My family loves this easy Baked Ziti recipe, and I love that it's made all in just one pan! It's as fast and delicious as comfort food gets and ready in less than 30 minutes!
Looking for more 30-Minute Meals? Try our Salmon Bowls, Thai Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Spaghetti Pie, Cajun Chicken Pasta, or Crispy Bean and Cheese Burritos!
What we LOVE about this recipe:
- 30-minute meal – This baked ziti with sausage is one of many quick and easy 30 minute recipes that the whole family will enjoy.
- One-Pot Dinner – Only one pan from start to finish, which makes prep and clean-up a breeze.
- Adaptable – This recipe can be varied a lot depending on the ingredients you have on hand, like using different kinds of pasta or ground meat, or add in additional veggies.
How to make Baked Ziti:
Brown Sausage: Heat a large oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, crumbling into small pieces, until browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Make Sauce: Pour in diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, dried basil and oregano. Stir well. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.
Cook Pasta: Add water and dry pasta. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes or until noodles are tender.
Add Cheese: Stir in the half and half, and parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste then sprinkle mozzarella evenly on top.
Bake: Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and browned, about 5 minutes.
Serve the best baked ziti recipe with a side salad or wedge salad and breadsticks or garlic knots!
Make Ahead And Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: Follow the directions of making the sauce, up to step 4. Don't add and cook the noodles, yet. Continue with step 4 just before you want to serve the homemade baked ziti.
To Freeze: Prepare the ziti pasta up until the baking step. Cover with a double layer of aluminum foil sprayed lightly with non-stick cooking spray then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes, or, bake from frozen, covered in foil for 1 hour and 15 minutes, and uncover and bake 20-30 minutes longer, or until bubbly and warmed through.
Recipe Variations:
- Skillet: You can make it in any type of LARGE skillet, as long as it's oven proof. A simple cast-iron skillet would work great.
- Noodles: If you can't find ziti noodles at the store, buy them online, or substitute penne, farfalle, or another type of bite-size pasta.
- Meat: We love the flavor of ground sausage but feel free to substitute ground beef, or turkey.
- Cheese: Substitute any type of shredded cheese if you don't have mozzarella or parmesan.
- Crockpot Version: You can also make it in a crockpot.
Check out all my One Pot Meals:
- Hawaiian Meatballs
- American Goulash
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Pad Thai
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
- Pot Roast
- Spaghetti Pie
- Beef Gyros
- Tamale Pie
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Recipe
One Pan Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground Italian sausage
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 8 ounces tomato sauce
- 5-6 cloves garlic , minced
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 Tablespoon dried basil (or ½ cup fresh basil leaves added at the end)
- 1/2 teaspoon Dried oregano
- 3 cups water
- 12 ounces ziti pasta (or similar pasta)
- 1/2 cup half and half (or heavy cream)
- 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
- Heat a large 12-inch or bigger oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, crumbling into small pieces, until browned, about 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and crushed red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, dried basil and oregano. Stir well. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 5-10 minutes.
- Add the water and dry pasta. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes or until noodles are tender.
- Stir in the half and half, and parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle mozzarella evenly on top.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and browned, about 5 minutes. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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*I originally shared this recipe February 2015. Updated November 2018 and August 2023.
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This dish was easy to make and amazing to eat! My family loved it and so did I!
So happy your family loved it–easy and amazing makes for a great combo 🙂 Thanks for coming back to comment!
I have printed a number of your recipes this morning. I love simple and fresh and all of yours seem so easy. I will be making them starting tonight. Also I have most the ingredient’s in my house already! Please know that I will be sharing these with my friends also. I have shared you on my ace Book page. Thank you for so many ideas!
Hi JoAnn, I’m so happy to hear it! I hope you enjoy everything you make! And thanks for sharing 🙂
I agree about the oven – no need to turn on until last minute. 500 degrees heats your house up pretty quick. No bueno if its summer time! Of course if its winter, I guess it doesn’t matter. I did not use the red flakes. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious. I bought the diced tomatoes that are already seasoned with basil and oregano, so there was no need to add those spices. My husband and two teens loved this!
Thanks for sharing! I’m so happy you liked it 🙂
I made it today and the one thing I realized is that you don’t need to preheat the oven at the very beginning. Otherwise you have an oven going at 500° for quite a while before you actually put the dish in and it warms up the kitchen a little too much!
Since all you’re doing is melting the cheese in the oven I just ran it under the broiler for a couple of minutes and that was it.
Wonderful recipe…had to cut the kids off so my hubby would have some! Going in my meal plan. I am a huge fan of skillet meals a.k.a one dish wonderfuls!
Thanks so much Erin! Aren’y One-Pot meals the best!!?
Oh.My.Gosh!! Just made this tonight and it all disappeared. My hubs even cleaned his plate with his crusty bread, it was SO GOOD. I added sliced zucchini and red bell pepper, it was delicious. Thanks for such an inspiring recipe!
Thanks Carol, I love the additions you made. Sounds delicious!
How many does this serve?x
I made this tonight and we loved it! I substituted regular mild sausage for the Italian sausage. Do you know what would work well for a vegetarian version?
Hi Candice, glad you liked it! You could just leave out the sausage for a meatless version!
Can you stick a regular Teflonpan in a 500 degree oven or do you need cast iron?
You could use a regular Teflon..I’ve used mine before 🙂
I’m working on getting better at one pot meals and this one looks fantastic! Will have to try soon. Pinned 🙂