Warm, wonderful baked pasta on a weeknight? Totally doable if you have this One Pot Baked Ziti recipe.
Ziti pasta itself originated in southern Italy, but like a lot of popular Italian dishes, Baked Ziti has become an Italian-American staple. This is the dish families count on for any number of large group gatherings or life events: new babies, illness or recovery from surgery, funerals, baptisms. Traditionally, it makes a lot, is filling, and leftovers heat up easily. Oh yeah, and it’s delicious (the kind of delicious that makes you want to touch your thumb and forefinger together and make a chef’s kiss motion).
In Italian, “ziti” is the plural for “zita” and “zitu,” meaning “bride” and “groom” respectively. By some accounts, this was a dish served at Southern Italian wedding feasts. The pasta in its original form is almost ten inches long, but in stores, the ziti is always cut into shorter portions. The tubular style is perfect for holding the delicious meat sauce. But cooking, assembling, and baking traditional Baked Ziti is a labor of love, as it takes many steps and pots. Perfect for a kitchen full of aunties and mamas prepping and cooking together. Not so practical when you’re a lone cook and have limited time to get dinner on the table. Enter this One-Pot Baked Ziti.
So really, the biggest reason to love this recipe is the convenience, which still pays out with big flavor. By making this a one pot dish, you can definitely swing a big meal on an evening short on time.
How Convenient is One-Pot Baked Ziti?
This convenient: Instead of cooking the ziti pasta separately from the meat sauce, in this recipe, you dump the uncooked pasta into the same pot as the browned meat. The six cups of liquid from the marinara sauce and beef broth are going to cook down – the large amount is just needed to soften and cook the pasta. It’s all in the name of fewer dirty dishes and a faster assembly time!
Top Tips For a Perfect One-Pot Baked Ziti
- Choose the right pan. Whether it’s a Dutch oven like the one I used here, a large cast iron skillet, or just a large oven safe skillet, what matters is that you can fit 7-8 cups into the dish, and it can be used on both the stovetop and the oven.
- Don’t let the pasta cook too long! Check it once or twice toward the 15-minute mark. If the pasta is tender, it’s ready. Even if there is a bit of liquid, it’s ok, as the pasta will continue to absorb it once the dish is baking in the oven. This extra bit of attention will help you avoid mushy pasta.
- A perfect finish to One-Pot Baked Ziti is to turn on your broiler at the end of the baking time and broil until the cheeses on top are just barely spotty and browned. Of course, make sure your pan is broiler-safe beforehand.
- Whether you finish this dish in the oven or the broiler, if you have some fresh basil, thinly slice it and sprinkle on top to serve.
FAQs
What if I can’t find ziti pasta at my supermarket?
No problem, just use something hearty like penne or rigatoni in its place. The important thing is that it’s tubular, to adequately hold onto that lovely sauce.
What’s the difference between baked ziti and lasagna?
Not a whole lot – lasagna has many of the same ingredients, but the pasta used is broader and longer, so the ingredients are assembled in horizontal layers, instead of the big jumble in baked ziti.
Can I make this ahead of time?
Absolutely. Just follow the instructions through step 4. Let the dish cool and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Set it out on the counter while your oven preheats, and you may have to increase the baking time to 25-30 minutes to ensure the dish is warm all the way through.
Serving Suggestions
The number one accompaniment to One-Pot Baked Ziti is good crusty bread. Whether you like garlic bread, French bread, ciabatta, or whatever, it really doesn’t matter. Aside from that, a bright side to go with this particular recipe is Baked Bree’s Cucumber Tomato Salad. Delicious!
How to Store
Leftovers heat up so easily for this baked dish. Just portion out what you want to reheat and microwave until ready to eat. If you have a lot of leftovers after serving, you can freeze them. Once your pasta is cooled to room temperature, just load up an airtight container (keeping it in one layer – if you pile layers upon layers it is going to take longer to defrost) and pop in the freezer until you’re ready to thaw and reheat!
One Pot Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion finely diced
- 3 cloves Garlic crushed
- 4 cups uncooked Ziti pasta
- 3 cups marinara sauce
- 3 cups beef stock
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian Herbs
- Salt and Pepper
- 8 ounce Ricotta
- 1/2 cup Parmesan finely shredded
- 1 cup Mozzarella shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Heat the olive oil in a large oven-safe pot with a lid. Add in the ground beef, onion, and garlic and brown on medium to high heat for 5-8 minutes.
- Pour the pasta, marinara sauce, Worcestershire sauce, beef stock, Italian herbs, salt, and pepper into the pot and give it a good stir together. Replace the lid and bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes.
- Once the meat sauce and pasta are cooked and the liquid has cooked away stir in the ricotta, and half the Parmesan.
- Sprinkle over the mozzarella and the rest of the Parmesan and bake in the oven, uncovered for 10 – 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted, bubbled, and golden brown on top.
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