The Best Homemade Baked Ziti

My recipe for The Best Homemade Baked Ziti is like a cozy, cheesy hug from the oven. Picture tender pasta tubes lounging in marinara sauce, topped with a gooey mozzarella blanket, and baked until they’re bubbly and golden. Each bite is a harmonious mash-up of pasta, tangy tomato, and cheese so melty it might just become your new best friend. Perfect for when you need a meal that says, “I’ve got you covered—and your taste buds too!”

Who doesn’t love baked zit?

Not only is this a family favorite, but it’s also a meal prep champion! I went all out this time and tripled the recipe, so now I’ve got two extra ziti dishes stashed in the freezer. It’s like having a secret stash of comfort food ready to save the day!

The sauce..

I personally always make my own sauce (recipe coming soon!) but your favorite jarred sauce will work just fine! If you are making your own sauce, you know you will need a few hours to get the right flavor!

The method..

1. Get yourself prepared. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray and preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Put a large pot of water on your stove and bring it to a boil.
2. Once your water is boiling, add in a heaping teaspoon (about) of salt. Rachel Ray taught me to never salt your water before it boils because it will ruin your pot! You’ll need to cook your pasta for 2 minutes less than the cooking instructions so your pasta is nice and al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy pasta water. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”. It means that the pasta shouldn’t be hard but should have a slight bite to it so it doesn’t turn to mush after baked!
3. Brown your ground beef. Even if you’re using your own sauce, I like to add a bit of seasoning to the ground beef to the while cooking it. I do drain most of the excess grease in the pan after cooking so it doesn’t turn my ziti into a greasy mess! Browning your meat should only take about 3-4 minutes.
4. Prepare your ricotta mixture. Mix together ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, egg and basil.
5. After the pasta cooks, return it to the pot with the reserved pasta water, about 2 ladles of pasta sauce and parmesan cheese. Mix it all up.
6. Begin layering your baked ziti. First a layer of sauce, pasta and then globs of ricotta mix.

7. Repeat step. You will repeat for a third time but it will be a light layer of what is remaining.

8. At the end top with the remaining mozzarella cheese and bake for 30 minutes!

Meal prep…

If you’re freezing your ziti, do not bake it. Let it cool and wrap it with plastic wrap and foil. When you’re ready to eat, put the ziti in your fridge overnight. When reheating bake it for 45-1 hour uncovered!

On this episode of…

What happens to my living room when I’m cooking..

Honestly… not so bad.

What goes well with Baked Ziti besides a fork? Easy Homemade Garlic Bread!