Classic Baked Ziti with Marinara Sauce — The Sunday Dinner You''ve Been Missing

Authentic Italian Gourmet Pasta Sauce. No Added Sugar. Ever.

Baked ziti is the dish that feeds a crowd, fills a kitchen with the smell of Sunday, and makes everyone at the table go quiet in the best possible way. It's Italian-American comfort food at its most generous — layers of pasta, ricotta, mozzarella, and a marinara sauce that ties everything together.

The sauce is everything in baked ziti. It has to be rich enough to carry the dish through 40 minutes in the oven without drying out, bright enough to cut through all that cheese, and flavorful enough to taste like something special. Albanese's Finest Original Marinara — authentic Italian gourmet pasta sauce with no added sugar — is exactly that sauce.

• 1 lb ziti or penne
• 1 jar Albanese's Finest Original Marinara (24 oz)
• 15 oz whole-milk ricotta
• 2½ cups shredded mozzarella, divided
• ¾ cup grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Step 1 — Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Step 2 — Cook the pasta. Boil ziti in heavily salted water for 2 minutes less than the package directions — it will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and set aside.

Step 3 — Make the ricotta mixture. In a large bowl, combine ricotta, egg, 1 cup of the mozzarella, ½ cup of the Pecorino, parsley, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Mix until smooth.

Step 4 — Combine pasta and sauce. Toss the drained pasta with about ¾ of the marinara sauce in a large bowl. Reserve the remaining sauce for the top layer.

Step 5 — Layer the dish. Spread a thin layer of marinara on the bottom of the baking dish. Add half the pasta. Dollop the entire ricotta mixture over the pasta in spoonfuls. Add the remaining pasta. Spoon the reserved marinara over the top. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and Pecorino.

Step 6 — Bake covered. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Step 7 — Uncover and brown. Remove the foil and bake another 15–20 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbling at the edges.

Step 8 — Rest before serving. Let the baked ziti rest for 10 minutes before cutting. This is not optional — it sets up the layers and makes it infinitely easier to serve.

Undercook the pasta. Two minutes under al dente is the rule. The pasta absorbs moisture from the sauce as it bakes and will be perfectly cooked when it comes out of the oven. Fully cooked pasta going into the oven = mushy pasta coming out.

Use whole-milk ricotta. Part-skim ricotta is watery and grainy. Whole-milk ricotta is creamy and rich. The difference in the final dish is significant.

The resting step is mandatory. Ten minutes of resting lets the layers set so you can actually cut and serve it cleanly. Skip it and you'll have a delicious mess.

Make it ahead. Baked ziti is one of the best make-ahead dishes in Italian-American cooking. Assemble it the night before, refrigerate, and bake the next day. Add 10 minutes to the covered baking time if going straight from the fridge.

Variations

Baked Ziti with Meat Sauce: Substitute our Meat Sauce for the marinara, or use half of each. The combination of marinara and meat sauce creates incredible depth.

Baked Ziti with Sausage: Brown 1 lb of Italian sausage (removed from casings) and layer it in with the pasta.

Baked Ziti with Spinach: Add 2 cups of wilted, squeezed-dry spinach to the ricotta mixture for a vegetable-forward version.

Serving Suggestions

• With a simple Caesar salad
• With garlic bread for sauce-mopping
• As part of a Sunday Italian-American spread alongside Homemade Meatballs in Marinara

About the Sauce

Albanese's Finest Original Marinara is made with no added sugar — which means it has the natural acidity and brightness to cut through all that cheese and ricotta without getting lost. It's the authentic Italian gourmet pasta sauce that makes baked ziti taste like Sunday dinner at an Italian grandmother's house.

No added sugar. Small-batch. Founder-made.

Shop Original Marinara →

Related recipes: Classic Spaghetti Marinara · Ricotta Stuffed Shells with Marinara · Classic Lasagna with Marinara