Baked Ziti
Equipment
- 9x13-inch baking dish
- Large sauté pan 12 inches
- Large pot for the pasta
- Slotted spoon
Ingredients
For the Sauce
- 1 pound chicken Italian sausage sweet or hot, casings removed
- 1 tablespoon olive oil not optional here - chicken sausage renders very little fat
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 28 ounces canned crushed tomatoes 1 large can
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt Diamond Crystal; Morton or table salt run saltier
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar balances the acidity of canned tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes omit if using hot sausage
- 1 cup heavy cream this replaces the ricotta
- 1/3 cup fresh basil chopped, plus more for serving
For Assembly
- 1 pound ziti or penne boiled 2 minutes short of al dente
- 2/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano divided; Parmesan also works
- 8 ounces whole milk mozzarella shredded, about 2 cups — not fresh mozzarella in water
Instructions
Sauce and Pasta
- Heat the oven to 425°F (220°C) with a rack in the middle. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil.
- Cook the ziti for about 7 minutes — a full 2 minutes short of al dente. It should still have a firm, chalky core. It finishes cooking in the oven, and pasta boiled to done here comes out of the oven soft. Drain and leave it in the pot.
- Brown the sausage in a large sauté pan over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks, for 5 to 6 minutes. Chicken sausage is lean and will want to stick, so let it sit undisturbed for the first couple of minutes and it will release on its own. Lift it out with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Add the tablespoon of olive oil to the pan. Chicken sausage renders very little, so there is nothing to pour off here - you are putting fat back in rather than taking it out. Lower the heat and cook the garlic for 1 minute until fragrant but not coloured.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar and red pepper flakes. Simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until it thickens slightly.
- Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cream, 1/3 cup of the Pecorino, the browned sausage and the basil. The sauce should turn a warm brick-orange. This cream is doing the job ricotta usually does, except it goes everywhere instead of sitting in pockets.
Assemble and Bake
- Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and fold until every single piece is coated. Do not be gentle about this — any bare pasta is a dry patch waiting to happen.
- Spread half the pasta into a 9x13-inch baking dish. Scatter over half the mozzarella and half of the remaining Pecorino. Add the rest of the pasta, then the rest of the mozzarella and Pecorino.
- Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, until the cheese is fully melted and browning in patches and the edges are bubbling. If the top is pale at 20 minutes, run it under the broiler for 2 minutes.
- Rest for 10 minutes before serving. Straight out of the oven it will not hold a slice. Scatter with more basil.
Notes
Chicken Italian sausage, not pork. It carries the same fennel, garlic and pepper, but it is far leaner, so the tablespoon of olive oil is doing real work here rather than being optional. Expect almost nothing to render out of the pan, and give the sausage a couple of undisturbed minutes at the start so it does not stick.
Why no ricotta: ricotta baked at high heat dries out and turns grainy, which is where those chalky white pockets in a disappointing baked ziti come from. Heavy cream and hard cheese stirred through the sauce give you the same richness distributed evenly, and it stays silky.
Undercook the pasta by a full 2 minutes. It keeps cooking in the oven. This is the most common way baked ziti goes wrong.
Use low-moisture whole milk mozzarella, the block kind you shred yourself. Fresh mozzarella packed in water releases liquid and makes the top watery.
Make ahead: assemble completely, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Bake from cold, covered with foil, at 425°F for 25 minutes, then uncovered for 10 to 15 more.
Storage: Refrigerate up to 4 days. Freezes well for up to 3 months, baked or unbaked — there is no ricotta in it to go grainy. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating.
How the nutrition was calculated: with a chicken Italian sausage of about 150 calories and 8.5g fat per 100g, and Diamond Crystal kosher salt. Leaner brands run roughly 20 calories and 2g fat lower per serving, richer ones about 20 higher. Calories hold within a few percent across the market because the pasta, cream and cheese dominate - the sausage is only about a sixth of the fat.