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Main Dish | November 27, 2020

The Best Baked Ziti recipe

We have been making the best Baked Ziti recipe for years! It is the ultimate family meal. It is one big pan of cheesy, saucy goodness everyone will love.

The Best Baked Ziti Recipe

What makes this the best baked ziti recipe?

One of the challenges when making baked ziti is the dish often turns out dry after being baked. Is there anything worse than a pasta dish that is DRY? After years of making ‘meh’ baked ziti, I found a recipe for Cook’s Illustrated Baked Ziti.

The Cook’s method of making extra sauce and not cooking the pasta all the way before adding to the sauce makes a huge difference in the finished product! I’ve modified their method and recipe over the years to make (in my humble opinion) the best baked ziti recipe ever!

Meatless Baked Ziti

Perfection after all these years!

After several years of making, updating, and reworking this recipe little by little, I feel like it’s finally perfection. The steps are minimized and condensed to make this homemade dish the best it can be, with the least amount of work.

The Best Baked Ziti!

The bottom line is, to make the best baked ziti – that tastes as good, if not better than it looks, you need quality ingredients. Use fresh basil and heavy cream. You won’t regret it! This recipe is easy to make and is hands-down the best baked ziti you will ever eat. Serve it up with a Caesar salad, some No-Fail French Bread and you’ve got a meal your family will love!

Cheesy Baked Ziti

Does Baked Ziti Freeze Well?

A while back, I made this for a group of young adults for dinner. I made an extra pan of the ziti, so I’d have one on hand for the next time I had company over for dinner. That was in early March 2020. On March 13, 2020, we went in to quarantine in Spain. Complete lockdown. So my little freezer filled up and when we finally were allowed to go out again, it was months later.

That pan of ziti sat in my freezer for FOUR MONTHS. I wondered if it would still taste like the best baked ziti?? Or if it would be completely freezer burned? Grant talked me into baking it and said the missionaries will love it no matter. It was frozen solid, as in like a BRICK. I turned the oven to 325 and placed it on a baking sheet and covered with a sheet of foil that had been sprayed with cooking spray- on the side facing the ziti.

Easy Baked Ziti

It baked for 2 hours and was still cold in the middle. I removed the foil top, and because it was extra saucy, let it bake for another hour, uncovered. Three hours total bake time. When I removed it from the oven it was PERFECT. Piping hot. Melted cheese. Saucy. SO GOOD.

Cook's Illustrated Baked Ziti simplified!

We delivered the baked ziti, and just as we arrived back in our home, the missionaries called and said, “Hermana Foster, you are the only person who could make something 4 months ago, freeze it and have it taste like something from a 5* restaurant!” That, my friends is why it’s called The Best Baked Ziti Recipe. Perfect for making and eating the same day, or for baking and serving four months later!

Making Baked Ziti for a Crowd and Freezing for make ahead

The instructions on this recipe also include making Baked Ziti for large crowds. I’ve made this as a single recipe, and for up to 300 people at Girl’s Camp! It freezes well and also stores well in the fridge for a few days before baking. I have had many successes with this recipe for make-ahead, freezing and using for large gatherings. The key is to make sure to take it out of the freezer ahead of time. Read the recipe notes for full details and instructions!

4.82 from 11 votes
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The Best Baked Ziti Recipe

Course Dinner
Cuisine Italian
Keyword dinner, main dish, pasta

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Ziti or other short tubular pasta it is usually easier to find Rigatoni
  • 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium garlic cloves minced about 2-3 teaspoons
  • 2- 15 oz cans tomato sauce
  • 8 oz can tomato sauce
  • 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • salt and pepper, about 1 teaspoon each
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves divided
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 pound whole milk cottage cheese or low fat cottage cheese
  • 2 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese about 1 1/2 cups
  • 8 ounces low-moisture whole-milk mozzarella cheese (NOT fresh) cut into 1/4-inch pieces* about 1 1/2 cups

Instructions

  1. Cook pasta for about 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  2. Place oil and garlic in large pan and sauté over medium heat just until fragrant. Add all of the tomato sauce, chopped tomatoes, sugar, oregano, salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes until thickened a bit. Turn off heat and add 1/2 cup of chopped basil. Save the remaining basil for after cooking.

  3. Pour heavy cream into a second large saucepan. While cream is cold, whisk in 1 teaspoon of cornstarch. Simmer over medium heat for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and add 1lb of cottage cheese, 2 beaten eggs, 1 cup of the tomato sauce mixture, and half of the Parmesan and cubed mozzarella (reserving the remaining Parmesan and mozzarella for top of dish). Stir until combined (this mixture will now be a light red/pinkish color).

  4. Add the cooked pasta to the cream mixture. Stir until all of the pasta is coated.

  5. Pour into a greased 9×13 pan. Pour remaining tomato mixture over the top and sprinkle the remaining cubed mozzarella and Parmesan cheese on top of the pasta in dish. Top dish with remaining chopped fresh basil ( I like to save a few leaves for after baking as well for color).

  6. Cover dish tightly with foil. Bake at 350 degrees on middle rack of oven for 30 minutes with foil, then remove foil for last 30 minutes. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

Tips (longer than the recipe)

  • This dish may also be frozen after ingredients are poured into the pan. About two hours before baking, remove from freezer and set on counter. When ready to bake, place in oven at 325 for 1 1/2 hours on middle rack. After 1 1/2 hours, turn oven to 375, remove foil, and bake an additional 15 minutes. Allow more time if multiple pans are being baked in the same oven (about 15 minutes per pan, while covered).
  • If you don’t have a basil plant, or enough basil to make this dish, I suggest a trip to Trader Joes, where you can buy (the biggest basil plant you have ever seen in your life) for under $5. We used three plants to make 17 times this recipe, it was more than enough fresh basil. 
  • When I first started making this dish years ago, I thought fresh mozzarella was always the best choice when following a recipe that called for mozzarella. Not so. It has way too much moisture for this dish. A firm mozzarella, that can easily be cut into cubes works best. It melts into the pasta without leaving water in the bottom of the dish.
  • We made 17x this recipe for Girls Camp and divided it into 8 large (20 3/4 x 12 3/4x 3 inches deep-disposable foil steam table pans) The pans served about 35-40 each.
  • We prepared the Ziti and covered each pan with foil until baking. The dish was prepared Saturday morning, and was baked Monday late afternoon. It was as good as if it were prepared on the same day.
  • If you are making this recipe in large quantity, I found that the #10 cans found at Costco and other restaurant suppliers will cover 3x this recipe for the tomato sauce. So instead of: 2-15 oz cans and 1-8 oz can of tomato sauce for every three times this recipe, I used 1 #10 can of tomato sauce (approx 96 oz), and one additional 15 oz can of tomato sauce. If you 6x the recipe, use 2 #10 cans of tomato sauce and one #10 can of diced tomatoes.

23 thoughts on “The Best Baked Ziti recipe

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Recipe Rating




  1. 5 stars
    My family loves this dish! It has become a favorite and it seems that I now keep the ingredients on hand at all times. It doesn’t last long enough to freeze around here, but I love that I can. My boys “need” protein in each dish and this does it for them. No need for meat, which is a miracle. We love it, can’t say it enough! Thank you Si!

    1. Hi Cheyrlann,
      I’m honored that this recipe gets the “thumbs up” from the men in your family! It’s flavorful and filling. Thank you so much for your positive review and thank you for reading ABK.
      xo,
      Si

  2. 5 stars
    How many servings does this recipe make?
    Also, I saw that you said, if you are cooking more than 1x the recipe, to add 15 mins. for each additional pan you are putting in the oven together to cook. How many casserole dishes can I put in the oven at one time -only 2 to fit on the middle rack, or can I put 3 or 4 in the oven on 2 rows of racks at the same time?

    1. Hi J,
      This recipe makes about 15 servings, served with bread and a salad. Please check the notes at the bottom of the recipe for tips on cooking for a large crowd. Yes, you can put 3-4 in the oven, just remember to adjust the time. If cooking for a large crowd we often multiply the recipe and use large disposable foil pans to cook in. This is a great recipe for a large group gathering! Let me know how it turns out. Thank you for reading ABK.
      xo,
      Si

      1. 5 stars
        Hi Si, I first tried this Ziti recipe with my family. Even my grandchild who won’t eat anything with “red sauce” & my son who doesn’t really enjoy dishes with marinara sauce loved it. Our group of 8 adults & 3 grandchildren ate it up completely. I then made it for about 30+ people at a Girl’s Camp. I cooked 3 casseroles in 1 oven, increasing the cook time about 20 minutes & rotating the dishes in the oven after removing the tin foil. I also added our leftover sausage from that morning’s breakfast burritos to one of the dishes. We served it with a green salad, some fruit jello salad (leftover from the night before), & also used our leftover hamburger & hotdogs buns from the night before for garlic bread. There was plenty for everyone, & they all loved it! For dessert we wanted to make Dutch oven cobblers but were restricted by the area’s fire restrictions from even using coals due to drought conditions. So we made a blueberry peach cobbler in a Dutch Oven pot in the oven & an apple spice cobbler in a crock pot. I’ve since made (in a Dutch Oven pot in an oven) Kash’s Chocolate Cherry Dutch Oven recipe (included on your web page) for a family reunion, which everyone also loved! Thanks Si!

        1. Hi J!
          Thank you so much for taking to time to share with me your experience making Ziti for family and then again for camp. I’m so glad this recipe worked for both gatherings! I love your description of using leftovers from another meal to accompany this recipe. You had many “happy campers” for sure! Great tip- if you are restricted by fire laws, just pop the dutch oven recipe in your oven and bake! It tastes great! Thank you for your positive comments and thanks for reading ABK.
          xo,
          Si

      2. You said 15 servings but the 16 oz. Bag of pasta says only 8 servings. Just wanting to make sure I make enough…

        1. Hi Julie!

          I would grab another bag of pasta just to be sure you have enough.

          Happy cooking!

          Jillian @ABK Team

  3. I’ve made this recipe, and it’s delicious! I want to make it for our high school football guys, have you ever added meat to the sauce?

    1. Hi Jenny,
      I think I may have in the early days of making this recipe…can’t recall for sure now. I have been making this for 15?+ years and did a lot of experimenting in the beginning. I can say one thing for certain. I have made this for kids, teens and adults. Picky and not so picky eaters and EVERYONE loves this recipe! I don’t think your football players will miss the meat one bit! Serve it with French bread, salad and a cookie and I guarantee they will go away happy!
      XO
      Si

  4. I would love to try this recipe. I would prefer to use ricotta for the cottage cheese (just a taste preference). Do you think that would work? Thank you!

    1. Hi Andrea!
      Great question. Ricotta will work perfectly for this recipe. Give it a try and I’d love to hear your feedback. Thank you for reading ABK and hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family does!
      xo,
      Si

      1. 5 stars
        I made this yesterday and we all loved it! I was serving a crowd and the make ahead directions were so helpful and it tasted perfect. I had great success substituting ricotta for the cottage cheese – thank you for the quick reply. Happily adding this to our list of family favorites!

        1. Andrea!
          I’m so glad to hear your great success story! I’m glad it turned out so well. Thanks for your positive comments! I’m honored to have one of my recipes as one of your family favorites. Thank you!
          xo,
          Si

  5. 4 stars
    This is a great weeknight meal when I want to provide my kids something filling but don’t have a lot of time to put something together.

  6. 5 stars
    Another great dish when I want to make a vegetarian meal. I have made this for several crowds (high school faculty of 150). It is always a great go-to meal and a crowd pleaser.

  7. 5 stars
    Yummy! Great sauce and cheesy throughout.. I made a big batch and put it in glass pie plates, covered them tightly in foil and put them in the freezer.. I just had to get one out, let it partially thaw and bake for an easy dinner for us or to take to someone. I recently used the last one. It had been frozen 8 months and baked ip beautifully. Time to make another batch!

  8. 5 stars
    Oh boy. So good. Totally restaurant quality. My dish was pretty full so I would recommend a deep 9×13.

  9. 5 stars
    Truly a winner!!. My daughter’s favorite! And I also often make this when I have to bring a meal to someone. No one is disappointed and everyone is happy! Thank you for another great recipe Si!

  10. Hello!
    I LOVE so many of your recipes. Thank you for sharing them!
    I see in the recipe 2 – 15 oz can tomato sauce then 1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce. Is this correct? Or is it tomato paste?
    I am sure you have it correct. Just wanted to double check.
    THANKS SO MUCH!

    1. Hi Kim! Yes, the recipe is correct, It should be 2 – 15 oz can tomato sauce then 1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce. Let me know how it goes after you make it! Thank you for reading ABK.
      XO
      Si