Easy Homemade Baked Ziti
If you've ever wanted to try preparing homemade marinara sauce, this baked ziti is the perfect excuse to take a stab at it. Layers of deep flavor packed in a big secret pasta (not baked ziti), that'll blow your mind!
Ingredients
Marinara Sauce
- .5 lb Ground Sausage Optional
- 1 lb Ground Beef Optional
- ½ Large White Onion
- 2 tablespoon Garlic Paste Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon Garlic Paste Chopped Fresh Basil
- 2 tsp Oregano
- 2 tablespoon Tomato Paste
- 28 oz Tomato Puree
- 28 oz Whole Peeled Tomato 2
- ½-1 cup Italian Parsley
- 8.5 oz Sun-dried Tomatoes Drained of oil
- 1-2 tablespoon Brown Sugar
- .5 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes Optional
- Salt + Pepper To Taste
Cheese Mixture
- 10 oz Ricotta Cheese
- .5 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- .5 cup Smoked Gouda
- ¼ cup Parmesan
- ¼ cup Italian Parsley
- Pinch Nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- Salt + Pepper To Taste
Additional Ingredients
- 1 lb Rigatoni
- 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
- 1 cup Smoked Gouda
- .5 cup Parmesan
Instructions
Marinara Sauce
- In a large pot, sauté onion, 1TB garlic paste and 1 teaspoon of olive oil until translucent. Salt and pepper to taste.
- If adding ground meat, add while sautéing onions until cooked through.
- Add tomato paste and stir 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomato purée, whole tomatoes and remaining seasonings and stir.
- Simmer on low for one hour (for best results 2-3 hours). As sauce cooks down and flavors develop, adjust seasonings to taste.
Baked Ziti
- While sauce simmers, combine all cheese mixture ingredients in a bowl, stir and set aside.
- Prepare rigatoni according to package, set aside.
- Cover bottom of casserole dish with ½ cup of marinara sauce.
- Layer cooked pasta, marinara, cheese sauce and top with Mozzarella, Gouda, Parmesan mix and repeat until casserole dish is full, last layer should be cheese.
- Bake at 375 for 20 minutes covered. Remove cover and bake an additional 5-10 minutes until cheese is golden. (Oven times may vary)
- Let stand 10-15 minutes, serve and enjoy!