This is seriously the Best Baked Ziti Ever. Your family is going to love the homemade meat sauce, and that ricotta and cream cheese topping takes it to the next level!
Baked pasta dishes are something special; they are in their own classification of comfort food, because they are just that dang good. Ziti has been a tradition since the Renaissance, served commonly at special gatherings, weddings, and celebrations. Also known as Ziti al Forno, this traditional oven-baked pasta is more of a method than an exact science. Depending on the region of Italy, it could be a veggie heavy meal, or it could be loaded in hearty meats and fat.
This classic Baked Ziti is all about the simple, whole ingredients. Ziti can be hard to find in stores, but there is something special about the history of Ziti pasta. Made from scratch meat sauce might seem tedious and unnecessary, but make no mistake, your time and effort will be worth it once you take that first bite. Go ahead and serve this up with some garlic bread, and you have yourself a feast!
-
Does baked ziti need mushrooms?
Not Necessarily. We love the added flavor and texture from the mushrooms, but you can absolutely omit them if you don’t love them.
-
Can I use low-fat cheese?
There are some things that just shouldn’t be messed with, and whole-fat cheese is one of them. In all seriousness, do what you need to do in regards to cheese, but the flavor and texture of whole milk cheese can’t be beat!
-
Pasta Options:
Ziti is the traditional pasta that’s been used for this dish, but we know how difficult it can be to find! If you need to substitute, head for the Penne pasta or rigatoni. They are both a similar shape and size, and will work well in this dish.
If you like this recipe, you may be interested in these other amazing pasta recipes:
- Most Amazing Lasagna
- Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
- Authentic Pasta Carbonara
- Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta
- Pasta Pomodoro
Watch the video below where Rachel will walk you through every step of this recipe. Sometimes it helps to have a visual, and we’ve always got you covered with our cooking show. You can find the complete collection of recipes on YouTube, Facebook Watch, or our Facebook Page, or right here on our website with their corresponding recipes.
Love your lasagna recipe and I am anxious to try this Ziti recipe. My only question is that it does not call for mozzarella cheese, is there a reason. I have eaten Baked Zite many times at restaurants, and there is always mozzarella cheese on the top, at least I think it is mozzarella?
Great question! This one uses a combination of cream cheese and ricotta instead of mozzarella. The result is a creamy topping, more like the filling of burrata which is a mozzarella. It’s luxuriously creamy, rather than mozzarella which would still be delicious, but different with that cheese pull texture, rather than creamy.
I added 3 1/2 tablespoon of sugar to balance the acidity, opt out of ricotta cheese, and added 1 cup of pasta water to the sauce. Came out delicious!
My daughter cannot eat ricotta cheese.
Can i use cottage cheese instead? When I use cottage cheese it gets watery. Help!
Cottage cheese is the closest substitute for ricotta. You can make it less watery by using a full fat cottage cheese, which is still only 4% but it works. Another option you could try is creme fraiche.
Is there a vegetarian version of this recipe? I love baked ziti, but I’m the only person in the family that eats meat.
There are great meat replacement options on the market nowadays. All you’d need to do is use one of the ground beef alternatives.
Chop and fry portobello mushrooms in place of hamburger.
I would advise using a blender to chop carrots and celery plus add some mushroom, blend it until you have a ground meat like mass, I am a meat eater but this combination is probably even tastier then meat, also I add this mix into my Bolognese sauce always minus the mushrooms.
Made this the other day and it was outstanding as always. I did add sliced Bella mushrooms. I used a whole red onion and can you really have too much garlic and cheese? I added a tsp of red pepper flakes. And, I gotta be me… used lb of mild Italian sausage. It went over very well. Thanks as always.
I’ve used sausage instead too. I’ll also add red pepper flake as well. This is one of those “revise to taste” recipes, but it’s great to have a template!
So yummy and so easy. Thank you for another great recipe!
It’s amazing!!
Our picky family loves this recipe!
How do I reheat this dish in the oven? I froze our leftovers in a disposable foil pan. I thawed it in the fridge. How do you reccomend reheating it in the oven?
Depending on the quantity that is remaining, But I would reheat in an oven set to 350 degrees F for 20 minutes and then check the center and add on additional time until the center is hot. It really does depend on how much you are reheating to give you an exact time but hopefully that will guide you in the right direction.
I made this this yesterday. So good! My husband loved it. And he is not a big fan of baked pasta dishes
OMG!!! So delicious!!! I started cooking out of your cook book and my daughter (16) always says: “ This woman never gets wrong with any recipe! “ and I just can agree! I started with your Maccaroni salat and I was hooked! Never cooked with Ricotta … I love that because of you I bring more new ingredients into my kitchen. 5 stars like always!!! Yummy!!!
Amazing, I have made it many times. Sometimes I add mozzarella also, yummy