Straightforward Baked Ziti, served with Sausage

This straightforward Baked Ziti recipe includes sausage and tons of cheese! It’s reliable for feeding a crowd and can easily be prepared ahead of time. Omit the sausage for a fantastic vegetarian meal. This is, hands down, the standby baked ziti recipe and it’s guaranteed to become a staple at your family dinners! [Recipe video included below.]

We have been making this baked ziti recipe for well over 10 years now and it has become one of our favorite go-to pasta dishes. Not only do we make it throughout the year, but it’s also a staple at our family’s Christmas Eve dinner each year. We've always adored baked pasta, and this is by far our favorite version… it’s full of Italian sausage and mozzarella and Romano cheeses.

If you love pasta and comfort food, this baked ziti recipe will be right up your alley.

How Do You Make Baked Ziti?

This is one of our favorite standby recipes for nearly any occasion because it’s so incredibly straightforward to throw together, especially if you have a habit of keeping some sauce in the freezer or a jar of your favorite store-bought sauce in the pantry. There are only a few steps:

• Boil a pound of ziti pasta.
• While the pasta is boiling, cook the sausage.
• Put both in a large bowl with sauce, cubed mozzarella cheese, and Romano cheese.
• Pour it all into a casserole dish and top with shredded mozzarella and more Romano cheese.
• Cover and bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake until the top is browned and bubbling.

We top the baked ziti with shredded mozzarella (always shredded off the block, never pre-shredded cheese!), but the key to the cheesiness of this baked ziti isn’t just the cheese on top, but we cut a block of mozzarella cheese into small cubes and mix it into the pasta, which creates little pockets of soft-centered cheese throughout the pasta.

Can You Prepare Baked Ziti Ahead of Time? Can it Be Frozen?

Yes and yes! We do this ALL the time.

You can assemble the baked ziti the day before you plan to bake it, just be sure to cover it with plastic wrap or foil (if you use plastic wrap, take that off and replace with foil before you bake!). We typically take it out of the refrigerator when we start to preheat the oven so some of the chill comes off of it, but you may find that you need to add an extra 10 minutes or so to the covered bake time to account for it being refrigerated.

To freeze it, we recommend covering the pan with plastic wrap AND aluminum foil to keep it as fresh as possible (again, just be sure to remove the plastic wrap before eventually baking). You can freeze it for up to 3 months, then thaw in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed.

Watch the Recipe Video:

Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in May 2007. Updated in September 2015 with new photos. Refreshed in August 2018 with more new photos, a video, and extensive recipe tips.

• Yield: 6 to 8 servings
• Prep: 30 minutes
• Cook: 1 hour
• Total: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 pound ( 453.59 g ) ziti pasta
• 1 pound ( 453.59 g ) sweet Italian sausage
• 3 cups ( 735 ml ) your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 1 cup ( 100 g ) grated Romano cheese, divided
• 8 ounces ( 226.8 g ) mozzarella cheese, diced small (¼-inch)
• 4 ounces ( 113.4 g ) mozzarella cheese, shredded (about 1 cup)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish; set aside.
2. Cook pasta to al dente according to the package directions. Drain and put into a large bowl.
3. While the pasta is boiling, cook the sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until cooked through.
4. Remove the sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl with the pasta.
5. Toss the pasta and sausage with the sauce, sausage, ½ cup of the Romano cheese, and the diced mozzarella.
6. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup Romano cheese and the shredded mozzarella. ( Make-Ahead Note : At this point, you can tightly cover the pan with foil and refrigerate for up to one day or freeze for up to 3 months. If frozen, place in the refrigerator the day before you plan to bake and then bake according to the directions below.)
7. Bake, covered, for 45 minutes, until heated through and the cheese is melted. Uncover, increase the oven temperature to 375 degrees F, and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes until sauce and cheese are bubbling.

Notes

Update Notes: This recipe was originally published in May 2007. Updated in September 2015 with new photos. Refreshed in August 2018 with more new photos, a video, and extensive recipe tips.