. You can swap it out by blending cottage cheese with THE egg IN THE RECIPE until smooth”. Hope this makes sense.
Sorry for the confusion Lynn, I don’t add an additional egg when using cottage cheese, I just blend it with the egg to create a smoother consistency.
needed more garlic but other than that is was great!
Delicious! My go-to for my family and when making a meal for others.
Easy casserole and so good.
I’ve had better ziti recipes. Disappointed it wasn’t worth making and a waste of money.
Absolutely delicious!!! And it’s pretty easy to throw together!! Thanks for a great recipe!!! Making again for our son for his birthday dinner!!! I know our grandchildren will love it too!!!