Three Cheese Baked Ziti

If you like lasagna, but don't want to bother with the fuss, make Three Cheese Baked Ziti instead! It has the same basic ingredients and taste as a classic lasagna but is way easier to make. As an added bonus, it makes incredible leftovers, and freezes beautifully.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Let's Start with the Meat Sauce 

You could definitely make your own meat sauce for this delicious dish. However, I'm including my go-to meat sauce for your consideration.

Ingredients for Meat Sauce

I used the following ingredients for the meat sauce:

• The Meat: I like to use mild Italian sausage for this meat sauce. The reason is that the spices in Italian sausage really add amazing flavoring.
• The Flavorings: I used onions and garlic for the flavorings.
• The Spices: For the spices, I used dried basil, dried oregano, Kosher salt and black pepper.
• The Tomatoes: I used three different types of canned tomatoes: Petit diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste. I also added a little bit of light brown sugar to cut down on the acidity taste of the tomatoes.
• The Liquids: While the tomatoes added a lot of liquid to the meat sauce, I also added some red white and water.

Making the Meat Sauce

I started by browning and crumbling the Italian sausage in a large skillet over medium heat.

Once the sausage was done, I transferred it to a paper towel lined plate to drain the fat.

I wiped out the skillet with paper towels and added the onions. I cooked the onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then, I added the garlic and cooked the mixture for about 30 seconds until the garlic was fragrant.

Next, I returned the drained sausage to the skillet with the onions and garlic. Then, I added the basil, oregano, salt and pepper. I stirred the mixture to ensure that everything was well combined.

After that, I added the petit diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato paste to the sausage mixture. I stirred to combine everything.

Finally, I added the brown sugar, wine and water. I stirred the mixture and let it come to a boil over medium heat.

Once the meat sauce had come to a boil, I reduced the heat to low and covered the skillet. I cooked the meat sauce for 3 hours, stirring it occasionally.

Let's Make the Three Cheese Baked Ziti

Once the meat sauce was cooked, I turned my attention to making the Three Cheese Baked Ziti.

Ingredients for Three Cheese Baked Ziti

I used the following ingredients for the baked ziti:

• The Meat Sauce: You guessed it - if I went to the trouble to make the meat sauce, I would be using it in this amazing dish!
• The Pasta: As the name suggests, my pasta of choice was Ziti. I could have also used another pasta like Penne or Rotini.
• The Three Cheeses: For the three cheeses, I used ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. For the ricotta cheese, I used homemade. I personally think that the store-bought ricotta cheese is awful, so I always go the extra step and make my own.
• Bringing up the Rear: I used one egg to help bind the cheeses together.

Cooking the Ziti

The first thing that I did was to cook the Ziti in boiling water for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, I drained the cooked ziti in a colander.

Preparing the Cheese/Ziti Mixture

Next, I combined the ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and egg in a large bowl.

Then, I added half of the meat sauce to the cheese mixture. I stirred to combine everything.

Finally, I added the cooked ziti to the cheese/meat sauce mixture. I stirred the mixture to ensure that everything was well combined.

Building the Three Cheese Baked Ziti

Because it's just two of us, I decided to make three small baked ziti's as opposed to one large one. I used my 8 ¼ by 6 ¼ Pyrex baking dishes.

Part of my thinking in making this in the first place was that we're approaching the peak of hurricane season and I wanted to have ready to heat meals in the freezer in the event we're unlucky enough to be hit.

In fact, there's a system in the Gulf and one heading for the Gulf!

The First Layering

For the first layering, I started by spreading some of ziti mixture in the bottom of the baking dish.

Then, I spread some of the meat sauce of the ziti mixture.

Finally, I sprinkled on some shredded mozzarella cheese.

Second Layering

I repeated the layering of the ziti mixture, meat sauce and mozzarella cheese one more time.

Then I finished the baked ziti with a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

I baked one of the ziti's in a preheated oven at 375°F - the rest went into the freezer for a later date.

After about 25 minutes, the Baked Ziti was hot and bubbly and the melted cheese on the top was a golden brown.

I let the Baked Ziti sit for about 5 minutes before serving it with a Caesar salad and a crusty baguette.

This classic Italian American comfort food with its three kinds of gooey, yummy cheeses was amazing. Yum!

Frequently Asked Questions

Similar Dishes

If you liked the Three Cheese Baked Ziti, you will absolutely love the following similar dishes:

• Lazy Lasagna
• Classic Lasagna
• Easy Lasagna Cups
• Chicken Lasagna Ruffles
• Spinach and Mushroom Lasagna
• Six Cheese Turkey Lasagna

I first posted the recipe for this amazing dish on August 28, 2016. Since then, I've refined the recipe a bit. In this repost, I included my recipe for the meat sauce. I also updated the text and added new pictures.

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