Best Baked Ziti Recipe

Sharing the Best Baked Ziti Recipe that has been a favorite around here for years.  This recipe feeds a lot of people!  In fact, I can get two 9×9 casserole pans worth of food out of one recipe, so I will oftentimes take the other one to a friend or freeze it.  Or, if you love having leftovers for lunches then this will be a hit for you too!

This tasty, easy ziti recipe uses a little different ingredient than maybe you are used to with a pasta dish…that is sour cream.  I know it may sound crazy but it makes this recipe so creamy and delicious!

How to make baked ziti

• Add olive oil to a large skillet and cook the onion for 3-4 minutes.
• Add ground beef, turkey, or venison and cook until done.
• Boil ziti pasta until done.
• Mix in spaghetti sauce in with the ground meat and chopped onion after they are cooked.
• Butter a large 9×13 casserole dish or two 8×8’s or 9×9’s.
• Layer the pasta, provolone cheese, sour cream, and meat mixture.
• Top with mozzarella cheese.
• Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 30 minutes.

I have been out of provolone cheese before and happened to have ricotta cheese on hand, so I substituted that for the provolone cheese.  It turned out great too!  So you can make this baked ziti with our without ricotta cheese.  We improvise a lot around here and try different things since we live quite a long way from a grocery store.

What should I serve with baked ziti?

For starters, a French baguette and olive oil dip (I put roasted garlic, salt, and cracked black pepper in mine), and a salad are our favorite sides with this dish.  Another idea would be green beans, roasted or steamed broccoli.

You can keep this in the fridge for 4-5 days.  I even heat it up in the mornings and put in my kid’s thermoses for their lunch at school.  This dish is great heated up the next day or so!

Other easy recipe ideas:

• Instant Pot Boneless Beef Ribs
• Easy Mexican Bake Dinner
• Easy Chicken Sausage Sheet Pan Meal

I hope you give this Best Baked Ziti Recipe a try!  Let us know what you think.

Best Baked Ziti Recipe

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Category

Dinner

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

30 minutes

Easy, baked ziti that is comfort food deluxe! Layers of ziti pasta,zezty sauce, and cheese make this a crowd favorite!

Ingredients

• 1 pound dry ziti pasta

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1 pound ground beef

• 2 jars spaghetti sauce 26-ounce jars

• 6 ounces sliced provolone cheese

• 1½ cup sour cream

• 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, grated

• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil

2. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes

3. In a large skillet, heat olive oil and cook chopped onion 3-4 minutes

4. Add one pound of ground meat and cook over medium heat until done

5. Add spaghetti sauce and stir together

6. Simmer for 15 minutes

7. Butter a 9x13 casserole dish

8. Fill bottom of the dish with the cooked ziti pasta. Then add the provolone cheese, then the sour cream and spread it out over the cheese. Next, add the meat mixture and top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese

9. Bake at 350 ° for 30 minutes, or until the cheeses are melted

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