Baked ziti is such an excellent filling comfort food that is surprisingly easy to make. You get a nice cheese pull and a snap from the sausage. This dish is easy to be customized to your liking, too; throw in more veggies, different cheeses or meats.
This baked ziti recipe is great for serving large groups; you can prep the dish ahead of time and throw it in the oven for about an hour before you are ready to eat.
If you’re like me, and you made this for yourself, you can quickly reheat it during the week for a quick weeknight dinner. I personally just put a little into a small baking dish and reheat it for 20 minutes, and it’s just as delicious as the first time. I hope you try my take on baked ziti!
Baked Ziti With Italian Sausage
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 box of ziti
- 2 cans of pasta sauce (28 ounces each)
- Mild or Spicy Italian sausage
- 1 yellow onion, chopped
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, shredded
- Parmesan cheese, to taste
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring salted water to a boil. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- While the water is starting to boil, chop your onion and tomatoes (if you used cherry or grape tomatoes, you can leave the whole or slice them in half).
- Once your water is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes.
- Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet, add your onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Then add your Italian sausage and Italian seasoning. Cook the sausage until it’s browned and you can no longer see pink. Add in your tomatoes and let cook for a few minutes. Remove the sausage and let cool for a minute so you can cut it.
- Add your pasta sauce to the pan with the onion and tomatoes, turn the heat down to medium.
- Slice your sausage and add it back to the saucepan. (If your sausage isn’t completely done, it’s okay, it will continue to cook in the oven.)
- Drain your pasta (save some pasta water in case your sauce isn’t enough). Then add the pasta to the sauce. Mix them together.
- Prepare a 9×13 pan by spraying some nonstick spray.
- Add your pasta and sausage mix to the pan and bake for 20 minutes. Add your mozzarella cheese and bake for additional 10 to 20 minutes. At this point, you are just waiting on the cheese to get melty and browned a little.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Grate some fresh parmesan on top and enjoy!
