Baked Ziti

S in PA's Note:

Good Italian comfort food!

• Total Time: 50 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 8

• 1 lb ziti pasta , cooked al dente
• 1 lb Italian sausage , cooked and chopped
• 1 (15 ounce) container ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons parsley
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded, divided
• ¼ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 (28 ounce) jar pasta sauce , divided

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Cook ziti according to package directions; drain; set aside.
3. Mix ricotta, egg, parsley, 1-1/2 cups of the mozarella cheese, and parmesan cheese in a large bowl.
4. Mix cooked sausage and pasta in with ricotta mixture.
5. Mix in 3/4 jar of sauce.
6. Transfer mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish.
7. Top with the rest of the sauce and mozarella cheese.
8. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.
9. To freeze: Cover dish with foil and freeze. When frozen you can pop it out of the container and put in a freezer bag if desired.
10. To heat: Thaw. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

Reviews

[embutterfly75]

This was easy to make and tasted good.

[Eleni G.]

This was yummy! I added 1 lg. garlic clove crushed, italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to the sausage just for some extra kick. Both my husband and I loved it :-) Thanks!

[Rollin in the Dough!]

This received my DH's approval as a keeper recipe (I let him think he has a choice ;0) I added about 1 1/2 cloves of minced garlic to ricotta and used 4 1/2 c of Jo Mama's World Famous Spaghetti sauce, it already has sausage in it and the amount of sauce/sausage was perfect. I make big batches of the sauce and freeze it in 4 1/2 c portions for lasagna or meatball subs and now ziti, it works great! I reserved 1 c sauce for topping and added an extra 1/2 c cheese to fully cover. The dish I used was 2 1/2 qts and it was filled to the brim! Baked about 20 minutes uncovered, covered it for 17 minutes and then took out and let sit for 5 minutes uncovered. Thanks for the recipe!