Baked ziti Bolognese are a traditional Italian recipe, originally from Naples and Campania, often prepared for Sunday lunch. The ziti (or “the zite”), in fact, are a pasta shape typical of Neapolitan cuisine, a sort of very long rigatoni, which are mostly cooked after being broken by hand and then seasoned with the classic Genoese or with the Neapolitan meat sauce. Another tasty way to cook ziti consists precisely in preparing a casserole of pasta to be seasoned with various ingredients: tomato sauce, sausages, meatballs, boiled eggs, cheese, ham…
The recipe of baked ziti that I am showing you today is very simple and quick: in fact I seasoned the baked ziti with Bolognese sauce, a little provolone and grated Parmesan. The ziti will obviously be boiled, but only for half of their cooking time, and then placed in a pan all in the same direction, forming layers. The cooking of the ziti in the oven is then quite fast, the time necessary for the pasta casserole to compact and form a delicious crust on the surface!
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Ingredients for baked ziti Bolognese
For the baked ziti
For the Bolognese sauce
- Power 622,20 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 41,36 (g) of which sugars 2,69 (g)
- Proteins 42,22 (g)
- Fat 30,69 (g) of which saturated 12,43 (g)of which unsaturated 6,46 (g)
- Fibers 4,66 (g)
- Sodium 2.412,28 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 270 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
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How to prepare baked ziti Bolognese
Puoi trovare la versione italiana di questa ricetta qui!
To prepare baked ziti Bolognese, first you need to cook the Bolognese sauce; I often use the slow cooker and this recipe, but you can also cook it on the stove in a regular pot or in the instant pot. If you use a regular pot, it needs to simmer for about 2 hours, in the instant pot it will take 30 minutes.
Remember that for the preparation of baked ziti, as for lasagna and baked pasta casseroles i, it is good to leave the sauce a little more liquid, so that it does not dry out excessively in the oven. Once ready, boil the ziti – after having broken them in half – in plenty of salted water.
You have to cook them for half the time indicated on the package, or just a little more, otherwise once cooked in the oven they will be excessively soft.
Drain and let them cool. Meanwhile, grate the provolone with a grater with large holes. Take a baking dish and pour a spoonful of Bolognese sauce on the bottom. Place the ziti next to each other to form the first layer.
Season it with plenty of Bolognese sauce and grated Parmesan cheese. Also add the grated provolone.
Form the second layer of ziti, always placing them next to each other and in the same direction. Season with plenty of sauce, provola and parmesan. Continue in this way until all the ingredients are used up.
Normally with an 8×10 inch pan approximately, you will get a 3-layer baked ziti casserole. On the surface sprinkle plenty of grated Parmesan and provola cheese and complete with a few pieces of butter.
Bake the baked ziti for about 30 minutes in a preheated oven at 392 ° F (200 ° C). The last few minutes of cooking, turn on the grill, so that a nice crust forms on the surface.
Take the timbale out of the oven and let it cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting it.
Tips and variations
As I said in the introduction, baked ziti can undergo numerous reinterpretations and, since it is often served for Sunday lunch and for festive occasions, the richer the better. If you prefer, for example, you can prepare a sauce of sausage only, or add sliced portobello mushrooms or stewed peas.
If you want you can prepare white baked ziti without tomato, using bechamel, mushrooms and sausage: delicious!
Varied doses for servings