Pizza Baked Ziti
Pizza Baked Ziti is one of my favorite, kid-approved weeknight dinners. It’s got all the cheesy, saucy, pepperoni-topped goodness of a classic pizza, but in the form of a baked pasta dish, so it is easy to prep ahead of time.
Why I Love this Pizza Baked Ziti Recipe
We just love a good pepperoni pizza in our house, but I try to keep it more of a “once in a while” meal so we don’t over do it. I do however like to find new ways to use the pizza flavors in other dishes, because I know my whole family will eat it, no questions asked.
I am also always looking for ways to get dinner on the table quickly, especially on busy weeknights, so anytime I can make our main dish ahead of time and just bake or re-heat at meal time, I take it.
Baked pasta dishes are one of the easiest ways to do that. I simply cook the noodles to al dente (which means they are cooked most of the way though, but still have a little firmness to them, since they will cook the rest of the way in the oven). Then I combine the noodles with a fun sauce, a meat, veggies of some kind, and cheese. Toss into a baking dish, cover, and store in the refrigerator. Then quickly pull it out and bake when we are ready to eat.
If we have nightly activities that bump up to dinner time, I use the time delay feature on my oven. I put the prepped pasta dish in the oven before we leave the house. Then the oven turns it’s self on, warms up, and bakes the dish, so it is ready to eat as we are walking in the door. What a time to be alive, right!?
Enchilada Pasta Bake and No Boil Lasagna are easy-to-make, family-friendly dishes that my family adores.
Pizza Baked Ziti slides right into this category as well. It’s a good, quick and easy meal. No fancy techniques required…just a few simple steps, and bake. But it’s a fun twist on pepperoni pizza, and a good way to keep dinner interesting.
It’s also highly customizable. Add your favorite pizza toppings and sneak in some veggies (chopped bell peppers, onions, olives, etc) if you want.
Ingredients for Pizza Baked Ziti:
- penne pasta (or ziti noodles)
- pizza sauce (marinara sauce will work as well)
- mozzarella cheese, freshly shredded
- Italian seasoning
- pepperoni slices (I love this brand)
Step-by-Step Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F degrees.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook12oz penne pasta until al dente (usually 6-7 minutes).
While pasta is cooking, shred your mozzarella cheese and use a pair of kitchen sheers or scissors to slice pepperoni into strips. Tip: Always grate your own cheese at home when baking it. Pre-shredded cheese in the grocery store, has an anticlumping agent added to it to prevent it from sticking together. Unfortunately, it also prevents if from melting well. My favorite tool is this attachment for my stand mixer that grates a whole block in seconds.
Drain pasta, but do not rinse. Return it to to the pot, and over medium heat, use a wooden spoon to stir in 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce and the pepperoni strips. Let simmer for 2-3 mins until the sauce is warmed though. Turn off heat and stir in half of the cheese. It will start to melt a bit from the heat.
Transfer to a 8 x 8 baking dish, and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 T of Italian seasoning over the cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350°F degrees for 10 mins. Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 5 mins or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
What to Serve with Baked Ziti
- Garlic bread or bread sticks
- Caesar salad
- Green beans
- Roasted veggies
Alternate Ingredients Ideas
Just like ordering a traditional pizza from the corner pizza place, the toppings are really what makes it special. Try mixing in other ingredients besides just pepperoni to customize this dish however you’d like. Here are some ideas…
- Italian sausage (brown in large skillet and drain before adding to sauce)
- turkey pepperoni
- Canadian bacon
- chopped red or green pepper
- mushrooms
- green or black olives
- onions
- crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick of spice
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
Store leftover Ziti in an airtight container(I love these glass ones) in fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Reheat: Microwave individual servings for 1-2 minutes, or bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes until heated through.
Freeze: I recommend freezing before you bake. Wrap the top of the baking dish tightly in plastic wrap, and then add a second layer with aluminum foil before placing in a freezer. This double layer of wrap will help prevent freezer burn. It will last in freezer for up to 3 months.
How to reheat from frozen: Remove plastic wrap layer and bake at 350°F for 45ish minutes, covered with just the foil. Uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Or defrost on counter top and bake per original instructions. Note: you may need to add 10 mins to bake time, since it will not be warm from stove before baking. Just keep an eye on it.
FAQ’s
Yes! This is a great make-ahead meal. Make sure to wrap it well in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. See full instructions above.
The tomatoes in pizza sauce have only briefly been cooked (or not cooked at all), so pizza sauce has a more pure, simple tomato flavor. The spices added to it usually pack a little zip as well making pizza sauce a bit spicier than spaghetti sauce. It’s also thicker than pasta sauce because it acts as a barrier between the crust and the toppings to prevent pizza crusts from getting soggy from the toppings.
Spaghetti sauce is slow simmered with other herbs, so it takes on a much richer, deeper flavor as it cooks. It’s thinner than pizza sauce as it needs to be able to easily coat noodles and other ingredients. Either sauce will work well in this dish.
Tube shaped noodles work best . Actual Ziti noodles are great, but I prefer Penne pasta because its similar to Ziti, but has ridges on the outside of noodles so it to holds sauce better.
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Pizza Baked Ziti
Equipment
- 1 large pot
- 1 8 x8 baking dish
- 1 wooden spoon
- 1 cheese grater
- 1 kitchen scissors
- 1 colander
Ingredients
- 12 oz penne noodles
- 1½ cup pizza sauce (marinara sauce will work as well)
- 2 oz pepperoni slices
- 1½ cup mozzarella freshly shredded
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F degrees.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the penne pasta until al dente (usually 6-7 minutes).
- While pasta is cooking, shred your mozzarella cheese and use a pair of kitchen scissors to slice pepperoni into strips. Tip: Always grate your own cheese at home when baking it. Pre-shredded cheese in the grocery store has an anticlumping agent added to it to prevent it from sticking together. Unfortunately, it also prevents if from melting well. My favorite tool is this attachment for my stand mixer that grates a whole block in seconds.
- Drain pasta, but do not rinse. Return it to to the pot, and over medium heat, use a wooden spoon to stir in 1 1/2 cups pizza sauce and the pepperoni strips. Let simmer for 2-3 mins until the sauce is warmed though. Turn off heat and stir in half of the cheese. It will start to melt a bit from the heat.
- Transfer to a 8 x 8 baking dish, and top with the remaining mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle 1/2 T of Italian seasoning over the cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350°F degrees for 10 mins. Remove foil and bake uncovered for another 5 mins or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
- Let sit for a few minutes before serving.
Notes
- Italian sausage (brown in large skillet and drain before adding to sauce)
- turkey pepperoni
- Canadian bacon
- chopped red or green pepper
- mushrooms
- green or black olives
- onions
- crushed red pepper flakes for a little kick of spice
