Meatball Baked Ziti
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Cheesy baked ziti with the easiest homemade meatballs. Quick to prepare and so so good. Comfort food at its best here!
Baked ziti. My all-time favorite kind of comfort food.
Except, I couldn’t just leave it like that. No, I couldn’t. I threw in some homemade meatballs and topped this entire bad boy with burrata cheese before baking it to absolute cheesy, melted perfection.
I personally prefer burrata here but if it’s not your jam, mozzarella would be a great substitute. And if you are short on time, you can absolutely substitute store-bought meatballs. (Side note: I highly recommend Trader Joe’s party size mini meatballs – they are so so good and a guilty pleasure of mine).
Serve with the remaining red wine, crusty bread, and a binge-worthy Netflix show. I recently finished Virgin River in 1.5 days and cannot wait for the second season!
Meatball Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- ¾ pound ground beef
- ¾ pound ground pork
- ⅓ cup Panko
- 2 large egg yolks
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ⅓ cup dry red wine
- 1 (32-ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
- 8 ounces burrata cheese, torn into large pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly oil a 9 x 13 baking dish or coat with nonstick spray.
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente; drain well.
- In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Panko, egg yolks, garlic, basil and oregano; season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Using a wooden spoon or clean hands, stir until well combined. Roll the mixture into 1-to-1-1/4-inch meatballs, forming about 24 meatballs.
- Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add meatballs, in batches, and cook until all sides are browned, about 2-3 minutes. Return meatballs to the Dutch oven.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the Dutch oven.
- Stir in marinara sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until flavors have blended, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in pasta, basil and parsley.
- Spread pasta mixture into the prepared baking dish; top with burrata.
- Place into oven and bake until bubbly, about 25-30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately.
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