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Always trying to find the perfect easy dinner? Look no further than Danielle’s tried and tested Baked Ziti. You won’t want to miss her tips for taking it from good to an unbelievable weekly staple. Watch here!
1 (1-pound) bag Gefen Penne
2 (15-ounce) cans Gefen Tomato Sauce
1/4 cup ricotta cheese (not cottage cheese)
3 tablespoons butter, cubed, divided
3 tablespoons salt (or to taste), divided
1 teaspoon Gefen Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
3–4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once water is boiling add two tablespoons salt and pasta.
Meanwhile, butter a nine- by 13-inch dish or aluminum pan. Directly to the pan add tomato sauce, ricotta cheese, two tablespoons of the butter, two cups shredded cheese, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.
Before draining pasta, remove 1/2 cup pasta water and add to the pan with the rest of the ingredients. Stir to combine.
Add cooked pasta to the pan and stir to fully coat every single piece.
Top the pasta with one to two cups shredded mozzarella (depending on how cheesy you like it).
Scatter remaining tablespoon of cubed butter over the top.
Bake for 40–45 minutes until the top is golden brown and bubbly.
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Ricotta cheese replacement Even here in Monsey, NY I am not always able to find ricotta cheese. Is there anything else that is more commonly available that I can replace it with?
Even though it is recommended to use Ricotta, you can use cottage cheese or farmers cheese (which is a bit dryer than cottage cheese). It works fine.
Try blending cottage cheese 🙂
Depending on the recipe, farmer cheese may work as well.
I tried it tonight with cottage cheese (plain, without blending it) instead of ricotta cheese. It came out just as yummy BH & it ALL WENT! Thank you so much for your suggestion below Esther Leah!
freeze can I freeze this? at what point?
When it’s cooked you can freeze it.
Ricotta cheese replacement Looks good. Can i use sour cream (in Israel, shamenet) to replace the ricotta cheese? If so how much and which fat amount do you recommed?
This might help. First of all you can get ricotta in most large supermarkets, by “Gad” cheese with a Rubin hechsher. The shamenet would be too runny. You could mix it with farmers cheese (Tov Ta’am- 3%)/ Or use cottage cheese. The ricotta is not cheap, nor is the Tov Ta’am, so if your problem is budget, stick with cottage. And I know that Danielle likes the ricotta better, and I’m not contradicting her because basically she is right, but I made lasagna with cottage instead of ricotta, and it turned out fine. The choice is of course yours.
You can also use an immersion blender to blend up the cottage cheese.
Salt? Made this recipe was delicious but very salty. Was I suppose to use Kosher salt instead of regular salt or was the tbsp suppose to be tsps?
I looked at the video and Danielle added salt by hand and sprinkled, it looked like no more than a teaspoon each time. Watch it again and you will see.
Israel Riccotta Cheese YUM! Where can you get ricotta cheese in Israel? or what is the equivalent?
ריקוטה- גד
It comes in a blue container
I use cottage cheese in a pinch.
As Sarah said, you can find ricotta cheese by the “Gad” company, in most of the large supermarkets, such as Yesh, Osher Ad, Shuk Ha’ir, etc., and even in some of the neighborhood stores. But the ricotta is quite expensive, and as Chaia stated it is possible to use cottage cheese instead. I used cottage cheese in lasagna and it was fine. Good luck.
This recipe is truly amazing, but i noticed that 3 T of salt is definitely a mistake. The first time i made this recipe, I spent time making 2 batches of the recipe with 3 T of salt and it wasnt edible. I strongly recommend you change it in the ingredients section of the recipe so other people dont have to spend all the time only to have made this mistake and not be able to enjoy the delicious recipe that it is.
3 T salt most likely is a typo. When I decreased the salt content to a sprinkling (probably about a teaspoonful, not more than that) when boiling the water & 2 teaspoons when mixing with sauce, etc, everyone here felt it was just right.
Yummy. I used marinara sauce instead of tomato sauce and spices, cause was easier for me. Thanks for this easy basic recipe.
This really is the best baked ziti,and has become a staple in our home. Thank you!
Best ziti ever! making it for my third time!
thanks so much!
The only baked ziti recipe I use! I skip the ricotta.
This is now my always goto baked ziti. So easy, and it’s always scrumptious.
We love it, even our mom, who never eats anything spicy.
Thank you Danielle and Kosher.com.
This is also my go to baked ziti! EVERYONE here loves it! Even my husband who’s not a noodles & cheese fan loves it!
I’ve made this so many times, I keep thinking it’s my own recipe already! Perfectly divine
not good have had MUCH better!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Salt Content Even though I gave this a five star rating (because of taste, texture, smell, etc), I & others here still felt that 3 TABLESPOONS of salt was too much. Perhaps this might have been a typo? So I decreased it to about 3 TEAspoons (actually a sprinkling the first time- probably about a teaspoon or so) then 2 teaspoons the second time. We all felt it tasted MUCH better this way.
the best baked ziti!!!
The best baked ziti I was shocked from the outcome!! I was never a baked ziti fan but this recipe was amazing! Can’t wait to make it again!! Thanks Danielle!
THE BEST ZITI!!! Made this for my fam a while ago, and hubby, who usually claims ziti is a kids food, declared it heavenly. Will be making again tonight for dinner iy”H. Thanks Danielle!!
We are so happy to hear that you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
Easy to make Was delicious! I used spaghetti (cuz that’s what I had at home) and it came out awesome!
Good to know that it works well with pasta too! We’re glad that you enjoyed this recipe!
im making this