One-Pot Baked Ziti

There are so many ways to make a delicious Baked Ziti, but my favorite is when I can do it all in one pot!

This is easier than you may think and, while you don't need any fancy appliances, I found that the Ninja Combi worked perfectly for this recipe!

You can also use the Ninja Foodi with Smart Lid, the Ninja Speedi, or a large oven-safe skillet or a dutch oven.

No matter how you choose to cook and bake your ziti, this simple recipe will have everyone raving over dinner!

Simple ingredients, simple prep, and simple cooking techniques all come together in this easy-to-follow recipe.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Baked Ziti is an Italian American favorite that is similar to lasagna, but easier to make in so many ways. Think of it as a combination of lasagna and spaghetti bake but with a different pasta.

Pasta

As the name indicates, ziti pasta is most commonly used in this baked pasta dish. Ziti pasta are smooth round pasta cylinders that are open in the middle. This allows the ricotta cheese and meaty red sauce mixture to fill the pasta so every bite is filled with flavor. 

There are other similar pasta shapes you can use if you can't find ziti noodles and the cook time will be the same if you use any of the following pasta shapes: 

• Penne Pasta
• Rigatoni Pasta

In this dish, we use dry pasta, which cooks with all the other ingredients to create an easy one-pot baked ziti. I do not recommend using any kind of fresh pasta in this recipe unless you omit the beef broth and alter the cooking method and time. 

You can also opt to use a whole wheat pasta or a gluten-free pasta, but you will need to adjust your cooking times accordingly.

When using an alternative type of pasta in this recipe, the easiest way to make sure your baked ziti is perfect is to cook the pasta to just before it reaches al dente, mix it with the other ingredients (omit the beef broth), cover it with cheese and bake it in the oven or in any cooking appliance that has the ability to bake and brown the cheese on top. This way your pasta will be cooked perfectly. 

Meat

The beauty of baked ziti is you can make it with or without meat and you can use different kinds of meat based on what you like. Personally, I like to use ground beef and a combination of hot and sweet Italian sausage. 

You can use any combination of meats you like and both 80/20 ground beef or 90/10 work great in this recipe. I did find the batch I made with 80/20 ground beef had a richer flavor. I do not drain the fat, but you can if you prefer.

Ground turkey will also work fine, just remember to season it! You may also want to sauté it in some olive oil to add a little fat to the dish.

The amount of meat you use is completely up to you, but I found that 1 pound of ground beef and 12 ounces of sausage was a good amount for a meaty baked ziti. You can go up to a total of 2 pounds of meat, but not much more than that or you may run out of room if you are using the Ninja Combi pan.

Liquids

The thin liquid in this recipe is very important when using dry noodles, the sauce alone will not cook the pasta correctly. I use beef broth, but you can use water or any other type of thin liquid. You can use part red wine and part broth or water if you want to introduce some wine into the dish. I recommend adding the wine in while the meat is sizzling and using it to deglaze the pan and then allow it to cook for at least 3 minutes before adding the beef broth. This will burn off the strong alcohol taste and leave behind the complexity of flavors in the wine. 

IF you want to boil your noodles before adding them to the dish, then omit the thin liquid or your dish will be way too runny. 

Tomato Sauce

What I use in this recipe is my Homemade Marinara sauce and I double the recipe so I have between 24-28 ounces of a smooth red sauce. You can use that recipe or use at least 24 ounces of any spaghetti sauce or marinara sauce that you love. 

You can also use diced or crushed tomatoes for a slightly different texture, but I would definitely thicken it up with some tomato paste and season it up with Italian seasoning. When cooking, it is important to have all the components of your dish well seasoned so they taste good on their own. 

Cheeses

An important part of baked ziti, in my opinion, is the ricotta cheese. This adds a level of creaminess to the final dish. You can skip it if you aren't a fan, or some people use cottage cheese or even cream cheese instead. 

If you use ricotta cheese or cottage cheese as a substitute, make sure to season it! 

I also add 1 cup of shredded Italian blend cheese and an egg to help bind it a bit so it doesn't get too runny in the baked ziti. 

Of course, you can't serve baked ziti without cheese on top! Well, you can, but a nice blend of parmesan cheese mixed with mozzarella cheese and whatever other white cheeses you love will top this dish off perfectly! 

I use an Italian blend of preshredded cheese in this recipe to keep things quick and easy, but you can certainly use your own blend of block cheeses and shred it yourself. There is a better flavor when you shred your own cheese, but for quick weeknight dinners, preshredded works great! 

Seasonings & Extras

I use my own blend of seasonings which includes garlic powder, onion powder, dried basil, salt (Kosher or Sea salt), black pepper, and a little Italian seasoning blend I always have on hand. You can certainly adapt this to your personal taste, but remember to season each layer of the baked ziti for optimal flavor. I skipped the red pepper flakes in my seasoning blend because my marinara sauce has some in there and I used some hot Italian sausage. Feel free to add a pinch or two of the red pepper flakes if you want a little spice. 

The last thing I will mention is the garlic! I use tons of garlic in this recipe and when you first look at the recipe you may think a whole bulb of garlic is too much. It isn't as long as you smash it or slice it, but don't use a whole bulb of minced garlic or it may be too overpowering. The more surface area of exposed garlic, the stronger the flavor. While the garlic will mellow out when cooked, too much minced garlic can still leave a bitter taste in the final dish. 

I am a huge fan of using roasted garlic and feel free to use 1 or even 2 whole bulbs of roasted garlic because it is definitely a milder and sweeter flavor than sliced, smashed, or minced. 

I recommend using dried herbs in the seasoning blend, but you can certain use fresh basil or oregano as a garnish.

How to Make One Pot Baked Ziti

As with almost every recipe, there are several cooking methods and cooking appliances that will work great for making baked ziti all in one pot. These methods and appliances use both steam which is a moist cooking method and bake which is a dry cooking method.

The wet cooking method is used to cook the pasta and the dry cooking method is used to set the baked ziti by evaporating excess thin liquid and, of course, melting the cheese!

I am using the Ninja Combi in this recipe and you will see the photos below of the steps to use in the Combi. However, you can also make this recipe in the Ninja Speedi or the Ninja Foodi with Smart Lid using the same functions (Sauté and then Steam/Bake). In the Ninja Speedi I would only make a half of a batch since it is a smaller appliance.

If you have an older model of Ninja Foodi with 2 lids, I would refer you to this recipe for Baked Ziti.

If you want to make this on the stove/oven in a large skillet or dutch oven, the cooking directions will be slightly different and I'll cover those in the section below this one.

Mise En Place (Prep for Recipe)

There is very little prep for this recipe and it is very simple.

• Dice the onion into about ½" dice. I use 1 sweet onion which depending on size will give you between 1-1½ cups of diced onion.
• Peel and slice the entire bulb of garlic. You can use minced garlic, but cut the amount back to about 6 cloves or 1-2 Tablespoons.
• Remove the sausage from the casing if you want the sausage to have the same texture as the ground beef. Or, you can slice the sausage in the casing if you want it to have a little snap to it.
• Mix the seasoning blend that is used for the meat mixture.
• Whisk the ricotta cheese, seasonings, shredded cheese, and egg together in a small mixing bowl and set aside. I usually do this while the meat is sautéing.
• Make the marinara sauce. You will want to make a double batch and here are the ingredients and directions for making it stovetop.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

• Two (14.5 ounces) cans fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic peeled and whole
• 6 ounces tomato paste
• 1-2 tablespoons demerara sugar (optional, but reduces acidity)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 teaspoons basil leaves dry
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Place all of the ingredients into a medium size saucepan, mix well, and simmer on the stove for 10-15 minutes. Allow to cool before blending in a blender or use an immersion blend to blend the ingredients to a smooth consistency.

Sauté

Add the ground beef and sausage to the inner pan of the Ninja Combi (or the inner pot of the Speedi or Foodi) and select the sear/sauté function on high.

Place the pan into the Combi and allow the pan to heat up and begin to brown the meat.

Once the meat starts to brown, start breaking up the meat into the size pieces you want in the final dish. I like to keep mine on the large size so the baked ziti has chunks of meat rather than finely chopped ground meat.

Add the diced onions, seasoning blend, and the sliced garlic and return to the Combi to sear/sauté for a few minutes.

As long as the meat is browned slightly and cooked about 75% of the way, you can move on to layering the rest of the dish.

Layering the Baked Ziti

If you haven't already, combine the ricotta cheese, seasonings, shredded cheese, and a large egg in a medium size mixing bowl and whisk until well combined.

Remove the Combi pan from the Ninja Combi and break up the meat if needed to achieve the desired size chunks.

Add the beef broth and ziti pasta. Try to push the pasta under the broth as much as possible, but it will not all be covered with liquid and that is fine.

Spread the Ricotta cheese over the pasta, but do not stir it in. This is very important because you want the pasta to cook mostly in the thin liquid and mixing in the ricotta cheese will thicken it too much and impede the cooking of the pasta.

Next pour and spread the marinara or spaghetti sauce. You can use a regular size jar (24 ounces usually) of spaghetti sauce or take 10 minutes and make my marinara recipe (you'll need a double batch), it's so worth it!

Now you are ready to cook the baked ziti!

Steam & Baking

On the Ninja Combi, you will want to use the function called "Combi Bake," but this same function is called Steam and Bake" on the Ninja Foodi (pressure cooker with crisping lid) and the Ninja Speedi.

Selecting the correct function is very important in order for the pasta to cook correctly. If you accidentally choose steam/crisp or combi crisp, you will not have a long enough "steam" time to properly cook the pasta.

Another important thing to do in the Ninja Combi (you don't have to do this in the Foodi or Speedi) is to cover the pan with foil. This will help prevent the contents of the pan from bubbling over as the mixture heats and boils/simmers. Some may still overflow because the pan is very full, but it will be greatly reduced and therefore reduce cleanup.

The foil also traps in the steam quite a bit which helps to cook the pasta evenly. I recommend using heavy duty foil, but regular foil will work or you can use any oven proof silicone cover.

Place the pan in the bottom section of the Ninja Combi and close the door. Make sure the switch on top of the Combi is flipped up for the combination wet/dry methods of cooking.

Select Combi Bake (not Combi Meals or Combi Crisp) and set the temperature to 400℉/200℃ and the time for 10 minutes. Press start and let the Ninja Combi do its thing!

For the first 20 minutes all you will see on the display is little dashes going across the display. This means it is "preheating" which is the steam part of the cooking method.

On Combi Bake this lasts about 20 minutes and you will see the glass get wet and steam start to escape from the top vent. All of this is normal. Leave it alone and don't open the door.

After 20 or so minutes, the Ninja Combi will switch over to the dry heat cooking method and begin the countdown from 10 minutes down to zero.

You will want to open the door when the display reads 5 minutes left. Remove the pan and uncover it.

It will look messy and a little soupy, but don't worry! Stir it all together and top with the remaining shredded cheese.

Place the pan back into the Combi, uncovered this time, and close the door. The Combi will resume cooking on its own, you don't have to push any buttons.

You can watch the cheese brown through the window and, if it isn't as brown as you like when the time reads 1 minute, you can certainly use the up arrows to increase the time. I have found that 5 minutes works perfectly for golden brown melted cheese.

Once the pan is removed, let it sit for at least 10 minutes to firm up a bit so serving is easier.

Scoop the Baked Ziti onto plates for serving.

Serve with crusty bread or these garlic knots! Enjoy!

One Pot Baked Ziti Stove and Oven Directions

You will use the same ingredients when making this recipe on the stove and finishing it in the oven. The only thing that may need to be adjusted is the amount of beef broth. If you see that the pasta isn't done and the liquid has evaporated, add another cup or so.

• In a large skillet or dutch oven that will hold at least 12 cups and is oven safe, add the meat and sauté on medium high to start to brown it.
• Add the seasonings, onions, garlic and sauté for about 10 minutes or until the meat is at least 75% cooked.
• Add the beef broth and the ziti noodles and bring to a boil, then reduce to a low boil. Cook the noodles for about 6 minutes and turn the heat off. You want the noodles just under al dente so they don't overcook during the baking time.
• Layer with the ricotta cheese mixture and then the marinara on top.
• Cover with aluminum foil or a lid and place the skillet into the oven at 375℉/190℃ and bake for about 20 minutes or until the pasta is cooked to your liking.
• Stir and top with cheese. Place the skillet uncovered back into the oven and increase the temperature to 400℉/200℃ and bake an additional 5-10 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is golden brown.

  Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Storage & Reheating Instructions

How to Store Leftover Baked Ziti

Refrigeration

You can store the baked ziti in the refrigerator right in the serving pan covered with aluminium foil or plastic wrap. It will last 5 days in the refrigerator.

Freezer

Before freezing it is very important that the baked ziti is cold, so I recommend refrigerating the leftovers overnight before freezing them.

If food is warm when packaged for freezing, steam can be produced inside the container or freezer bag, resulting in ice crystals forming.

Air is another issue when freezing food, so make sure you choose a container that is the proper size for the amount of leftovers. You don't want a 3-cup container for 1 cup of baked ziti or there will be too much air trapped in the container which can lead to decreased quality of the dish when reheating.

The baked ziti will last at least 6 months in the freezer when stored properly.

How to Reheat Baked Ziti

Steaming

One of the best ways to reheat pasta dishes (thawed or frozen) is to place them in a covered container and use the steam function on the Ninja Combi (or the Foodi or Speedi).

The time will depend on how large of a portion and if it is thawed or frozen.

Use about 2 cups of water in the inner pan/pot of the appliance you are using and make sure the baked ziti is in a covered container. Steam for 10-30 minutes or until hot all the way through.

Baking

You can also reheat the baked ziti in the oven or another appliance using the bake function. I recommend either placing the portion of baked ziti in a covered container or wrapping it in foil to reheat so it doesn't dry out.

You can bake to reheat from frozen or thawed, but it will take much longer if it is frozen. Set the temperature to 300℉/150℃ and bake covered until it is completely heated through.

Uncover and increase the temperature if you want to brown the cheese more.

What to serve with Baked Ziti

A simple side salad and some bread is all you need! Here are a few options for delicious and easy bread to make that will pair perfectly with your one pot baked ziti!