Easy Baked Ziti Recipe

Cooking With Kids

The kids I care for love pasta dishes. Baked Ziti is one of the easiest recipes to make and is a fun project and mini science project as well. I let the kids gather the food needed from the fridge and pantry, measure the ingredients, and mix the ingredients together. My youngest charge loves sprinkling mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese on the pasta dish right before putting it in the oven. The family I work for loves lots of ricotta cheese so you can play around with this recipe and include a little less ricotta cheese if your charges don’t care for as much cheese as the kids in my care do. Feel free to add a pound of cooked ground beef if you want to add a boost of protein as well. Here’s how we make our Baked Ziti.

You Will Need:

1 pound (16 oz) box of ziti pasta

24 ounces of ricotta cheese

1 pound (16 oz) mozzarella cheese

1 egg, beaten

1 (32 oz) jar marinara sauce

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

A teaspoon of salt

Italian seasoning (optional)

What to Do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for 8 minutes. It’s okay to slightly undercook the pasta (al dente) since it will cook a little in the oven later.

3. While the pasta is cooking, mix ricotta cheese, all but one ounce of mozzarella cheese, beaten egg and 1-1/2 cups of marinara sauce together in a medium bowl.

4. Rinse and drain the pasta and mix with the cheese mixture. Add the pasta mixture to the baking dish. Top with remaining sauce and let the kids sprinkle the parmesan cheese and remaining mozzarella cheese on top of the pasta.

5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

References:

Photo by Stephanie Felzenberg

Recipe from my mother’s recipe book