Baked ziti is an easy dinnertime recipe that everyone will love. It comes together quickly and is made with common ingredients. It tastes similar to lasagna but without all the fuss.
7ouncesgrated Parmesan cheesedivided (2 cups) see notes
15ounceswhole milk ricotta
16ouncesziti noodles or similar pasta
Fresh parsley
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a skillet, add the olive oil and the diced onion. Cook for 5 minutes, or until translucent, soft and fragrant.
Add in the ground beef and cook until no pink remains, about 5-7 minutes.
Add in the spices, stir to combine and cook for another minute. Remove from heat.
In a saucepan, add the tomato sauce and the whole tomatoes. Using a slotted spoon, scoop in the cooked ground beef, draining the excess fat as you go. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook for 20-25 minutes.
While the tomato sauce mixture is simmering, cook the pasta noodles until just slightly al dente. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking.
In a large bowl, combine 3 cups of the mozzarella cheese, 1 ½ cup of the parmesan cheese and the ricotta. Add in the noodles and stir to combine.
In a 9x13 casserole dish, spread 1 cup of the meat mixture in the bottom of the baking dish. Scoop in ½ of the cheese and pasta mixture over the meat sauce.
Add another layer of meat sauce, using ½ of the remaining meat sauce. Cover with the second ½ of the pasta and the remaining meat sauce.
Top with the rest of the mozzarella cheese.
Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is melted, starting to brown and the sauce is bubbling up on the sides.
Remove, allow to cool and enjoy.
Video
Notes
We used grated parmesan, which is finely ground and weighs differently than shredded parmesan. One cup of grated weighs 3.5 ounces, whereas one cup of shredded parmesan weighs 2.5 ounces. If you are going to use shredded parmesan, measure your cups as heaping instead of level.