Chicken baked ziti is topped with Parmesan and packed full of chicken, mozzarella, and a great homemade sauce. A great classic Italian comfort food for family or company.
Introduction
Great Italian that will make your day and warm you to the bone. It has been cold and rainy today, and I have been working on combining some recipes this week and needed just to dive in and do it.
Ever since my "Chicken Italian Bake" which was a modification of a Giada De Laurentiis recipe, I have needed to "fix it." Here it is an assembly of 3-4 recipes, and it worked very nicely.
My Rating
A nice solid 4. My wife had three servings.
♨️Baked Ziti
Baked ziti is a baked casserole dish made with cook macaroni and combined with tomato sauce and cheese. It may include meat, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, onions, and other things. There are variations, but that is basically it.
Ziti vs. Penne Noodles
Close but not the same. Ziti is a bit bigger and has straight-cut ends. Penne is a little smaller with angle cut ends. I have been berated for using penne instead of ziti. Yep, I do it all the time, and it doesn't matter. Ziti pasta is harder to find for me, and I like smaller pasta. So use what you like.
✔️Tips
A Touch of Heat
I had added 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper initially, and it was just right for us. But that was probably more than most want. In the recipe, I suggest ¼ to ½ teaspoon and make it optional since it would be fine without red pepper.
Finally, I choose to cook until the internal temp was 165 due to the chicken.
📖Italian Casserole Recipes
Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage
Spicy Parmesan Chicken Alfredo
Try the Crock Pot Version: Crock Pot Chicken Baked Ziti
🖼️Step-by-Step Instructions
Trim and dice two skinless boneless chicken breasts into approximately ½ inch cubes. Chop one medium onion.
In a large pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When shimmering, add the chicken. Saute for 3 minutes then add onion and continue to saute for 5-6 minutes more until onion is clearing and chicken starting to brown some. Add 4-6 cloves crushed or minced garlic and saute for 1 minute until fragrant. Remove from heat.
Add 1 tablespoon basil, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon black pepper, 28 oz crushed tomatoes, 14 oz diced tomatoes, 6 oz tomato paste, and 6 oz water. Simmer on low while cooking pasta and cubing mozzarella.
Cook pasta according to package directions to al denta. Cube mozzarella into ½ inch cubes.
Remove sauce from heat and mix pasta and mozzarella in well.
Transfer to a baking dish and top with ¼ cup Parmesan and refrigerate or bake at this point.
Place in a preheated 375° convection oven until the internal temp is 165°. Depending on your oven and if a dish is cold, this will take 40-60 minutes. Cover if needed to prevent drying or over-browning.
📖Full Recipe
Chicken Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 2 skinless boneless chicken breasts
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion - medium
- 4-6 cloves garlic - crushed
- 1 tablespoon basil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper - optional
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 14 oz diced tomatoes
- 6 oz tomato paste
- 6 oz water
- 1 pound dry pasta
- 1 pound mozzarella - not shredded
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese - shredded
Instructions
- Trim and dice two skinless boneless chicken breasts into approximately ½ inch cubes.
- Chop one medium onion.
- In a large pan over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil. When shimmering, add the chicken. Saute for 3 minutes then add onion and continue to saute for 5-6 minutes more until onion is clearing and chicken starting to brown some.
- Add 4-6 cloves crushed or minced garlic and saute 1 minute until fragrant. Remove from heat.
- Add 1 tablespoon basil, 1 teaspoon salt, ¼-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional), ½ teaspoon black pepper, 28 oz crushed tomatoes, 14 oz diced tomatoes, 6 oz tomato paste and 6 oz water. Simmer on low while cooking pasta and cubing mozzarella.
- Cook pasta according to package directions to al denta. Cube mozzarella into ½ inch cubes.
- Remove sauce from heat and mix pasta and mozzarella in well.
- Transfer to a 12 inch round or 13X9 casserole dish and top with ¼ cup Parmesan and refrigerate or bake at this point.
- Place in a preheated 375° convection oven until the internal temp is 165°. Depending on your oven and if a dish is cold, this will take 40-60 minutes. Cover if needed to prevent drying or over browning.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- An easy recipe to cut in half. Adjust the ingredients in the servings area of the recipe card. It will change the ingredients but not the instructions. You will need to adjust the those yourself.
- Use a 12 inch round or 13X9 casserole dish for a full recipe. An 9X6 for a half recipe.
- Use the pasta of your choice. I prefer a smaller pasta.
- Adjust your red pepper to taste.
- You can save a lot of time using jarred sauce, but you really don't want to do that.
- Remember the end point of cooking it the internal temperature of 165°, not time nor color.
- Good refrigerated for 3-4 days and 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
© 101 Cooking for Two, LLC. All content and photographs are copyright protected by us or our vendors. While we appreciate your sharing our recipes, please realize copying, pasting, or duplicating full recipes to any social media, website, or electronic/printed media is strictly prohibited and a violation of our copyrights.
Editor's Note: Originally Published May 13, 2010. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Dr Dan
I called it 8 servings. This is one of the "with lots of left overs" recipe. I will usually make this on a Sunday and use the left overs for quick weeknight suppers.
TwoTabsOfMesc
Just made for the second time.. Very good but have to say that this IS NOT a 2 person serving. More like 6. Would like to see more scaled down recipes.