Baked Ziti Easy Recipe – Easy Pasta Casserole For Dinner!

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Baked Ziti Easy Recipe – This is an easy, delicious dinner idea. The baked ziti is made and assembled in a casserole dish. Use pre-cooked noodles (al dente), two jars of pasta sauce (or homemade spaghetti sauce), grated mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and garnished with chopped basil.

I love making easy pasta for dinners and homemade lasagna for holidays, gatherings, and the family. They are the ultimate comfort food for fall and winter. And so is this baked ziti with meat sauce.

Baked Ziti

This easy casserole made with pasta noodles can be made in advance for busy days and assembled and frozen for when you have company.

Baked Ziti is a classic Italian-American comfort food. This baked ziti casserole makes a tender pasta with zesty sauce and cheesy goodness!

Baked Ziti Recipe

• Serves: 8
  (Or cook and freeze half for 4 servings)
• Prep Time: 15
• Bake Time 15-20

Allow additional time if you use homemade sauce. Or make the homemade sauce a day in advance.

Ingredients

• 1 16-ounce package of Ziti Noodles
• 2 jars of Italian Marinara Pasta Sauce
• 1 1-lb. package of Lean Ground Beef
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 16-ounce Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese (wedge grated)
• Fresh Basil
• Seasonings (salt, pepper, Italian Seasonings)
• Olive Oil

Today’s baked ziti recipe didn’t include ricotta cheese. You can easily stir in or top your ziti before baking with ricotta cheese. I didn’t have it on hand this day.

Recipe Notes

You can add 1 small onion (or onion salt) and garlic cloves (or garlic powder) to the ground beef when cooking or omit them. I like giving it a bit of extra flavor. Salt and Pepper to your taste preference. Additionally, you can add a teaspoon of Italian seasonings to the sauce.

Have a small jar of sauce (or extra jar) on hand in case you need to mix in additional sauce to make it saucier. For the recipe, only 2 jars are needed. Noodles typically soak up all the liquid. But, you may like to add more sauce (or a little water or chicken broth) if you have leftovers and are reheating it.

Rinsing the pasta noodles in cold water will keep them from sticking together.

Additional noodle types that can be used for this recipe are penne, rigatoni (a favorite), or fusilli. They are short noodles and will work well for this recipe.

What size dish do you need for Baked Ziti?

For smaller households like ours, I used an oval casserole dish and saved half of the mixture for freezing in a separate freezer-safe dish. Or, if you don’t want to freeze half, you can prepare the entire recipe in a 9×13-inch casserole dish.

Can you make Baked Ziti meatless? Yes!

Just omit the ground beef, add vegetables, or just the red sauce and cheese. Vegetables that you can as a substitute are zucchini, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

You might like this recipe for a quick and easy homemade pasta sauce with vegetables.

Directions

1. Shred the mozzarella cheese and set it on a plate or in a bowl until needed.
2. In a pan (with a little olive oil or non-stick olive oil spray) saute the onion and garlic, add the ground beef, and cook until the ground beef (breaking up the ground beef with a spoon) is browned on all sides. Make sure to remove any excess grease from the pan. Add in the sauce and stir. Turn off the heat.
3. Boil the water for the pasta noodles, and cook them al dente according to the package instructions. Drain, and rinse them with cold water. Set them to the side until you begin layering.
4. Get out the casserole dish. Pre-spray it with non-stick olive oil or other non-stick spray. Begin layering your ingredients: Adding Sauce to the bottom of the pan. Then, add 3/4 of the sauce (with meat sauce) to the noodles and stir together. Layer it into the casserole dish, sprinkle parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese (covering the casserole layer). Repeat until the casserole dish is almost full. For the final layer top with the remaining sauce and finish it by topping with the remaining shredded cheese.
   Note: (Make sure the First layer has plenty of sauce on the bottom before starting).
5. Bake in the oven covered loosely with aluminum foil, until the rigatoni casserole is heated and the cheese on top is melted. Bake for about 20 minutes, remove the foil to get the cheese melted (if not already melted). Garnish with chopped basil and serve.

Enjoy this easy pasta dinner any night of the week!

Image Credits © Theresa Huse DearCreatives.com

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Yield: 8

Baked Ziti Easy Recipe

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Baked Ziti Easy Recipe - This is an easy, delicious dinner idea. The baked ziti is made and assembled in a casserole dish. Use pre-cooked noodles (al dente), two jars of pasta sauce (or homemade spaghetti sauce), grated mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, and garnished with chopped basil.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Additional Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 16-ounce package of Ziti Noodles
• 2 jars of Italian Pasta Sauce
• 1 1-lb. package of Lean Ground Beef
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 16-ounce Mozzarella Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese (grated)
• Fresh Basil
• Seasonings (salt, pepper, Italian Seasonings)
• Olive Oil or Olive Oil Spray

Instructions

How to Make Baked Ziti (Easy)

1. Shred the mozzarella cheese and set it on a plate or in a bowl until needed.
2. Boil the water for the pasta noodles, and cook them al dente according to the package instructions. Drain, and rinse them with cold water. Set them to the side (in the same pot) until you begin layering.
3. In a pan saute the onion and garlic, add the ground beef, and cook until the ground beef (breaking up the ground beef with a spoon) is browned on all sides. Make sure to remove any excess grease from the pan. Add in the sauce and stir. Turn off the heat.
4. Get out the casserole dish. Pre-spray it with non-stick olive oil or other non-stick spray. Begin layering your ingredients: Adding Sauce to the bottom of the pan. Then, add 3/4 of the sauce (with meat sauce) to the noodles and stir together. Layer it into the casserole dish, sprinkle parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese (covering the casserole layer). Repeat until the casserole dish is almost full. For the final layer top with the remaining sauce and finish it by topping with the remaining shredded cheese. Note: (Make sure the First layer has plenty of sauce on the bottom before starting).
5. Bake in the oven covered loosely with aluminum foil, until the rigatoni casserole is heated and the cheese on top is melted. Bake for 15-20 minutes, remove the foil to get the cheese melted (if not already melted). Garnish with chopped basil and serve.

Notes

You can add 1 small onion (or onion salt) and garlic cloves (or garlic powder) to the ground beef when cooking or omit them. I like giving it a bit of extra flavor. Salt and Pepper to your taste preference. Additionally, you can add a teaspoon of Italian seasonings to the sauce.

Have a small jar of sauce on hand in case you need to mix in additional sauce to make it saucier. For the recipe, only 2 jars are needed. Noodles typically soak up all the liquid. But, you may like to add more sauce (or a little water or chicken broth) if you have leftovers and are reheating it.

Rinsing the pasta noodles in cold water will keep them from sticking together.

Additional noodle types that can be used for this recipe are penne, rigatoni (a favorite), or fusilli. They are short noodles and will work well for this recipe.

Preshredded cheese doesn't melt as easily. The extra step of shredding the cheese from a brick of cheese will get you melty, pulling, delicious-tasting cheese.

For smaller households like ours, I used an oval casserole dish and saved half of the mixture for freezing in a separate freezer-safe dish. Or, if you don’t want to freeze half, you can prepare the entire recipe in a 9×13-inch casserole dish.

Can you make Baked Ziti meatless? Yes! Just omit the ground beef, add vegetables, or just the red sauce and cheese. Vegetables that you can use as a substitute are zucchini, mushrooms, and bell peppers...

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Nutrition Information

Yield

8

Serving Size

1
Amount Per Serving Calories 402Total Fat 20gSaturated Fat 10gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 96mgSodium 489mgCarbohydrates 20gFiber 1gSugar 2gProtein 32g

Not all nutritional information is always 100% accurate.

When you prepare the casserole in advance do not bake it after assembling. Add it to the refrigerator (covered) until ready to bake and serve. The casserole may be stored in the refrigerator for a few days.

Additionally, you can freeze the dish for up to several months in a freezer-safe baking dish.

Get more dinner ideas and recipes in our recipe index

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