Baked Pasta

I had never made a baked pasta dish before this weekend, but I thought it was something that my Italian in-laws would love, so I decided to give it a shot. I looked through tons and tons of recipes before deciding to make up my own. I also used a new recipe for sauce that I made by combining my favorite parts of different recipes. I definitely think this will be my new sauce recipe! I added the recipe for the sauce at the bottom of this post.


Baked Ziti

1 pound tube shaped pasta (I used mostaccioli because we had it in the pantry)
3 cups spaghetti sauce (my recipe is below)
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed, cut into chunks and cooked
1 cup grated Romano cheese, divided
8 oz. mozzarella, diced
Shredded mozzarella

1. Cook pasta to al dente. Drain and put into a large bowl.

2. Toss pasta with 3 cups sauce, sausage, 1/2 cup Romano cheese, and diced mozzarella.

3. Pour into 13x9 glass baking dish and top with remaining 1/2 cup Romano cheese and handful of shredded mozzarella sprinkled on top.

4. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake additional 15 minutes until sauce and cheese are bubbling.


Spaghetti Sauce

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 28-oz. cans crushed tomatoes
1 15-oz. can tomato sauce
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
2.5 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried basil
1.5 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 bay leaves, whole

1. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until onion is tender.

2. Add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, parsley, basil, water, salt, pepper, sugar and bay leaves.

3. Stir and bring to a boil. Stir and lower heat to a slow simmer. Cook 3-4 hours. Remove bay leaves before serving.