One Pot Baked Ziti
An incredibly easy, no-fuss baked ziti – even the pasta gets cooked right in the pan!
When I was living in New York city, my dad and I would walk around the corner to the pizza place and always get the same order – two cheese pizzas and a baked ziti. Back then, a slice of pizza was just a $1, and then they’d wrap them up in a giant brown bag and we’d walk back home. I could barely eat half of a pizza then but I’d always stuff my face in the baked ziti. With cheesy, marinara baked pasta, how can any 6-year old resist?
Now I’ve tried to recreate this amazing childhood ziti but as much as I loved the homemade version, it was just too much work for something I could easily buy at the local pizza parlor for $9.99. But with my recent one pot meal obsession, I’ve actually discovered a one pan baked ziti. It’s unbelievably easy, and even the pasta gets cooked right in the pan!
All you need to do is ground up some sausage, add in your tomatoes and pasta, and of course let that mozzarella just melt right in. Easy peasy, right? And if you really want to save up on some dishes, I recommend eating right out of the pan.
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One Pot Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 12 ounces ziti pasta
- ¾ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- ¼ cup basil leaves, chiffonade
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add Italian sausage and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the sausage as it cooks. Stir in garlic and red pepper flakes, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Stir in tomatoes and bring to a simmer until slightly thickened, about 8-10 minutes. Stir in pasta and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer until pasta is cooked through, about 13-16 minutes.
- Remove from heat; stir in Parmesan and heavy cream. Top with mozzarella and cover until cheese has melted, about 2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with basil, if desired.
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The recipe calls for crushed tomatoes but the pictures look like tomato sauce? Are my eyes deceiving me? Thanks for the awesome recipes!
It really is crushed tomatoes! 🙂
I’d like to make this recipe on our camping trip. I was wondering if I could precook the sausage and garlic at home and add the rest later and microwave it?
Yes, absolutely.
Parmesan, heavy cream and mozzarella? You can bet we’ll try that one!:) Amazing dish Chungah! Certainly Damn Delicious!:) And the way you present those steps in your photos is really helpful. Great work!
this is my first time ever to write a review. My husband and I both loved this dish and showed some restraint only so we could have it again tomorrow night! What we had tonight was a little “soupy” but nothing a loaf of Italian bread could not take care of. What was refrigeratated for tomorrow night looks just like the pictures. Maybe we should have let it sit a bit longer. Definitely will make this again.
Making this for the 2nd time tonight. We love it. Thanks for posting it!
This is going on my recipe list for next week. Looking forward to trying it out!
This was soooo good! I cooked the ziti a little longer to make sure it was tender, and it was wonderful. Even better the second day. There was none left for the third day.
Heya I’ve been looking at your one pot recipes but I am wondering about how well the pasta cooks? I’m super picky about all my pasta being al dente and I’m a little skeptical about it cooking properly using these recipes. I think the recipe looks great and I really want to try it but like I said having properly cooked pasta is kind of a deal breaker for me so I’m not quite sure about it.
Regardless thank you for the recipes they look great and your pictures are awesome.
Dylan, the pasta cooks through completely in these one pot recipes. However, if you are super picky about the texture of your pasta, you won’t really know how you like it (or dislike it) in these one pot meals until you try it!
Thanks for the reply, I guess I’ll just have to give it a shot and see how it turns out. Although now that I have seen your asian inspired recipes I think those might be first on my list of things to try. Thanks =D
I love this ziti..I end up using 2-3 pans for the pasta evrry time and this sure seems easier..will try a vegetarian version of this soon.
This was just incredibly delicious! I had an early evening appointment so I prepared this dish up until adding the cream, cheeses, and basil. I refrigerated it in the pan. When I came home, I just needed to heat to boiling, add the remaining incredients and done! I will be making this often and will add it to my list of favorites. Thank you.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit! Quick and easy weeknight meals are the best. Swapped the sausage for some ground turkey I had already cooked in the freezer and used greek yogurt instead of the cream. Will definitely be making again
Found this on Pinterest and made it tonight! The only thing I did different was put it under the broiler for a minute after adding the mozzarella, so it had that baked bubbly, brown top like baked ziti. Damn delicious!
My daughter and I made for dinner last night and we loved it! Used skim milk as it’s all I had on hand and it was still delicious. My fry pan didn’t look big enough so we used a 6-qt Dutch Oven and it worked perfectly. Looking forward to wonderful leftovers!
I’m going to make this for guests this Friday. Can I make it ahead of time and then add cheese and reheat? Will the cream hold up ok?
Yes, that should be fine. We reheated leftovers in the oven the next couple of days and they tasted just as good!
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Thank you so much for your fantastic one-pot recipes. They have become family favorites for us. My son even went back for seconds of the Chilli Mac (he NEVER does that). I’m trying this one tonight, but wanted to take a minute to express my gratitude to you for sharing you recipes with us. You are very appreciated.
Let me start off by saying I knew I loved your blog the moment I read your name, “Damn Delicious”… LOVE IT!
This recipe rocks!!! I’m kind of anal about dirtying dishes, love to cook – hate to do the dishes, so I’m always trying to cook in one pot/as few as possible! Thanks so much for this recipe, it’s a crowd pleaser fo sho! 😉
I found this link on Pinterest and made it tonight for dinner. Let me just say it was quick, easy, and amazing!!! My husband was blown away!!! I am definitely a new fan to this blog!!! Thanks again for the outstanding recipe 🙂
I didn’t have luck with this recipe. There was way too much water between the tomatoes and the 3 cups you add later – where is that 3 cups supposed to go? Was I supposed to drain the tomatoes?
I’m going to try it again with different tomatoes.
…but I still don’t understand how 3 cups of water disappears, especially with the lid on. Halp.
As the pasta cooks through, it soaks up all of the water.
make sure you’re using a measuring cup specific for liquid? not sure if that’s the problem!
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