How come no one mentally prepared us for the fact that we need to make dinner every. single. night?!
I love trying new recipes, but I also really love recipes that are easy, crowd favorites and quick to whip up, especially on busy weeknights. When my daughter was a baby, I came across this no-boil baked ziti recipe on Pinterest that I thought looked too good to be true, but thankfully it wasn’t – it’s delicious, foolproof and yes, I understand sacrilegious to true Italians (which I’m not, so it’s ok. HA!).
If you’re looking to simplify your weeknight dinners, definitely add this baked ziti to your list of recipes to make. To upp the protein, I add a pound of browned ground turkey and I believe this baked ziti gets even better on day two – but you tell me when you try it 😉
Ingredients:
- 1 jar of marinara sauce
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 15 oz. container Ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded Mozzarella cheese, (about 8 oz.)
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional, as many times I forget to add and that’s ok!)
- 8 ounces uncooked ziti
- OPTIONAL: 1 lb of browned ground turkey or beef
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Combine sauce with water in large bowl. Stir in Ricotta cheese, 1 cup Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Add in browned ground turkey/beef and lastly, uncooked pasta.
- Evenly spoon ziti mixture into 13 x 9-inch baking dish and bake for 55 minutes. Note: the recipe calls to cover tightly with aluminum foil, but I skip this and it’s totally fine 🙂
- If you used foil, remove foil and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup Mozzarella cheese. Bake uncovered an additional 5 minutes and then let stand 10 minutes before serving.
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