Packed with cheese, homemade sauce, and spicy Italian sausage, this great baked ziti is an easy dinner recipe the whole family will love—also an excellent company dish or prep-ahead for a potluck or holiday meal.
Introduction
I love baked ziti. Think of it as Italian comfort food that sticks to your bones. Or a super easy lasagna with more flexibility.
I started by browning a good quality Italian sausage with chopped onion. Then I added a modified version of my 30-minute marinara sauce. Mixed with cook pasta some mozzarella and topped with more mozzarella. Bake. Done.
Super easy with these step by step photo instructions.
My Rating
An easy family favorite. A solid high 4.
🍲What is "Baked Ziti"?
Baked ziti is a classic Italian American comfort food baked casserole dish. It is made with macaroni and combined with tomato sauce and cheese. It may include meat, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and other things.
📋Ingredients
Do I Need Ziti Noodles?
No, almost any pasta will do — Cook to al dente per the particular pasta instructions. I tend to use Penne, a slightly smaller noodle with angle cut instead of straight cut edges.
The purest will insist it is not baked ziti without ziti pasta. But you and I can call it anything we want. Ziti pasta is harder to find for me, and I like smaller pasta. So use what you like.
Can I use jarred sauce?
Yep, but read the instructions, you don't save any work. Mine is so much better and cheaper. Most of the simmering of the sauce is while the casserole is baking in the oven.
The Cheese
I use two versions of Mozzarella here, shredded and chunks. I like and suggest some nice chunks of cheese through the pasta. There is just a wonderful surprise. The shredded is better for the top.
If you want to kick it up a bit, instead of shredded Mozzarella, shred your own. The commercial shredded cheese has a light coating of a material to prevent clumping.
👨👩👧👦Recipe Size
When you look at the amounts of various ingredients, they are standard-sized packages in the market: the crushed tomatoes, the Italian sausage, the cheeses, and the pasta.
You can cut down the size, but you will have leftover ingredients. This is good refrigerated for 3-4 days and good frozen for 3-4 months.
📖Other Ziti Recipes
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°. Get your pasta started right away and cook to al dente per the package instructions.
Chop one medium onion.
In a large pan, add one pound Italian sausage and the chopped onion—Brown over medium-high heat. About 10 minutes and the last few minutes, add 2-3 cloves of minced or crushed garlic.
Add 28 oz. crushed tomatoes, 2 teaspoon basil, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon oregano, and ¼ teaspoon sugar. Turn to low and simmer for a few minutes.
Cut 8 oz of mozzarella into ½ inch cubes.
Add the sauce to the pasta. Add the cubed mozzarella and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella. Mix well.
Add to a casserole pan and top with the remaining 1 cup of mozzarella. A 9×13-inch rectangular casserole pan is good, or a 12 inch round works well too.
Bake at 375° until golden brown. About 30 minutes until golden brown
📖Full Recipe
Easy Baked Ziti with Sausage
Ingredients
- 1 pound Italian sausage
- 1 onion - medium chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic - crushed or minced
- 1 pound pasta - Penne, ziti, or similar
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 2 teaspoons dry basil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper - optional
- ½ teaspoon oregano
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- 8 oz mozzarella - cubed ½ inch
- 8 oz mozzarella - shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°. Get your pasta started right away and cook to al dente per the package instructions.
- Chop one medium onion.
- In a large pan, add one pound Italian sausage and the chopped onion. Brown over medium-high heat. About 10 minutes and the last few minutes, add 2-3 cloves of minced or crushed garlic.
- Add 28 oz. crushed tomatoes, 2 teaspoon basil, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon oregano, and ¼ teaspoon sugar. Turn to low and simmer for a few minutes.
- Cut 8 oz of mozzarella into ½ inch cubes.
- Add the sauce to the pasta. Add the cubed mozzarella and 1 cup of shredded mozzarella. Mix well.
- Add to a casserole pan and top with remaining 1 cup of mozzarella. A 9×13-inch rectangular casserole pan is good, or a 12 inch round works well too.
- Bake at 375° until golden brown. About 30 minutes until golden brown
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- The quality of your ingredients is everything in Italian cooking. If you use generic ingredients, you will have generic results.
- Cook the pasta to al dente per the package instructions. Do not overcook. It cooks more in the oven.
- A 9×13-inch rectangular casserole pan is good, or a 12 inch round works well too.
- You can cut down the size, but you will have leftover ingredients. The recommended amounts are standard packages.
- This is good refrigerated for 3-4 days and good frozen for 3-4 months.
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition
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Editor's Note: Originally Published January 21, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Susan
The narrative says 1 tablespoon garlic but the recipe says 1 teaspoon. Please clarify! Thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan
Hi Susan,
Welcome to the blog.
That is tablespoons. Thanks for the proofread. I have updated the amount to 2-3 cloves which is how I would term it now. This recipe will be rewritten soon with updated photos etc. The recipe stays the same.
Garlic is a bit to taste and with my wife, I would double the garlic to keep her happy.
Again thanks for the questions and sorry for the confusion.
Dan
Judy Uhl
I think I'll try this with ground beef. Do you think I could use my 2 qt round casserole?
DrDan
Hi Judy,
Yes to the ground beef but it may be a bit bland lacking the spices in the sausage.
The pan size is about 3 qt. So it won't fit. The pan I used was a 12 inch "everyday" pan which is about 3 qt. A full size casserole pan is also about 3 qt.
Hope that helps.
Dan
Rachel
This is one of my favorite pasta dishes. What an excellent recipe. This would go over very well with my family!
DrDan
This is a nice dish. I forget about it at times... I need to do it more.
Thanks for the note.
DrDan
smors14
Made this last night for myself and hubby - it was awesome and LOTS of leftovers :)
Doug DeFrees
Here's my blog post about my baked ziti dinner: https://sundaydinnerfortwo.blogspot.com/2012/02/whats-ziti-and-why-should-i-bake-it.html
Doug
Thanks, Dr. Dan. The upcoming post will be about tonight's dinner featuring your recipe.
Dr Dan
The casserole is 2.5 qt and about 1 1/2 inches deep. I like a lot of top surface area. Good luck with your new blog Sunday, dinner for two
Doug
What size casserole pan did you use?
Chris
There are some decent jarred sauces out there these days, it's not just Ragu and Prego anymore. That being said, I still prefer making my own too.