Layers of pasta, vegetables, Italian sausage, cheese, and a fresh red sauce baked to golden.
For this recipe, you’ll need a pan with a lid, a pot, (potentially another pan if you don’t reuse the first one,) and a 9×13 baking pan.
Stove Top Tips
- Pasta: When your pasta is done and you run over to the kitchen sink to drain, do you ask yourself, “To rinse or not to rinse?” It’s recommended when cooking a hot pasta dish, do not rinse. The starches in the water will help the sauce stick to your pasta. When cooking a cold dish, rinse. By doing so, the starchy coating will wash away and keep the pasta from lumping and clumping together. Secretly? I rinse every time because I hate it when my pasta glues itself together.
- Olive Oil: When heating oil in a pan, if you place a wooden spoon in the oil and bubbles begin to form, your oil is heated and ready for action!
- Italian Sausage: For this recipe, we’re going to sear both sides of the sausage to keep the flavor and juices in then lightly “steam” the inside. We’ll sear with the lid off and steam with the lid on. When it’s time to pour in the water and cover with a lid I must warn you: do so quickly. It’ll be like oil rockets coming at you. Cover it, then run and hide.
Baked Vegetable and Sausage Ziti
Layers of pasta, vegetables, Italian sausage, cheese, and a fresh red sauce baked to golden.
Servings 8 people
INGREDIENTS
- 1 lb ziti pasta (really, any tubular noodle)
- 3 Italian sausages (spicy or mild)
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 zucchini diced
- 3 cups spinach roughly chopped
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 4 cloves garlic minced, divided
- 1 cup onion chopped, divided
- 1-3 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- ¼ cup fresh basil roughly chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375℉.
- Cook pasta in salted boiling water until al dente. Set drained pasta aside until ready to assemble dish.
Italian Sausage: need pan with a lid
- Heat ½ tablespoon oil in a pan.
- Place sausages in the pan and sear both sides (2-3 minutes per side).
- Pour ¼ cup water into the pan, QUICKLY cover with the lid and turn heat down to low. Cook for 6-8 minutes.
- Remove sausages and let sit. Once cooled, cut into slices.
Sauce
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pot.
- Add ½ cup chopped onions and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add 3 minced garlic cloves, crushed red pepper flake, oregano, salt and pepper and sautéed for about another minute.
- Stir in crushed tomatoes. Allow a low bubble to form for about a minute then stir in basil and bring heat down to a simmer until ready to use.
Vegetables
- Heat ½ tablespoon in a pan.
- Sautee ½ cup chopped onion for about 3 minutes. Add 1 minced garlic clove and sauté for about 30 more seconds. Add red peppers and zucchini and cook for about 4-5 minutes. Lastly, add in the spinach, once it begins to wilt, remove from heat. You don't want to over cook the veggies. They'll continue to cook in the oven and we still want a little crunch when eating.
- Remove pan from heat and mix in the sausage slices.
Assembly
- In a greased 9×13 baking pan, layer in half the noodles, then half the vegetables and sausage mix, then half the sauce, and sprinkle on half the cheese. Repeat this step with the other half of the ingredients.
- Bake uncovered in the oven for 30-35 minutes.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECEIPE?Leave a comment below and share a photo on Instagram! Mention @going.nanners or tag #goingnanners!
I made this for Sunday dinner last night….delicious! This recipe easily made 6 generous portions. I have one person who doesn’t like any heat in their food, so I used mild Italian sausages and very little of the red pepper flakes. Even then, this dish was bursting with flavor.