Meat Sauce Baked Ziti

A white baking dish with baked ziti with Italian meat sauce and a spoon in it. The dish is arranged on a wooden background with fresh basil leaves and a parmesan cheese rind decorated around the dish.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American, Italian

Keyword baked ziti, baked ziti with meat sauce, baked ziti without ricotta

Freezer Friendly Yes

Prep Time 25

Cook Time 35

Total Time 1

Servings

Calories 914kcal

Ingredients

7 oz Parmigiano Reggiano, finely shredded
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 lb dry pasta, along with ziti you can use rigatoni, mezze maniche, penne, or radiatore.
5 1/2 to 6 cups Italian meat sauce
1/2 cup pasta water

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and stir in the dry pasta. Cook until al dente according to the package.
Drain the pasta. Save 1/2 cup of pasta water, then drain the pasta once it's cooked.
Mix the pasta with some sauce and cheese. Add the pasta back to the pot, add half of the mozzarella, and half of the parmigiano with 3 cups of sauce and 1/2 cup of pasta water. Fold everything together, being gentle to not break the pasta as you mix everything together.
Add to a baking dish. In a 9x13 baking dish, add the pasta, then top with the remaining sauce and cheese.
Bake. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes covered then remove the foil and bake the remaining 10 minutes uncovered. If you'd like to brown the cheese, you can broil the top on high for 30 seconds. Then remove from the oven and serve!

Video

Notes

The prep time in the recipe card does not reflect the time it takes to make the meat sauce, which would need 4 hours to cook before making baked ziti.

Nutrition