Baked Ziti Recipe - Two Peas & Their Pod (2024)

FAQs

Should I cook baked ziti covered or uncovered? ›

Should I cover Baked Ziti while it's baking? Yes. Cover loosely with foil so it doesn't stick to the cheese, then bake for 20 minutes. Then remove the foil so the cheese can go bubbly and golden!

The noodles are stacked in a baking dish with cheese and sauce between each layer. Baked ziti, however, uses ziti noodles that are tossed with sauce and cheese. There's still some layering involved but only a little so it comes together quicker and easier than lasagna.

A whopping 0.12 inch shorter and 0.25 mm thicker than penne, ziti is a smooth-exteriored pasta that hails from Naples, Italy. Notably, its ends are cut straight rather than at a diagonal, making it possible to distinguish it from penne without pulling out a ruler.

Pair baked ziti with an Italian-style vegetable, such as grilled zucchini or a simple salad with Italian dressing. The rich textures of meat and cheese are balanced with the fresh, palate-cleansing crunch of the side veggie. Obviously a bread of some sort and a garlic balsamic vinegar mixture for the bread….

Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil in order to keep all the moisture. This will keep the pasta from drying out. Another tip is to add around ¼ cup of water to the dish to help prevent a dried out baked ziti.

Oftentimes, baked ziti can end up watery if the tomato sauce isn't thick enough. Luckily this recipe calls for the tomato sauce to simmer on the stove along with the ground beef and onion. Doing this will help to get rid of some of the extra water in the sauce.

Substitutions for Ziti

Ziti is a pretty common pasta shape in most areas, but you can substitute penne pasta if you can't find it. You want a substantial short pasta shape with places to hold the sauce and meat.

Ziti is a smooth, cylindrical pasta that is cut into straight tubes. It is similar in shape to penne, but with straight edges instead of diagonal cuts. Penne is similar in size to ziti but is cut on the diagonal, giving it a pointed edge. Unlike ziti, penne has ridges on the outside, which helps to hold onto sauces.

Similar to Penne, Ziti is the type of pasta that has to be broken up, as it's produced long and hollow. The significant difference between Ziti and Penne, though, is the way the pasta is cut. While both pasta types boast a common tubular shape, Ziti is cut straight on, whereas Penne is diagonally cut.

Ziti is a hollow, tube-shaped pasta, and it's also the name of a baked, cheesy dish you can make with ziti. In Italian, ziti is short for maccheroni di zita, or "macaroni of the bride." This probably comes from ziti's longstanding popularity as part of a wedding buffet, particularly in Southern Italy.

Why is ziti called ziti? ›

Ziti gets its name from the word zita, which means bride. In Naples, Ziti is the classic pasta served at weddings as the zita/bride's pasta. Ziti goes well with fresh, light sauces like olive oil or a simple fresh tomato sauce.

Closer in size to penne than rigatoni, Ziti/Zita refers to the word “bride,” as it is famously served at weddings as “the bride's pasta.” Ziti is best known for starring in cheesy baked pasta recipes, but it can be used in any number of dishes—from hearty meat ragùs, like Bolognese sauce, to simple pestos of olive oil ...

Baked Ziti is a popular Italian-American dish that is not commonly found in Italy. It is a casserole-style pasta that typically consists of ziti pasta, tomato sauce, cheese (usually a combination of ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan), and added ingredients like meat or vegetables.

You can load it up with ground beef, Italian sausage and meat sauce if that's your thing. You can also leave it the pasta, cheese and tomato sauce. The only problem with baked ziti, and I don't really think this is a problem…is that it's one of those pasta dishes where there are always leftovers.

Rigatoni pasta noodles are medium size tubes with ridges. In comparison, ziti noodles are a bit longer, skinnier, and don't have ridges down the side. They're similar, but we like to use rigatoni for its ability to hold onto the sauce! You can always swap out ziti for rigatoni but make sure you check the cooking times.

Bake, uncovered, 350°F until lightly browned and bubbly, 60 to 70 minutes. Cover with foil if the top browns before the inside is fully heated. Freezing and reheating a baked ziti: Bake, covered with foil, at 350°F. (Make sure you remove any plastic wrap first.)

Leaving the pot uncovered is also key because pasta should be stirred frequently to prevent sticking. Plus, because pasta should be cooked until al dente, a lid will make it hard to decipher how far along you are in the process, and might even lead to mushy noodles, which is the last thing you want.

If uncovered, the prolonged exposure to heat will quickly dry out your lasagna, no matter how much sauce you've added. Make sure to always add a layer of tin foil over your baking dish, which will trap the moisture inside while still allowing the dish to cook properly.

I boil my pasta to just under a minute of “al dente” and then after my layering it typically bake it uncovered because I want the crusty cheese on top.