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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Hands down our family’s favorite ziti bake! We usually sub a jar of our favorite chunky pasta sauce for the tomatoes and spices, and we even make it in the crock pot (2.5 hours on high). This dish tics all the boxes for us. Thank you for a superb version of an everyday recipe.
This has become a family favorite and also qualifies as nice enough for company! The only changes I’ve made are to use only 6oz of pasta and half of the water listed. Lately, we’ve also tossed in a bag of fresh spinach when adding the cream, for an easy one dish meal. Thanks so much for this fabulous recipe. My husband says it’s even better than the one at the Italian restaurant he loves!
This is one of my go to meals! Not only does my famil (toddlers included) love it, but everyone I make it for loves it! Anytime I need to take a meal to someone this is the winner!!!
SO easy but delicious! Sure to impress!
I agree with all the comments. This is so easy and so tasty!
Delicious and I love meals that involve only one pan.
I made this and it had waaaaayyyyy tooo much water and i followed the recipe as is i would use maybe 1-2cups of water
This is SO GOOD! Made it tonight on a whim, just happened to have everything. Will definitely be making it again. I love spicy, so the hot sausage and red pepper were right up my alley, but if you’re not into spicy, then you can get mild sausage or leave out the red pepper. I also only added 2 teaspoons of basil, which seemed to be perfect. This is a yummy, easy meal that will go a long way and fill you up! Can’t wait to eat leftovers tomorrow!
So i made this last night and the flavor was so so good, but there was wayyyy to many noodles and not enough sauce, did you put the right measurements on the recipe??? Because you put 12oz of ziti and only 8 oz can of sauce and 15oz diced tomatoes and to me it was just to much pasta. I was really upset because the flavor was great it just wasnt saucey enough.
Just finished eating this with my hungry pregnant wife. She was craving Italian, and this hit the spot. Thanks! This reminds me of Timbalo from Johnny Carino’s country Italian restaurant before they tried to make their menu healthier. Except this was simpler and better. I subbed whole milk cottage cheese 4 cream, and skip the parmesan. Will be making this again soon?
Forgot to mention we used penne pasta, boiled it separately, and used a giant cast iron pan as the main baking pan. Our cheap Rachel Ray skillets couldn’t take 500 degrees!
This would be nice if I had a bigger pan? Oh well, I don’t mind dishes! It’s still quick and easy and very delicious! I’m making it for the second time.