Ingredients Need To Make Baked Ziti
To make classic meatless baked ziti, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- Package Ziti pasta: Any brand, including gluten-free ziti will work in this recipe. You can substitute the ziti noodles for another type of tube pasta such as rigatoni or penne pasta
- Ricotta Cheese: Incorporating creamy ricotta is the very best part of this dish, in my opinion! If you happen to run out of ricotta, you can even make your own in less than 30 minutes!
- Parmesan cheese: finely grated parmesan cheese works best here. You can substitute for pecorino romano, too
- Mozzarella Cheese: I recommend buying a block of part-skim mozzarella and shredding or grating the cheese yourself. Oftentimes, pre-shredded cheese contains anti-caking ingredients that prevent it from melting well. For best results, you’re better off grating your own cheese
- Spaghetti Sauce: Use your favorite variety or flavor. I recommend using a flavored sauce versus a plain tomato sauce. Using jar spaghetti sauce cuts down significantly on the amount of time it takes the prep this recipe. With so many great varieties of sauce available, this is a great time saving tip!
How To Make It
Note: The instructions start with the sauce already made. Use our low and slow-cooked Sunday sauce recipe or a quick marinara . If you’re really in a rush, you could use jarred sauce. We will usually save left-over sauce and freeze it just for nights when we feel like a little baked ziti!
Remove from the oven and let it sit for about 10 minutes uncovered to firm up a bit.
Serve baked ziti with a nice veggie side like Italian green beans. Garlicky Italian broccoli or sauteed broccoli rabe with garlic and oil would also be perfect side dishes.
Meatless Baked Ziti Recipe
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This Meatless Baked Ziti recipe is a classic pasta dish in a rich tomato sauce thats so cheesy and full of flavor, itll have your family begging for seconds! Its the perfect easy recipe for Meatless Mondayand tastes amazing every other day of the week too!
If youve never had baked ziti, you have no idea what youre missing! This classic Italian comfort food is made up of pasta, tomato sauce and of course, lots of cheese to make the perfect pasta bake. Its the kind of meal everyone loves, and the whole family will come running when they know youll be serving it.
This easy baked ziti is similar to homemade lasagna but even less work because there are no layers to deal with. You know me, Im all about the easy recipes, especially when they taste this good!
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How To Make This Easy Baked Ziti:
Prep time is minimal and feeds an army, or at least 6-8 very hungry people. For dinner parties I usually just make one big casserole dish , but you can also split it into two and freeze one or both to bake later.
The layers seem like a mouthful but its pretty easy: a little sauce, half the ziti, ricotta cheese mixture, a little more sauce, the rest of the ziti, the rest of the sauce, sprinkle shredded cheese. No meat. Pasta perfection.
See it in action:
Not only is this great for a holiday meal or family gathering, but it also is perfect for any Meatless Monday comfort food meal. So easy and delicious!
This pairs well with a crusty bread, side salad or a veggie dish. One of the natural low-sugar red wines from Dry Farm Wines is also a great complement to this meal!
Why You Should Make This Easy Baked Ziti
This ziti is so easy, mainly because it only uses shredded mozzarella for cheese. Oh and maybe some grated Parmesan for topping, but thats it.
I have never liked any soft cheeses EVER. But ricotta and cottage cheese are on the top of my list for cheese I despise.
Maybe its the lumps? Of course it has to be the lumps
I make this all the time for my family and prepare it ahead of time and place it in the refrigerator until its ready to cook. It doesnt get much easier than this.
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How To Store Reheat And Freeze Ziti
You can assemble this ahead, and either refrigerate or freeze it before you do the final baking. If you freeze it, thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before baking. You can also freeze a baked ziti, and reheat it thawed or frozen.
- Refrigerating and then baking an assembled, unbaked ziti: Cover the assembled ziti with foil and refrigerate up to 24 hours. To bake, remove the foil and bake at 350°F until the top is lightly browned and the cheese is melted. Expect to add at least 15 more minutes baking time than if you had baked it right after assembling.
- Freezing and then baking an assembled, unbaked ziti: To bake frozen unbaked ziti, it’s best to thaw it in the refrigerator overnight. Take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before baking. Remove any plastic wrap. Bake, uncovered, 350°F until lightly browned and bubbly, 60 to 70 minutes. Cover with foil if the top browns before the inside is fully heated.
- Freezing and reheating a baked ziti: Bake, covered with foil, at 350°F. Reheat thawed or frozen the time will depend on the pan itself, and how frozen the lasagna is. Expect it to take at least 35 to 45 minutes, but check to see that it hits 165°F in the center.
Why Youll Love This Ziti Pasta
- Ready in 30 minutes. Who doesnt want to have dinner on the table in 30 minutes? This baked ziti comes together quickly and uses simple ingredients to help you save time in the kitchen.
- Easy to make. Youll be surprised how easy it is to make Vegetarian Baked Ziti with a few simple ingredients.
- Customizable. If you like vegetable-baked ziti, you can add any of your favourite vegetables to this baked pasta! This dish can also be made gluten-free if needed.
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Tips & Tricks For The Best Ziti
- While the dish has it in its name, its not required to use ziti in this recipe. Any hollow-shaped pasta shell will work here, such as rigatoni or penne.
- If you want perfectly al dente noodles, undercook them by 1 -2 minutes. Theyll continue to cook in the oven.
- I use store-bought pasta sauce to make things easier, but you can totally use homemade, too. That way, you can adjust the seasonings and even add some heat if you like.
- Make your ziti even more nutritious with added veggies. You cant go wrong with wilted spinach or chopped-up bell peppers, zucchini, and broccoli florets.
- If you want that meaty flavor and texture in your ziti, throw lots of mushrooms in there. And if youve got a picky eater on your hands, just chop them up nice and small.
- If you dont have non-stick aluminum foil, grease the underside with baking spray to prevent the cheese from sticking. You can also spray foil, but it gets a little messy.
- To make this ahead, assemble the layers and cover the pan with foil. Refrigerate until ready to bake. Theres no need to let it come to room temperature, but do add 30 minutes to the baking time.
How To Make Easy Baked Ziti
Preheat oven to 350.
Cook the ziti noodles in a large pot, according to the package and drain. Pour the ziti noodles back into the pot.
In a large bowl, add half the mozzarella cheese, the full container of ricotta cheese and the pasta sauce and mix well.
Pour the ziti noodles into the bowl with the mixture and mix well.
Spray a large baking dish with nonstick spray and pour the pasta into the baking dish.
Sprinkle remainder of mozzarella cheese on top.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
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Baked Ziti Side Dishes
Looking for side dishes to serve with baked ziti? Here are a few of my favorites:
- Dutch Oven Bread:This recipe requires very minimal hands-on time, although it does require a bit of planning. Prepare it the day before you want to bake. For the recipe linked, omit the cheese and seasoning for a plain crusty bread with which to sop up that delicious baked ziti!
- Challah Rolls: The interior of this challah is light and airy with a golden crust. Perfect for your weeknight bread basket!
- Pull Apart Potato Rolls:This Pull-Apart Potato Rolls recipe will become your new go-to for special occasions, holiday meals, or any occasion! Incorporating mashed potatoes into the bread dough helps create super light, fluffy rolls that are simply irresistible.
Baked Ziti Recipe Easy No Meat
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Vegetables You Can Add To This Baked Ziti Recipe
If you want to make this recipe into a Vegetable Baked Ziti, there are many different types of vegetables you can add. Here are some great options:
Youll want to cut the vegetables into small pieces and cook the vegetables before adding them to the pasta bake. There are a couple of different ways you can cook them.
The first option is to toss the vegetables with some olive oil and roast them in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. The second option is to sautee the vegetables in a skillet with some oil on medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes until tender.
Then you can add the vegetables to the pot of pasta and tomato sauce and proceed with the recipe.
Classic Meatless Baked Ziti
by Sherri · This post may contain affiliate links ·
This classic meatless baked ziti is an easy layered pasta dish made with a zesty sauce, 3 different kinds of cheeses, and baked until golden and bubbly!
This dish may remind you of a cross between a casserole, a lasagna, and a big bowl of cheesy saucy pasta! Its quick and easy comfort food, made easier with your favorite jarred tomato sauce, and ready in under 1 hour.
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What I Love About Baked Ziti With Meat Recipe
This baked ziti with meat is quite possibly the perfect family dinner. All it needs is a crisp vinaigrette salad and a little bread to sop up all that decadent meat sauce at the bottom of your plate! With plenty of meat, pasta, veggies, and cheese I think it covers all the major food groups.
Here are some other great reasons to love it.
- Absolutely decadent and delicious
- Plenty of savory cheesy goodness
- Wholesome protein-heavy nutrition
- The perfect meal to break up holiday cuisine
- Ideal bring along for get-togethers
Make Holiday Baked Ziti Vegetarian For A Healthy Version
This vegetarian baked ziti recipe is a simple way to get extra veggies in your diet. Im all about making recipes plant-based when I can. Vegetarian cooking does NOT have to be bland, boring, or flavorless Its quite the opposite when done right. By building meals around vegetarian pantry staples and swapping in a few plant-based ingredients you can make healthier meals for you and your family. I made a list of my125 favorite vegan pantry ingredients that we use on a weekly basis, and check out all myvegetarian recipes here that are on The Herbeevore. These easy and healthy recipes are fantastic meatless meals for your table.
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Easy Meatless Baked Ziti Recipe
Looking for an easy weeknight dinner that will surely become a family favorite? This Easy Meatless Baked Ziti recipe is it! This recipe is a fantastic pasta bake that’s super flavorful and a great dish to serve your hungry family.
This dish makes a lot, so it’s a great recipe for leftovers, too. I’ve got all the tips for how to reheat baked ziti recipe easily and perfectly!
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How To Reheat The Baked Ziti Recipe
The best way to reheat baked ziti is to place it in a preheated 350ºF oven for 20-30 minutes. I would recommend reheating it in a baking dish. The secret to ensure the baked ziti does not dry out is to cover it with aluminum foil while reheating. This will ensure the steam remains within the dish to retain moisture.
If you notice your baked ziti is too dry, add some additional spaghetti sauce to the ziti before reheating it. This will ensure the liquid adds back some moisture into the baked dish.
Microwaving individual servings is also a great way to reheat backed ziti. Place 1-2 servings of ziti on a microwave safe dish and cover with wax paper or a damp paper towel. Heat for 1 ½ – 2 minutes or more, depending on your microwave, at 50% power. The microwave does a great job at retaining moisture in this reheated dish.
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Ziti Or Penne Which To Use In This Recipe
Ziti is shaped in straight-cut tubes of pasta, smooth in texture. It’s super popular in Naples and gets it’s fun name from the word “zita,” meaning bride
Penne is shaped in tubes of pasta cut on the diagonal. I like using penne-rigate is textured on the outside, which allows it to grab even more of the pasta sauce.
Either ziti or penne will work well in this pasta casserole recipe. I don’t often find ziti at my local grocery store, so what I use here is penne pasta.
Putting It All Together
To make the ziti, I start by par-cooking the pasta in salted boiling water until about halfway cooked.* Then I toss it with sauce, the mozzarella cheeses, and some of the pasta cooking water. It needs to be a little wet here, since the pasta is still underdone and will absorb more water as it bakes.
*I tried my hand at the method Kenji used in his American Chop Suey recipe, in which the pasta is soaked first, and then finishes cooking in its sauce. For some reason mine kept coming out starchy and gummy, but I suspect I was doing something wrong . Anyway, par-cooking the pasta is easy enough.
I scrape it all into a baking dish, and then follow another tip of Kenjis, which is to spoon a little more sauce on top. That top layer of sauce makes a good contrast, both in terms of flavor and appearance, with the fresh mozzarella that melts on top of it.
I stared the ziti out covered in a 400°F oven, to prevent the top from scorching as it bakes. Then uncover it, raise the oven temperature and continue cooking it until its just starting to lightly brown in spots. A little bit of fresh basil on top adds some great aroma.
The ziti may look a little dryâhonestly, it kind of freaked me out at first, and I was sure I was going to have to re-test it with more sauce. But then I ate it and I promise it doesnt taste dry at all.
And once the Parmesan cream sauce is drizzled on toppretty soon youll forget about the ricotta altogether.
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Can This Ziti Be Baked Without Boiling The Pasta
I didnt test it. Some people like to add several jars of pasta sauce or a blend of sauce and water to dry pasta then bakebut thats going to take much longer to cook than if you just boiled the pasta and moved on.
I also dont feel like its fair to your budget to ask you to use two or three jars of expensive pasta sauce for baking when you could just use water, boil it and get it in the oven.