Authentic Baked Ziti

"Baked Ziti is a wonderful dish all its own. When done correctly, it is actually very different from lasagna. If you get good ingredients and follow this recipe, you will end up with a delicious and unique authentic Italian meal that tastes like nothing you've ever had before! A word about the ingredients: fresh mozzarella cheese is not the same thing as part-skim mozarella cheese. Use fresh mozarella in this recipe. Marzano tomatoes are a must for this recipe as well, but in a pinch, Progresso whole Italian tomatoes will do. Fresh herbs can be found in the produce section of most stores, but dried herbs can be substituted."
 
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photo by Jenaemj photo by Jenaemj
photo by Jenaemj
photo by Anonymous photo by Anonymous
photo by ValTejeda photo by ValTejeda
photo by agentseven photo by agentseven
Ready In:
1hr 30mins
Ingredients:
15
Serves:
6-8
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ingredients

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directions

  • SAUCE.
  • Remove the sausage casings and crumble the sausage.
  • Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to a pan, and brown the sausage.
  • Puree the tomatoes in a blender (not too much).
  • Add onions and garlic to now-browned sausage. Cook for a few more minutes until transparent.
  • Add your tomato puree to the sausage.
  • Add thyme and basil to sauce.
  • Add some salt and pepper to taste.
  • Add a generous pinch of the pepper flakes.
  • Stir this up, heat to near-boil, then let it simmer covered on low for 15 minutes.
  • BUILDING THE DISH.
  • Boil your ziti pasta to not quite al-dente. Don't overboil, pasta will soften while baking.
  • Cut the mozarella, half of it into 1/2 inch cubes, the other half in as thin of slices as you can manage.
  • Remove the herb sprigs from the sauce and discard.
  • Add the can of tomato paste to your sauce to thicken it up and give it a lively red color and more intense flavor.
  • Add the pasta, your sauce, the cubed mozarella and half the parmesan in a baking dish.
  • Top with the sliced mozarella and the remainder of the parmesan.
  • Bake for about 30 minutes until golden.

Questions & Replies

  1. Ok I know I’m a new cook so please don’t judge but this recipe doesn’t have what degrees to set your over too. So what degrees?
     
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Reviews

  1. One of the better baked ziti recipes I’ve made. I did tweak mine. At first, the brand of the tomato products to use threw me off, so just use whatever namebrand products for tomato paste, and whole peeled tomatoes that you like. I did not read the instructions prior to shopping for my ingredients, so I had to hand chop the whole peeled tomatoes since I don’t have a blender. In the future, I will use fresh peeled tomatoes instead. I did add a half cup of tomato sauce to make it more saucy, we love sauce! I used 1 pound of mild ground sausage & a half a pound of ground beef I DON’T like onions, so I used onion powder, (1 teaspoon) instead. I used oregano instead of the thyme. On top of fresh ground garlic, I added a teaspoon of garlic powder, we love garlic! I baked this dish on 350° for 30 minutes uncovered. For about 2 minutes I put it on low broil to get the top nice and golden brown. I made this for my 23-year-old daughter, & a few of her guy friends. By the end of the night, the dish was gone! A couple of them asked me to make sure my daughter invites them over to eat again next time I make this. So I would say it was a hit!
     
    • Review photo by Anonymous
  2. No such thing as San Marzano tomato paste! They only come as whole tomato’s. About the only brand that is authentic is Cento
     
  3. I've made this dish many times throughout the years, and I love it!!! Sometimes I've even used Ricotta Cheese to give it my quicker version of Lasagna flair. I've used the sweet, and hot decased Italian sausages, and even ground beef... Which is how I'm preparing it today! I'm baking it for my girlfriends birthday, and she can no longer eat pork, what a shame Hahahaaaa. O use varying cheeses also, like, parmesan, Romano, and pecorino( hard to find this one tho) I've also combined ground turkey, or, ground chicken meat with the ground beef, it's a tasty alternative for those who may not eat beef... Tonight it's ground beef, and ground turkey!!! Bon Appetit
     
  4. I saw this recipe and decided to make it, just to try something new for my family. It turned out looking just like the pics. Very easy to follow. My husband and kids are accustomed to Caribbean dishes because im from Guyana south America and here is jamaican. I liked it but picky husband and kids didn't like dishes. next time I'll omit the italian sausages and use chop meat instead. Great easy and quick dinner idea.
     
  5. Splendid recipe, with true italian technique! I made this ziti dish during a mountain vacation with my family in Colorado. Everyone loved it and was going back for seconds. The dish is moderately spicy, so if you have any low-heat tolerant eaters you may want to cut back on the spice. The only thing I would change would be to put the basil in near the final stages of cooking the sauce, otherwise you may lose that delicious basil taste!
     
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Tweaks

  1. I saw this recipe and decided to make it, just to try something new for my family. It turned out looking just like the pics. Very easy to follow. My husband and kids are accustomed to Caribbean dishes because im from Guyana south America and here is jamaican. I liked it but picky husband and kids didn't like dishes. next time I'll omit the italian sausages and use chop meat instead. Great easy and quick dinner idea.
     
  2. I don't eat meat, so I made a vegetarian version of this (with a little extra fresh mozzarella and sauce instead of sausage), and it was fantastic. I'm Italian and difficult to please, but this one is great and my dinner guests loved it too! I love the fresh mozzarella in there. Next time I may add some fresh chopped mushrooms to the onions instead of the meat.
     
  3. Okay, I made a few changes but the results were still very tasty. I used ground sirloin instead of sausage because although my kid likes Italian sausage, she doesn't like it IN things. I also used puree instead of whole tomatoes that I pureed because same kid will eat sauce but not "chunks" of tomato. Otherwise, I followed the recipe and was very pleased with the outcome. I had always made a ziti bake using jarred sauce, but this had such a lovely flavor that I won't be doing that again. Thanks!
     

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