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This is the most amazing pasta dish ever! I have already made it twice. The addition of mascarpone cheese is such a great idea!
You know how sometimes baked ziti is good, and sometimes it’s REALLY good?
Today I’d like to introduce you to a REALLY GOOD BAKED ZITI.
This recipe has been tested and tweaked and loved and devoured many times over to get it just right. And I think we landed it. It’s minimal. It’s bubbly and browned, extra creamy, extra saucy, with just the right flavors and textures to make the whole thing into a baked pasta masterpiece.
It is simplicity at its finest: just chewy noodles, a deeply flavored tomato sauce, the right blend of melted cheese, and a creaminess that cuts the tang of tomato sauce as it oozes into every bite.
Ingredients You Need
Here’s everything you need to make this recipe!
- Pancetta: Some ziti recipes will use ground sausage or beef, but I love this with the salty smokiness of the pancetta! You could also skip the pancetta and make this meatless.
- Garlic and Onion: A necessary component to all pasta recipes! Bringing the flavor.
- Tomatoes (x3!): Tomato paste, tomato sauce, and crushed tomatoes!
- Pasta: Ziti, obviously. But you could also use penne or rigatoni instead.
- Cheese: Three-cheese for a reason – mascarpone, mozzarella, provolone. More on the cheese below!
Best Cheese To Use
Traditionally, baked ziti has ricotta cheese in it. But in this recipe, I decided to skip it!
Many people (including myself) find that ricotta cheese that you buy from the store gets a little dry, crumbly, and – I’m sorry to say – gritty, once it gets baked in the oven in between all those pasta layers.
In all my testing and research of the best baked ziti recipes out there, I found that most recipes use one of three options for that middle creamy-cheesy layer.
- Ricotta cheese (this is traditional, but it often gets dry)
- Bechamel sauce (gets you the creaminess, but requires you to make yet another sauce)
- Mascarpone cheese (super creamy, minimal effort)
I used mascarpone cheese as the middle creamy-cheesy layer in this baked ziti recipe because the texture is the most luscious and creamy. And bonus – it’s extremely easy. I add some flavor to mine by salting it and grating a clove of fresh garlic in with it, and ooooooh yes. It is so good.
This is critical for getting the best possible creamy texture in between those cheese and noodle crevices, so don’t skip it!
How To Make Baked Ziti
- Make Your Sauce: Pancetta, garlic and onion, and tomatoes simmer in a pan to make the most LUSCIOUS red sauce.
- Cook The Noodles: Boil salted water in a pot and cook your noodles. Add them to the sauce.
- Mix The Cheese: Mix the mascarpone with garlic and salt.
- Layer: Start with half the pasta, then all three cheeses, then the rest of the pasta, and the rest of the cheese!
- Bake: Put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve!
What To Serve with This
This can totally stand on its own as a meal and that’s how I roll for real-life dinners at home. But if you’re looking for something to round this out into a more multi-dimensional meal or impress friends with a full blown dinner party spread, you could try:
- This bread and kale salad (SO GOOD!)
- OR this brussels and kale caesar salad
- ORRRR this simple green salad
- No-knead bread (carbs on carbs is so right)
- Some chicken parm to top it off (ambitious! but YUM)
Whether you finish this off with some cracked black pepper, fresh basil ribbons, or a swish of garlic oil, this melted cheesy, tomato sauce-y, perfectly creamy baked ziti heaven awaits you.
Video To Make This Recipe
Three Cheese Baked Ziti
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Description
Three Cheese Baked Ziti that is bubbly and browned, extra creamy, extra saucy, and incredibly easy with NO RICOTTA! A baked pasta masterpiece.
Ingredients
The Sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 ounce pancetta, finely chopped (optional)
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 28–oz. can tomato sauce
- 1 14–oz. can crushed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
The Baked Ziti
- 1 pound ziti
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- pinch of salt
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 8 ounces provolone cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Sauce: Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add pancetta and sauté until slightly crisped, about 5 minutes. Add onion and garlic; turn heat down and sauté for 5 minutes. Add red pepper flakes and tomato paste; sauté for 2 minutes. Add tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes, and salt. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
- Ziti: Cook ziti according to package directions. Toss with about two thirds of the pasta sauce. Reserve remaining 2-or-so cups of sauce.
- Mascarpone: Mix mascarpone with grated garlic and a pinch of salt.
- Layering: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Transfer half of the pasta to a 9×13 baking dish. Spoon the mascarpone over the top in little blobs. Cover with half of the mozzarella and half of the provolone. Cover with about a cup of sauce. Transfer the rest of the saucy ziti on top of your cheese layer. Finish with remaining mozzarella, provolone, and spoon the remaining sauce around on top for prettiness.
- Bake: Bake for 20 minutes until warm, delicious, molten-cheesy, and bubbly. Top with some parmesan, fresh basil, or freshly cracked black pepper to be a baked ziti superstar.
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Keywords: baked ziti, three cheese baked ziti, baked pasta, baked spaghetti
Frequently Asked Questions About Baked Ziti
Traditionally baked ziti uses ricotta, but I love subbing in mascarpone instead. It’s super silky and creamy and avoids the grittiness that ricotta can sometimes add after baking. I also use shredded provolone and mozzarella!
Yes! This is a great meal to prep ahead of time. I’d assemble the full ziti, then place it in the fridge until you’re ready to bake. It will last for up to two days assembled in the fridge.
Yes! Assemble the baked ziti, then cover and freeze before baking. It will keep for up to 3 months. I’d recommend thawing the ziti overnight in the fridge before you bake, and then following the baking instructions as stated!
The biggest and easiest shortcut would be to buy storebought sauce instead of making your own! I love using Rao’s marinara in a pinch.
Absolutely. Just skip the pancetta, and use a little oil for the onion and garlic instead.
Three More Pasta Casseroles
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our easy Italian-inspired recipes page. Check it out!
What do you mean by “fresh Mozzarella” , the balls that come in liquid or the balls that are vacume sealed?
Vacuum sealed!
This was as a massive success on this rainy school-holiday day. My 5 year old said “Best Lunch Ever” which she’s never said about anything before and my 3 year old said “I didn’t realise you made the yummiest food!”
If that wasn’t enough I made your hawaiian tacos for the freezer and got your healing chicken soup into the slow cooker for tonight so it’s been a very productive morning sponsored by Pinch of Yum!
Lindsay, this is THE best pasta recipe I’ve ever made in my life!! I added some ground sweet Italian sausage and left out the red pepper flakes, and it was simply amazing. My family absolutely LOVED IT. Thank you so much for the recipe!!
This was so good! The addition of mascarpone was absolutely delicious. I added sausage to mine & divided the recipe into two pans – one for dinner and one to freeze for later! Can’t wait to have this again!
This recipe was so filling and easy to make! Lots of leftovers and tastes just as good heated up again!
This is a great recipe! I had it at my SILs last weekend and then made it myself this weekend. We made it a day early and it was delicious! My only suggestion would be a longer bake time if you make it ahead. I baked it for 30 and it was warm, but not hot. I made to much, so I will be freezing the second pan and will give an update later.
Frozen Baked Ziti Review-about 3 months ago I made 2 big baked ziti’s and froze one. I know there are no reviews for frozen to baked, but I have to tell you it was delicious! I took it out to thaw in the refrigerator about 48 hours before I needed to serve it. I cooked for 90 minutes, covered at 325 and then another 10 minutes uncovered at 425. This cooked while we were at a soccer game, the house smelled great and it was so good there are no leftovers! Thanks for another great recipe
I was wondering how does this freeze? I am planning a gathering of 20 Italian family members and I am looking to make some items ahead and freeze.
This does look amazing, we were in Calabria last year and my granddaughter wants me to try and find something like she had there.
I used jar sauce for this in place of making the sauce, but followed the rest of recipe and it turned out fantastic. This recipe is amazing and will become a staple in our house!
This was so delicious!! It’s so creamy, saucy, and the perfect comfort meal. I have made this recipe several times, and every time I am so excited to make it. I highly recommend!
Fantastic!! 5 stars from this family of 5. We have some ricotta haters in this group, and this was gobbled up!
This was unbelievably delicious and easy! I had to stop myself from eating more! I left out the red pepper because of dietary issues for a family member and just added regular black pepper. The red pepper wasn’t missed. This is the 2nd recipe I’ve made from your site and both have received rave reviews from my family -including the picky ones!
NOPE! This was a fail for me & my family! I am a terrific cook, been cooking for almost 40 years now! The mascarpone is “thoughtful” but I should have known better…it made the entire dish GREASY! Provolone & mozz are great mixed with ricotta, NOT mascarpone! I’ll stick to what’s been working for me for all these years. And, no, ricotta doesn’t dry anything out!
Hi! Just a heads up that the multiplier isnt working for all the ingredients. Thanks!
I made this tonight. I left out the pancetta since I didn’t have any and used ricotta instead of mascarpone. The sauce is incredibly delicious! To me there is too much shredded cheese so next time I will cut back on that. Overall it’s a good casserole and I will make it again with less shredded cheese.
I’ve never cooked with mascarpone cheese before but I’ve heard so many good things about it. I recently cooked a lasagna with ricotta and I agree it was disappointing in flavor and texture. I’ve heard cottage cheese can be a good replacement for lasagna but idk about baked ziti. This looks amazing though
my niece, yes.Tastes great and I would recommend using fridge!
Just made this for the family – they LOVED it. Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Alright, I never write reviews for recipes but this is the best baked pasta ever! My husband brother and I finished the night eating what was left right out of the pyrex dish 😍
Thanks so much for leaving a comment! We’re so glad you and your family enjoyed the recipe!
I did indeed enjoy this recipe and intend to make it again. However, just for 2 of us I did not want to make a 9×13 casserole. I used an 8×8 baking dish which is actually a little more area than half of the 9×13 pan. I found there was absolutely no way to get all the pasta in the dish. And, I found the tomato sauce, although very tasty (I added a bit of sugar to cut the acid) didn’t cover the pasta quite as much as I would have liked. Didn’t look like your picture. Any suggestions for me?
Hi Kathlyn! So interesting. Every time we’ve made this dish, the ziti has been really saucy. Perhaps next time, you could boil just 3/4 lb of pasta. Or, prepare the full amount of pasta, and add in another small can (8 ounces) of tomato sauce.
Love the food, but as a potter I must comment on the dish you are using. All the little dots are pin holes which make the dish not food safe. Please be more cognizant of this. You’re spreading unhealthy information without knowing it.
People are sooooo rude. Just had to say…What are you even talking about. Use whatever dish you want to.
Delicious! Cheesy, flavorful…everything you want about ziti. I actually used penne but, still. I would think you could use any good melting cheese in place of the provolone. Maybe Jack? Or gruyere? Anyway, def going to make this again for my family after this virus is under control!
Yes, any melting cheese would be lovely in this recipe! So glad you enjoyed it!
Absolutely my favorite comfort dish.
So happy to hear this!
I have a baked ziti with chicken that is very unique. Contact me if you want it.
This looks delicious. I have homemade sauce in the freezer. How many ounces will I need for this recipe?
You could use 42 ounces of homemade sauce in place of the tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes. Enjoy!
We made this last night and it’s delicious! Lots of flavor comes from the simple ingredients! We used bacon instead of pancetta and ricotta instead of mascarpone because that’s what we could find and it was great. Will be making again!
Great substitutions! So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Holly!