Crazy Easy Baked Ziti

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You guy know I am the queen of easy and delicious meals. I dabble outside that comfort zone from time to time, but not with this crazy easy baked ziti. It’s mouth wateringly, cheesy (is that even a thing?). Plus, it’s crazy easy that the kids could learn to make it too (think breaks for mommy). Trust me you are gonna want to pin this recipe!

Easy Baked Ziti

This recipe is great because you can increase or decrease the ingredients easily to make more or less for your hungry family. We make more so we can freeze it for later or so we can eat it for lunch the rest of the week. (Pssttt… it reheats amazingly!)

On a side note, wanted to share how funny things change. When I first made this Penne Pasta Bake recipe, I thought iPhone photography was the coolest thing eva! Now that I know better the photos are doing this delicious dish justice. You guy know how I like to keep it real, so here’s my old photo before the super fancy, took an hour to set up and shoot perfect Pinterest photos.

Yup, I thought that photo was so amazing you guys would have to resist the urge to lick the screen. Well just proves to show you that I serve my meals just like you guys. We only use cloth napkins because it helps reduce waste not because it’s part of a fancy table setting. Um, because, yeah my kids are lucky if they get served matching plates and bowls ever.  (Can I get an amen?!)

Ok, now onto this amazingly easy, cheesy ziti. It takes about 45 minutes from start to finish, and that isn’t bad for a meal big enough to eat off of for a few days.

Ingredients:

1 Jar of Bertolli pasta sauce (2 if you like it extra saucy)
1 1/2 boxes Ziti Pasta
4 cups mozzarella cheese (divided)
1 8 oz container Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Small Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
7 oz of Parmesan Cheese (the good stuff, not the in the bottle stuff)
1 egg
Fresh basil (optional)
Olive oil (just a dash)
Pinch of Salt

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350
In a large stock pot, put water, olive oil, and salt. Bring to a boil.
Cook pasta until still a little chewy (al dente) and drain
While pasta is cooking, sautee the onion and garlic in a little bit of olive oil until translucent.
Add pasta sauce to onions and garlic and remove from heat.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 of parmesan cheese, 1/2 of mozzarella, and 1/2 of ricotta with one egg. Mix.
In a large baking dish, place pasta, cheese mixture, sauce, and combine.
On the top put dollops of ricotta cheese, then top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheeses.
Place in oven until cheese is melted. (I like to blast it at 425 the last few minutes to get cheese extra crispy)
Serve hot or allow to cool, and then freeze for later yumminess.