How To Make Baked Ziti, 3 Easy Recipes
Garnished with opulent cheese, Italian cuisine offers numerous creamy meals sautéed and sprinkled with traditional herbs and spices that leave your taste buds tingling for more. Baked ziti is one such delicacy offered by Italian cuisine, which is an easy and inexpensive dish to make because of the limited amount of ingredients used.
Baked ziti is one of the simplest dishes that is made using penne pasta and some sauce. Baked ziti is also called the American-hybrid in which the pasta is cooked separately and then combined with the sauce, choice of cheese, and other ingredients in a casserole dish.
When it comes to serving a huge guest list without compromising on your cooking standards, baked ziti is the dish to opt for. There are a variety of recipes for baked ziti incorporating different ingredients, each to suit your taste and available resources. Go through the following lines and learn a few out of the varied baked ziti recipes.
Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 lb lean Ground Beef
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 lb Ziti Pasta (dry)
- 26 oz Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 ½ cups of Sour Cream
- 2 tbsp Parmesan Cheese (grated)
- 6 oz Provolone Cheese (sliced)
- 6 oz Mozzarella Cheese (shredded)
- Cooking Spray
Preparation
- Boil a large pot of lightly salted water and then add in ziti pasta and cook for 8 minutes and then drain out the water.
- Spray some cooking spray in a large skillet and fry onion and ground beef over medium heat and then add in spaghetti sauce and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Take a 9×13 inch baking sheet and apply butter over it. Now, layer it with ½ of cooked ziti, followed by provolone cheese, sour cream, and ½ sauce mixture. Next add the remaining ziti, shredded mozzarella cheese, and then the remaining sauce mixture. Now top the layer with grated parmesan cheese.
- Bake it for 30 minutes in the preheated oven.
Cheesy Baked Ziti Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 cups of Mozzarella Cheese (Shredded)
- Pinch of Oregano
- 1 pack Penne Pasta
- 2 large jars of Spaghetti Sauce
- Cooking Spray
- Olive Oil
Preparation
- Cook pasta following the package instructions and then add in just about a few drops of olive oil to give some flavor and prevent it from sticking. Drain out water when pasta is soft but still firm.
- Mix together cheese and eggs to blend them properly.
- Spray a large cooking pan with cooking spray and then spoon in one-third of the penne noodles, spreading them evenly in the pan.
- Layer the noodles with some portion of cheese mixture, add a spoonful of sauce. Add this process until the entire pasta is used, but make sure to put aside some sauce and mozzarella for topping.
- Once you have layered completely, pout the remaining sauce over ziti and then sprinkle over the leftover mozzarella. Also, add a pinch of oregano.
- Now place the tin foil over the dish and bake for about an hour.
Baked Ziti With Ricotta Cheese
Ingredients
- 16oz packet Ziti
- 1 Egg
- 1 cup Ricotta Cheese
- 2 tsp virgin Olive Oil
- 28 oz Pasta Sauce
- 6 oz Mozzarella Cheese
- ¼ cup Parmesan Cheese (Grated)
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Boil ziti in a bowl adding a pinch of salt and olive oil.
- Drain out excess of water after boiling. Mix ziti along with the remaining olive oil in a separate bowl.
- Coat the baking sheet completely with cooking spray.
- Add pasta sauce to the oil-coated ziti and mix well and then shift half of it to the baking sheet.
- Beat egg in a bowl and add ricotta, parmesan cheese to it. Spread the mixture over pasta in the baking dish and then add half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Add then the remaining pasta to the baking dish. Now top it with the remaining mozzarella.
- Bake for 20 minutes and the ziti is ready to be served.
You have guests flowing the next day and you have some unprecedented responsibility to deal with. Wondering how you can meet the food requirement of the day? Well, if you and your guests don’t mind enjoying some Italian cuisine, then baked ziti is the savior in your hand. The recipes provided in the write-up will teach you how to make baked ziti, a simple combination of penne, cheese, and some sauce.
