Big Batch Baked Ziti
Big Batch Baked Ziti
Serve Big Batch Baked Ziti with glasses of chilled Chianti, a small side salad served with Italian salad dressing and a loaf garlic bread or a pan of garlic rolls. For dessert serve Chocolate Cannoli. You’ll have a delicious Italian meal everyone will love. Perfecto.
Make Once
Baked ziti is a great dish to make using: Big Batch Spaghetti Meat Sauce. Make big batch sauce once and you’ll have enough sauce to prepare several meals. There are so many wonderful dishes you can whip up with big batch spaghetti meat sauce. I like to make big batch meat sauce on a cold Saturday with a blizzard raging outside. I can spend the day stirring and sampling, (make an extra batch of garlic bread or rolls for samples) while the sauce is simmering on the stove.
Allow to Cool
After the sauce is allowed to cool, divide it among gallon size freezer bags. Write the name, quantity and date on the bag. Squeeze the air out of the baggies and lay the bags flat in the freezer. Now you can make numerous meals over the next several months. Say it with me, Hip, Hip, Hooray!
Italian Food
For me anyway, Italian food is comfort food at its best. But then I think most food is comfort food! Any for that is prepared and served with love and that gives you pleasure is comfort food in my book. To me, a simple peanut butter and butter sandwich lovingly prepared by my grandchildren can be considered comfort.
Big Batch Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 24 jar favorite spaghetti sauce or make Big Batch Spaghetti Meat Sauce.
- 1 12 oz package ziti or small tube pasta
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 16 oz carton ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water, drain and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the egg, ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, and 1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese. Add drained pasta to cheese mixture. Stir until blended. Spoon 1/2 of the meat sauce into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Top with pasta mixture. Spoon remaining meat sauce over pasta mixture. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 350º for 45 minutes, uncover and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
- *Thaw 4 to 6 cups of sauce. Reheat thawed sauce in a large saucepan over medium low heat until heated through and bubbly.
For this recipe we used Sargento cheese products. Ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and Mozzarella cheese. The Ziti pasta is Barilla Pasta