Baked ziti with sausage
A bubbling pan of ziti, Italian sausage, creamy ricotta and stretchy mozzarella that makes enough for days and freezes beautifully.
- 75 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 8
- About $2.44 a serving
- 720 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 8 servings.
- 1 lb ziti
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 5 cups marinara sauce, about 1½ jars
- 15 oz ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- ½ cup grated parmesan, divided
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, for the pasta water
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 720 calories, 34 g protein, 62 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $2.44 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No ricotta cheese? Cottage cheese works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No shredded mozzarella? Provolone slices work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the oven to 375°F.
Preheat. Preheating means turning the oven on before you start, so it’s fully hot when the food goes in. Food that starts in a cold oven cooks unevenly and doesn’t brown the same.
How you’ll know: The oven beeps or its light clicks off, usually 10 to 15 minutes after you turn it on.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, and bring it .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
the onion and the garlic.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Cook the ziti 2 minutes less than the package says, then it. It finishes cooking in the oven.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 9 min
While the pasta cooks, the sausage and onion in a large over medium-high for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 9 min
Food safety: Raw pork sausage is done at 160°F and raw chicken or turkey sausage at 165°F. Precooked sausage just needs heating until hot all the way through.
Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, then pour in the marinara and take the pan off the heat.
Medium-high heat
Stir the ricotta, egg, half the parmesan, the Italian seasoning and pepper together in a bowl.
Tip the drained ziti back into its pot and in the sausage sauce until every piece is coated.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Spread half the pasta in a 9x13-inch baking dish, dollop the ricotta over it, and scatter 1 cup mozzarella on top. Cover with the rest of the pasta, mozzarella and parmesan.
Dolly’s tip: To freeze, stop here: wrap it tightly and freeze up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.Cover with foil and 20 minutes, then uncover and bake 15 to 20 minutes more, until bubbling at the edges and browned on top.
Bake. Baking means cooking in the oven with dry heat all around the food. It cooks evenly from every side, so you can mostly leave it alone.
How you’ll know: It’s golden on top and passes the recipe’s check, like a clean toothpick or the right temperature.
Timer: 35 min
Food safety: For the safest eggs, cook until the whites are fully set and the yolks begin to thicken. Dishes made with eggs are done at 160°F.
Let it 10 minutes so it holds together when you scoop it.
Rest. Resting means letting cooked meat sit for a few minutes before you cut it. It keeps cooking gently, and more of the juice stays in the meat instead of running onto the board.
How you’ll know: Loosely covered with foil, it stays hot, and very little juice runs out when you slice it.
Timer: 10 min
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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