Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 box Ziti Pasta
- 1 lb Ground beef
- 1/2 yellow onion diced
- 1/2 green bell pepper diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 24 oz Marinara sauce
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/3 cup heavy cream optional
- 1 tsp roasted beef bouillon optional
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Tony's No Salt creole seasoning optional
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp Badia complete
- 1/2 tsp fennel seeds optional
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- salt to taste
- 2 tsp sugar
Ricotta Mixture
- 16 oz whole milk ricotta
- 1 egg optional
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1/3 cup parmesan
- 1/4 cup parsley chopped + more for topping
- 1 tsp garlic paste optional
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp Badia Complete
- 1/4 tsp oregano or Italian seasoning
- salt + pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil then cook ziti pasta al dente, about 9 minutes.
- Once cooked through, drain pasta, add a drizzle of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking and set aside.
- In a skillet, brown the ground beef. Once it's almost cooked add in the diced onions and bell pepper. Cook until fragrant about 3 minutes, then add in minced garlic. Sautè for 2 more minutes.
- Add in seasonings and toasted for a few minutes before adding in the Marinara sauce and water.
- Stir in roasted beef bouillon base, if desired. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Sprinkle in sugar, if desired to balance the acidity in the sauce. taste and adjust if needed.
- Carefully pour in heavy cream, if desired and mix to combine. Allow the sauce to simmer for about 5-10 minutes.
- While the pasta simmers, in a bowl combine ricotta and egg. Mix until smooth then add in mozzarella, parmesan cheese, parsley and season with salt, pepper, Badia complete, oregano, and garlic powder. Mix until well combined.
- Add a few spoonfuls of the tomato sauce to the pasta and combine.
- To a baking dish, add a layer of pasta and spread it evenly. Add scoops of the ricotta mixture and spread it out with a silicone spatula. Then layer with more mozzarella cheese. Repeat the same steps until the pasta is gone. Top with the remaining tomato sauce then finish with a top layer of mozzarella.
- Loosely cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes then remove the foil and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven, serve with your favorite salad and bread. Enjoy!
Notes
If you'd like to leave out any ingredients feel free to
Egg acts as a binder for the ricotta, but you're more than welcome to leave it out