Ziti is a must-have recipe in any home cook's kitchen. Pasta, sauce and lots of cheese, or as we say in Boston - it's wicked cheesy! I'm using my mom's big batch spaghetti sauce which is always stocked in my freezer. And when you're feeding a crowd, wicked cheesy baked ziti is an excellent option. I also have a fantastic bonus for you: easy basil butter garlic bread.
It's all about the sauce (and the cheese!)
I know we all have busy lives and bla, bla, bla. And yes, you can use jarred sauce for this as long as it's something awesome like Rau's. But at the end of the day - why wouldn't you want to make an incredible homemade sauce and have your freezer stocked with it for all your pasta needs? Anyone?
That's where my mom's big batch spaghetti sauce comes into play. Seriously, it's the best sauce I've ever had. I have a whole other post on my website dedicated to this sauce. You can see the video below for the step-by-step.
Look, it's winter right now and you've got time on your hands. It's cold and we're spending more time in our homes so making this big batch spaghetti sauce is kind of a no-brainer. Anyone can make baked ziti. Every recipe has, essentially, the same components. But if you want yours to stand out: go with the homemade sauce.
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we're making a bechamel sauce (don't freak out)
In order to live up to the wicked cheesy name, this recipe needs to have a lot of cheese, right? Therefore, I went with a bechamel sauce for one of the layers. Don't freak out. This is not hard. First things first, do you know what bechamel sauce is? It's one of what is called the "mother sauces" in the culinary world and is basically a white sauce that is used as a base to create other sauces.
For this bechamel, we'll add fresh shredded parmesan cheese to create a delicious top layer where we'll add even more cheese on top of that! See? Wicked cheesy!
Here's how easy it is to make a bechamel:
The bechamel itself it just three ingredients, though technically there should be four ingredients. Nutmeg is frequently used in the making of bechamel, but I often do not include it. Plus, not everyone happens to have nutmeg lying around so here we are. It's totally optional and I didn't use it for this recipe. Here's all you need to make a bechamel.
- Butter
- Flour
- Milk (I warm mine in the microwave for a minute first)
- Cheese
First melt the butter in a small pot. Then add the flour mix to combine. Then let it cook a few minutes until it smells nutty. You want to cook off that raw flour taste. I usually alternate between letting it cook and bubble up a little and mixing with a whisk. After that, add the warm milk and stir. Let it heat up and as it's getting hotter it will thicken. Last step, add the cheese. Push it down a bit to let it melt. Add a little bit of salt, stir again and you're done! Taste it before and after you add the cheese to make sure it taste right to you.
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Feeding A Crowd: Wicked Cheesy Baked Ziti
- Prep Time: 35 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 8-10 portions 1x
Description
Homemade sauce and lots of cheese put this wicked cheesy baked ziti over the top. Bonus basil butter garlic bread recipe too!
Ingredients
- 5 cups homemade spaghetti sauce (or your favorite jarred sauce)
- 2 tablespoons garlic, finely diced (about 3-5 large cloves)
- 1 cup onion, finely diced (about ½ a large onion)
- 1 pound of ground mild, Italian sausage
- 1 tablespoon olive oil (x-virgin or regular is fine)
- 1 box of ziti pasta (1 pound box)
- 5 cups shredded cheese (I used combo of mozzarella & jack cheese)
- 1 cup Ricotta cheese
For the parmesan béchamel:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 ½ cups warm milk
- 1 cup fresh shredded parmesan cheese (buy an 8-ounce block or the bagged stuff)
- â…› teaspoon salt (taste first before adding salt)
For the basil butter garlic bread (optional):
- 1 loaf of French bread cut into rounds (you’ll have extra)
- 1 stick of softened, salted butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped finely (use extra fresh basil as a garnish too!)
- Pinch of salt
NOTE: you will need a 9x13 baking dish and non-stick cooking spray for this recipe.
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Instructions
- If you’re using my homemade big batch spaghetti sauce, be sure to make that ahead, or if you’ve already made it just take a few containers out of the freezer the day before to give it time to defrost in the refrigerator overnight. Note: you’ll need three cups of sauce to mix with the cooked pasta. I suggested two more cups (at least) for sauce to serve on the side.
- If you are making the optional basil butter garlic bread, take out a stick of butter to let it soften.
- Start by putting your red sauce in a large pot to heat it up in the background while you do your prep. Use low heat here.
- Dice the garlic. I usually slice the garlic into thin rounds and then dice it down into smaller bits from there.
- Dice the onion. It takes about a half of a large onion to get one cup of finely diced onion for this. Slice the half onion into strips, then rotate onion and dice down into smaller bits from there. You’ll need to run your knife over the onions a bunch of times to get them fine.
- Shred the parmesan cheese. I always have a block of parmesan cheese on hand, so I used my box grater to shred that. You can also use the already-shredded version in the cheese section of your grocery store.
- For the parmesan béchamel: Melt butter in a small pot, then add the flour and whisk to combine. This makes a roux which is a thickening agent for sauces. Cook and whisk this for a few minutes on low-to-medium heat. We need to cook off the raw flour taste. When it starts to smell a little nutty it’s done. Add warm milk (I heat for a minute in the microwave before adding). Whisk together with the roux until well combined. Heat it until it starts to thicken – will only take a couple of minutes and you’ll see it thickening. Add the cheese and let melt – stir a few times to combine. Taste for salt and add little here (I usually do â…› teaspoon). Mix and you’re done.
- On medium heat, add olive oil to a large pan and add the ground sausage. Using a spatula or two, chop the sausage down so it becomes crumbly in the pan. Spread across the pan and let it cook a few minutes. I like it to get a little crispy on the outside before turning it. Once you turn it, cook another minute or so, then add the onion in the middle of the pan with a splash of olive oil. Cook there for a minute or so then stir to combine the onion with the sausage. Then do the same thing with the garlic and mix to combine when the garlic becomes fragrant. Cook another minute or two after combining with the garlic and you’re done.
- While the sausage is cooking you should have a large pot of water heating with 2 teaspoons of salt in it. Once it comes to a boil, add the box of ziti pasta. I stir a few times in the beginning to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick together. Cook to package instructions, but drain it a minute or two before it’s done.
- Add the drained pasta to a large bowl with 3 cups of red sauce and the sausage mixture. Stir until all the pasta is coated in the sauce and the sausage mixture is distributed evenly.
- Spray a 9x13 baking dish, then add HALF the pasta mixture and spread out evenly across the bottom. Measure out your one cup of ricotta cheese and add dollops of ricotta (use a spoon) on top of the ziti. Next, add 1 cup each of shredded mozzarella and shredded jack cheese and spread out evenly. Add the remaining ziti/sausage mixture and spread out. Using a spatula, spread the parmesan béchamel across the top of the pasta. Then add three more cups of the shredded mozzarella and jack cheese across the top – again, spread out evenly.
- Bake the ziti in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
- While the ziti is cooking, you can make the (optional) basil butter garlic bread. Your stick of butter should be softened by now. Finely chop the garlic and basil and add it to a bowl with the softened stick of butter. Mix with a fork and add a pinch of salt here too. Can use extra basil to garnish the ziti too if you want.
- Slice the French bread into rounds and spread out on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. Using a butter knife, spread the basil garlic butter over each piece of bread.
- After you take ziti out of oven to let cool, put the garlic bread in (still at 350 degrees) and bake for 10-15 minutes. This will really depend on how crunchy you want the bread. You could also arrange your oven racks ahead of time and cook the garlic bread in the last 15 minutes of cooking the ziti if you plan on serving this right out of the oven.
- When the garlic bread is almost done, take out of oven and add a pinch of freshly shredded parmesan cheese to the top of each piece. Put back in the oven for a couple of minutes to melt the cheese.
- Plate the ziti ahead or let everyone serve themselves! Serve extra red sauce, parmesan cheese, and basil butter on the side. Garnish with the fresh basil or chop some parsley if you have it on hand.
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