Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage is a classic Italian-American pasta dish made with ziti pasta, tomato sauce, Italian sausage, ground beef, ricotta cheese, and topped with mozzarella cheese. Once assembled this pasta casserole is baked in the oven until piping hot and cheese is melted and bubbly, resulting in a delicious and satisfying dinner for a crowd.
This is the only baked ziti recipe you’ll ever need or want to make!
Baked ziti with Italian Sausage is sure to please any crowd. It’s perfect for family dinners, potlucks, or any occasion where you want to serve a comforting and delicious meal that will serve a lot of mouths. My husband and I grew up eating baked ziti on a bi-weekly basis. It’s a go-to recipe for both of our moms (and still is). It’s a classic. Whenever we have all the family over this is typically what I will make.
Why this Recipe Works
Baked Ziti can feed a crowd and makes a lot of food for an affordable price.
The combination of pasta, paired with a savory meat sauce, and topped with melted cheese creates a rich and satisfying flavor profile that is hard to resist.
You can make the entire recipe to feed a crowd OR split the recipe in half and freeze the other dish for another night. Making for an easy weeknight dinner.
Baked ziti with meat sauce can be served as a main dish for dinner, a side dish for a potluck, or even as leftovers for lunch the next day.
Ingredients in Baked Ziti
- Noodles – For this recipe you will want to use ziti pasta noodles. They are smooth tubed shaped pastas.
- Meat – I use a mix of ground Italian Sausage and ground beef. This will get cooked into the sauce before mixed in with the noodles.
- Olive Oil – You’ll only need a little oil to keep the meat from sticking while you saute it.
- Vegetables – I use fresh onion and garlic as well as pureed tomatoes and diced canned tomatoes.
- Spices – I like to use Italian seasoning and fresh parsley.
- Dairy – Ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese are needed for this recipe.
- Sugar – I like to put a little sugar in my sauce to cut the acidity.
How to Make Meat Sauce
First, heat a deep skillet on medium high. Place the olive oil and butter in the skillet and let melt for one minute, then add minced onion, and garlic.
Sauté for 5 minutes until soft, then add in the lean ground beef and ground pork. Sauté and cook for an additional 5 minutes, making sure to break the meat up with a wooden spoon and mixing the vegetable mixture in with the meat.
Once the meat is fully cooked (no pink is showing) season the meat with the salt, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and granulated sugar.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pour the can of crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes in to the skillet. Add a half cup of water to the cans to get any remaining sauce that might be in the cans, and pour into the skillet. Mix the meat and sauce together. Let simmer on low with lid on for 15 minutes.
How to Make Baked Ziti
While sauce simmers, cook the ziti according to package. Once the noodles are cooked through drain.
Put the cooked pasta into the meat sauce and mix into the sauce.
Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Then pour in half of the pasta mixture. Begin to add spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese to the pasta plus half the shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix together then pour in the remaining ziti and spoon on the remaining ricotta cheese throughout the dish.
Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
Cover the ziti with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil during the last 5 minutes of cooking so the cheese can begin to brown.
PRO TIP: While the pasta bakes, it gives you time to unload the dish washer, make a caprese salad, and make garlic cheese bread to go along with your dinner!
FAQs
Yes, you can assemble the baked ziti up to 24 hours in advance and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake.
While ziti pasta noodles are traditional to the dish any type of tubed pasta or even corkscrew or even farfalle bow tie pasta could work with this recipe.
Yes, you can freeze baked ziti if stored in a freezer safe dish for up to 3 months. Do not bake the ziti before freezing. Simply assemble into the pan as you would before baking. Then wrap up for freezing. Make sure you place it in the freezer at room temperature or refrigerator temperature before freezing. Allow the ziti to thaw in the refrigerator overnight before baking in the oven.
Meat baked ziti is traditionally made with ground beef and/or Italian sausage, but it can also be made with ground turkey or even ground chicken for a leaner baked pasta dish.
Yes, you can make a vegetarian version of baked ziti by omitting the meat and just making it with cheese. Or you can add sauteed vegetables like mushrooms, zucchini, yellow squash, onion, or even eggplant to the noodle and cheese mix.
Tips & Tricks
Baked ziti with ground beef is a delicious and comforting dish that is perfect for any occasion. With these tips and tricks, you’ll be able to make the perfect baked ziti every time!
- High-quality ingredients – I feel like this is a given but to make the best baked ziti with homemade meat sauce, use high-quality ingredients. This includes using good quality pasta, fresh herbs, and high-quality ground beef or Italian sausage.
- Veggies – If you would like to add some vegetables in with the baked meat ziti you can. I typically like to add 1-2 diced carrots into the sauce when I’m sauteing the onions and garlic. I also have added a minced mushrooms and zucchini to the ziti.
- Meat – If you want to spice it up you can add 24 pieces of diced pepperoni to the meat mixture. You can also use hot Italian sausage if you like food on the spicier side.
- Cook the pasta al dente – It’s important to cook the pasta al dente, which means it should still have a little bit of bite to it. This will help prevent the pasta from becoming mushy when baked in the oven.
- Make Ahead – You can make this entire meal 1-2 days prior to serving. Just wait to bake the ziti until the day you are ready to serve it. I suggest taking it out of the refrigerator an hour prior to baking so that it can start to come to room temperature and won’t take as long to bake.
- Don’t overcook in the oven – Be sure not to overcook the baked ziti in the oven. I cover the ziti to ensure the pasta does not dry out. Once the pasta is hot, then I’ll remove the foil and bake until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Make sure to only bake for a few minutes while the cheese is browning or else the cheese will be overcooked.
What to Serve with Baked Ziti
Wondering what to serve with baked ziti? Here are a few of my favorite side dishes to serve along side baked ziti.
If you make this Baked Ziti with Meat Sauce recipe, I would be honored and love for you to take the time to leave a ⭐ star rating and comment! I spend hours developing and testing these recipes, and always love to hear feedback and user experience!
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Baked Ziti with Italian Sausage
Equipment
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Stove Top
- 1 Silicone Spatula
- 1 Large Skillet
- 1 Stock Pot
- 1 9 x 13 Baking Dish
- 1 Oven
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil Extra Virgin
- 1 tablespoon Butter Unsalted
- 1 White Onion diced
- 3 garlic cloves mined
- 1 pound Ground Beef Lean
- 1 pound Ground Mild Italian Sausage
- 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ⅛ teaspoon Black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Granulated Sugar
- 28 ounce Canned Crushed Tomatoes
- 14.5 ounce Can of Diced Tomatoes
- ½ cup Water
- 1 pound Ziti Pasta
- 15 ounces Ricotta Cheese
- 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Instructions
- Heat a deep skillet on medium high. Place the olive oil and butter in the skillet and let melt for one minute, then add minced onion, and garlic.
- Sauté for 5 minutes until soft, then add in the lean ground beef and ground pork. Sauté and cook for an additional 5 minutes, making sure to break the meat up with a wooden spoon and mixing the vegetable mixture in with the meat.
- Once the meat is fully cooked (no pink is showing) season the meat with the salt, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and granulated sugar.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Pour the can of crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes in to the skillet. Add a half cup of water to the cans to get any remaining sauce that might be in the cans, and pour into the skillet. Mix the meat and sauce together. Let simmer on low with lid on for 15 minutes.
- While sauce simmers, cook the ziti according to package. Once the noodles are cooked through drain and mix into the sauce.
- Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Then pour in half of the pasta mixture. Begin to add spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese to the pasta plus half the shredded mozzarella cheese. Mix together then pour in the remaining ziti and spoon on the remaining ricotta cheese throughout the dish. Top with the remaining mozzarella cheese.
- Cover the ziti with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil during the last 5 minutes of cooking so the cheese can begin to brown.
Notes
- Veggies – If you would like to add some vegetables in with the baked meat ziti you can. I typically like to add 1-2 diced carrots into the sauce when I’m sauteing the onions and garlic. I also have added a minced mushrooms and zucchini to the ziti.
- Meat – If you want to spice it up you can add 24 pieces of diced pepperoni to the meat mixture. You can also use hot Italian sausage if you like food on the spicier side.
- Make Ahead – You can make this entire meal 1-2 days prior to serving. Just wait to bake the ziti until the day you are ready to serve it. I suggest taking it out of the refrigerator an hour prior to baking so that it can start to come to room temperature and won’t take as long to bake.
Kayle (The Cooking Actress)
aww happy birthday to your hubs! This ziti is SUCH a classic comfort food. I love the cheesy meaty carby goodness
Rust
Going into the rotation. They’ll love this!
Thanks for another easy and perfect recipe!
Katie
Your so welcome! This is an easy one for sure and one pot! You can’t beat it!!!