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Introducing my easy, no boil baked ziti recipe with sausage, ricotta, and fresh mozzarella. It’s hearty, and cheesy, and comes together in a single cast iron skillet without the need to boil the pasta before baking! This recipe is really easy to make and comes together in a single cast iron skillet with less than 15 minutes of active cooking.
This is one of my favorite recipes thanks to its simplicity and rich, hearty flavor. There is something magical about cooking pasta within a tomato sauce. The texture is a little different because noodles soak up more of the flavors as they cook—similar to skillet lasagna.
If you enjoyed this recipe, also check out my skillet lasagna, creamy pasta shells, and simple cheesy baked gnocchi! A few of my other absolute favorite skillet Italian dishes are my gnocchi bolognese, skillet chicken parmesan, and my skillet eggplant parmesan.
Table of Contents
Why This Recipe Works
- No-boil pasta recipe: the trick to no-boil pasta is adding about 2 cups of water to the tomato sauce before baking. The ziti will soak up the water and fully cook, leaving you with a sauce that has the perfect consistency.
- Simple and delicious: this recipe is broken down into two basic steps. Browning the sweet Italian sausage on the stove, adding all remaining ingredients to the skillet, and baking in the oven until the noodles are tender.
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Ziti or penne: any tubular pasta should work here. Remember, no pre-cooking the pasta. Love ziti? try my chicken broccoli ziti next!
- Ground sweet Italian sausage: if you can’t find ground Italian sausage, you can buy uncooked sausages and easily slide the pork out of the casing. Spicy Italian sausage is delicious too. If you have any leftover, save for my rigatoni bolognese.
- Marinara/tomato sauce: make homemade marinara or use your favorite jarred red sauce. Here is my favorite easy, scratch tomato sauce.
- Ricotta cheese: the ricotta adds creaminess to the entire dish plus it serves as an additional topping.
- Fresh mozzarella cheese: I always use a fresh mozzarella ball for this recipe, however, you can substitute low-moisture mozzarella or shredded mozzarella.
- Butter: butter adds phenomenal richness to the dish, especially if using jarred tomato sauce. Adding butter to jarred marinara is one of my favorite flavor-enhancing kitchen hacks.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities below.
Expert Tips
- I like to finish this dish using my oven’s broiler to give the cheese a golden melted finish. This sears some of the noodles around the edges and makes them a little crispy.
- If you don’t have ricotta, add 1/3-1/2 cup of heavy cream to the tomato sauce instead of the ricotta. This is a good substitute for the creamy texture.
- This recipe works best in a cast iron skillet because they have higher walls. A 12-inch skillet allows you to fit this entire recipe perfectly. If you cut the portions in half, a 9 or 10-inch skillet will work. You can also use a Dutch oven for larger quantities.
- If you only use 1/2 pound of ground sausage or omit the sausage altogether, you only need 1 1/2-2 cups of water as opposed to 2 1/2.
More Pasta Recipes
Enjoy this recipe? If you made this recipe, please leave a ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ star rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments!
Baked Ziti Recipe
Easy baked ziti made with ground sweet Italian sausage, melted ricotta, and mozzarella cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 pound ziti or penne, uncooked
- 1/2-1 pound ground sweet Italian sausage
- 24 ounces marinara/tomato sauce
- 2 1/2 cups water, see note
- 1 cup ricotta cheese, divided
- 4-6 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into strips
- 6-8 basil leaves, chopped
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Additional basil for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Heat butter over medium heat in a cast iron skillet, add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Add ground sausage, breaking up with the tip of a spatula into small chunks. Cook until just browned, about 7-8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Add marinara, water, chopped basil, and 1/2 cup of ricotta. Stir until fully incorporated.
- Mix in uncooked ziti. Be sure the ziti is evenly distributed to the edges of the skillet and fully submerged (use a spatula to pat it down). It’s okay if a few are floating on the surface. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove the skillet from the oven and give the entire dish a quick stir/toss to evenly mix sausage and ziti together. Top with mozzarella strips and tablespoon-sized dollops of ricotta.
- Return to oven at 500°F or high broil. Bake uncovered for 5-7 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted and starting to brown. Note, that the broiler method may only take a few minutes. Top with fresh basil and serve.
Notes
If you only use 1/2 pound of ground sausage or omit the sausage altogether, you only need 1 1/2-2 cups of water as opposed to 2 1/2.
I like to finish this dish using my oven’s broiler to give the cheese a golden melted finish. This sears some of the noodles around the edges and makes them a little crispy.
If you don’t have ricotta, add 1/3-1/2 cup of heavy cream to the tomato sauce instead of the ricotta. This is a good substitute for the creamy texture.
This recipe works best in a cast iron skillet because they have higher walls. A 12-inch skillet allows you to fit this entire recipe perfectly. If you cut the portions in half, a 9 or 10-inch skillet will work. You can also use a Dutch oven for larger quantities.
Nutrition
Serving: 1/8Calories: 643kcalCarbohydrates: 74.6gProtein: 29.5gFat: 25.7gSaturated Fat: 11.2gCholesterol: 68mgSodium: 884mgFiber: 5.6gSugar: 13.5g
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tried this recipe?Mention @kitchenswagger or tag #kitchenswagger!
Loved it quick and easy. I made some substations based on what I had. I cut up chicken breast seasoned with salt pepper and Italian seasoning. I had shredded mozzarella and I used bow tie pasta. I didn’t have fresh basil so i used dried. Still came out amazing. My family loved it. My son literally just came put and said that was very good and can you make this more often.
My cast iron skillet is 10”. Too small?
It will be too small for the recipe as configured yes. The recipe pushes the limits of a 12. I would cut the recipe back a little for a 10.
Made this tonight and both a grown man picky eater, and a 4.5 year old who is an adventurous eater loved it!! Turned out delicious and definitely plenty for leftovers. Any suggestions on the reheat so it’s not all dried out??
Awesome! If you figure it out let me know! I usually add a little cream and stir it in after microwaving. It helps to bring back some of the moisture. Not as good but better.
I just made this last night, and I woke up this morning excited to eat the leftovers for dinner! This dish is AWESOME and super easy to make.
So simple and absolutely delicious! Will make again.
Made this tonight for dinner!!!! It was fantastic, it is now my favorite pasta. Now keep in mind I didn’t add the chicken as I am not to found of it in pasta, and I used heavy whipping cream as that is all I had on hand, but still turned out to be best pasta recipe ever!! Family loved it!!! Thanks for a great great recipe!!! So very much flavor and easy easy!!!
Thanks Vanessa – this is one of my absolute favs personally ????????
By “pasta sauce”, any particular type or flavor?
I made this for a last minute potluck, and t was a hit! I loved it so much I am making it again for my family tonight. I like meat in my pasta, so I browned 1 lb of hamburg with the onion and garlic. I and added the rest of the ngredients as irected ND it came out perfect!
I did cook it in the Dutch oven. The skillet would have probably been too small.
Hi Karie – YES! great idea. I thought of that as well. Dutch oven same idea, maybe even easier ;). I personally want to try this with chicken or shrimp too.
This was so easy! My family loved it…
Thanks Dean! Glad everyone liked it.
Oh my. . .can I tell you that I just returned from Italy and this beauty is bringing back so many memories of the delicious pasta dishes I indulged in? Probably the best meal I had was a homemade Caprese ravioli on the island of Capri. This dish reminds me of an easy, weekday version of that. P.S. loving this kitchen hack and will definitely need to give it a try on those days that an impromptu pasta craving strikes.
Thanks Lynn! That’s quite the compliment – glad I could help bring back what sounds like delicious memories. You must try the pasta hack!