Community Pick
Olive Garden Five-Cheese Ziti Al Forno
"Olive Garden's Five-Cheese Ziti al Forno"
photo by Mycalachowskyelmore
- Ready In:
- 1hr 10mins
- Ingredients:
- 16
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
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FOR THE ZITI SAUCE
- 946.36 ml tomato sauce
- 473.18 ml alfredo sauce
- 118.29 ml ricotta cheese
- 59.14 ml mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 44.37 ml Fontina cheese, shredded
- 4.92 ml garlic pepper seasoning
- 2.46 ml garlic powder
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FOR THE ZITI TOPPING
- 709.77 ml mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 118.29 ml Italian breadcrumbs
- 44.37 ml romano cheese, grated
- 44.37 ml parmesan cheese, grated
- 14.79 ml fresh garlic, chopped
- 44.37 ml vegetable oil
- 44.37 ml fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
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REMAINING INGREDIENTS
- 453.59 g dry ziti pasta
- 236.59 ml mozzarella cheese, shredded
directions
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PREPARE THE ZITI SAUCE:
- Combining all ingredients for the Ziti Sauce in a large bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
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PREPARE THE ZITI TOPPING:
- In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients for the Ziti Topping.
- Add the garlic, oil, and parsley and mix until thoroughly blended. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
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WHEN READY TO PREPARE THE WHOLE DISH:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13-by-9-inch baking dish or large casserole with non-stick spray.
- Prepare the pasta according to package directions.
- Pour 1/2 cup of prepared ziti sauce into the prepared dish, and spread it evenly over the bottom using a spoon.
- When pasta has finished cooking, drain the water and pour the hot pasta into the bowl of remaining sauce. Mix thoroughly; pour into the baking dish.
- Spread 1 cup of shredded mozzarella over the pasta and sauce mixture.
- Top the mozzarella with the prepared Ziti Topping, spreading evenly.
- Place pan on center oven rack and bake until top is golden brown and cheese is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes.
- Remove and serve immediately.
- From: Olive Garden Restaurant.
Questions & Replies
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What does step 5 mean -
what do I do with the garlic, oil and parsley? It says to cover and refrigerate until ready to use when do I use it lol?
Reviews
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I was hesitant to make this given some reviews say it doesn't taste like the Olive Garden recipe - but I'm glad I did it anyways. OG is my favorite restaurant and I get the 5 Cheese Ziti Al Forno each time so I think I have a pretty good reference and even if this recipe isn't exact - I couldn't tell the difference in taste. It turned out amazingly and I look forward to eating all the left overs. 10/10 would recommend.
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I normally am not a huge fan of baked pasta dishes because they tend to be dry. My mother used to make a similar recipe, but hers included sausage and plenty of sauce. I followed this recipe as posted, other than I had 5 cups of homemade marinara to use up and included it all. I also did not add the extra cup of mozzarella before putting on the topping. This was a very saucy, wonderful dinner for a cold Ohio evening. I would definitely make this again! -
Superb recipe. Made it the first time when my 11 year old neice requested we go to Olive Garden for the 5 cheese baked ziti. Figured we could make something similar at home. It is a favorite among everyone now. Have added browned ground beef or hot italian sausage(browned, crunbled) to the sauce. It is always delicious. Also using Panko bread crumbs will result in an xtra crispy topping. -
Yummy! I doubled the recipe so I could freeze one for later. Changes to the recipe: only had dried parsley so I used that and added some fresh basil to the topping mixture. I ran out of mozzarella, so I wasn't able to put that extra layer of mozzarella underneath the topping, but I can see how that would be very good to have the melty cheese under the crispy topping. (I want to just peel the topping off and eat it for lunch today. ;) Lol-SUPER good! The one in the too of my convection oven came out much crispier on top. That worked out for us since some of us like the crispier topping and some not so much. I can't comment on whether it tasted like the OG ziti Al forno, b/c haven't tried it, but I gave it 5 stars anyway. Perfect for my girls, age 13, 12, 5, and 1. Enjoyed by all! I'll make it again and add a little cayenne, use my tomato sauce & Alfredo sauce (I used canned and package stuff this time) and up the ratio of tomato sauce:alfredo to 3:1 -
Unless you have the original and this recipe side by side, I'm pretty sure you'd never tell the difference. Used homemade alfredo sauce and jarred plain pasta sauce. Except the mozzarella, I grated all the other cheeses myself so I knew it was fresh. Hands down, we'll be making this part of our regular dinner menu, but it does take a fair amount of prep work.
see 36 more reviews
Tweaks
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Added Italian sweet sausage layer in the middle -
Great recipe! I love the 5 cheese ziti at Olive Garden and wanted to try to make it at home. I followed the recipe very closely, although I didn't use any fontina cheese (the different cheeses can start to get pricey.) It was still delicious. I also used olive oil instead of vegetable oil. Make sure to chop the garlic very well, I wasn't as careful and got a few big chunks. Still tasted good but I would have like it spread out more. This recipe makes a lot. If you don't like things extremely saucey you can probably use 1 cup less of the tomato sauce. I couldn't get the topping quite crisp enough, so I broiled it for just a bit to finish it off. -
Very good. Used spaghetti sauce in place of tomato sauce also. Will definitely make again. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
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My teenage son and his girlfriend made this last night for dinner. It was absolutely wonderful. It did taste just like the Olive Garden Ziti. We wondered why the Olive Garden Ziti sauce was pinkish in color, and this recipe explains that since you mix alfredo sauce in with the red sauce. The kids used spaghetti sauce instead of the 4 cups plain tomato sauce. Everyone should try this one.
