Baked Five Cheese Ziti al Forno Recipe
Comfort food family pasta dinner meal. Cheesy and rich in flavors!
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 389kcal
Equipment
- 9 x 13" Rectangular Baking Dish
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 8 ounces Ziti *see Notes
For the Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- 2 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
- 1 cup Milk
- 1½ cup Marinara Sauce plain flavored tomato sauce
- ½ cup Cream Cheese
- 1 cup Mozzarella, Parmesan, Fontina and Emmental mixed shredded/grated
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning substitute with oregano
Topping
- ½ cup Mozzarella, Parmesan, Fontina and Emmental mixed or just one of those shredded/grated
- Parsley Fresh fresh chopped
Instructions
Cook pasta
- Cook ziti pasta as per package instructions.8 ounces Ziti
Prepare the sauce
- Heat up a skillet with butter and melt it. Stir in flour and mix it quickly into the butter over a low heat setting. This is the base, a roux.1 Tablespoon Butter, 2 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
- Pour in some milk and keep on mixing, heat the skillet a little more (low to medium setting). Add all the milk until it's all used up so that the sauce thickens and gets smoother in consistency.1 cup Milk
- Stir in the marinara tomato sauce. Keep over a low to medium heat setting.1½ cup Marinara Sauce
- Add the cream cheese and 4 other shredded/grated cheeses. Mix it all in over the heat.½ cup Cream Cheese, 1 cup Mozzarella, Parmesan, Fontina and Emmental mixed
- Season with black pepper, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. You can substitute the Italian seasoning with oregano.¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, ½ Teaspoon Salt, 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder, 1 Teaspoon Onion Powder, 1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- Mix it all up, stirring over a lower heat setting. The sauce should be velvety smooth and well combined in consistency.
To bake
- Preheat oven to 375 Fahrenheit/ 190 Celsius.
- Place cooked, strained ziti pasta into a rectangular baking dish.
- Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and mix it all in so that the pasta is well coated.
- Top with grated cheese.½ cup Mozzarella, Parmesan, Fontina and Emmental mixed or just one of those
- Bake for about 15 minutes at 375 Fahrenheit/ 190 Celsius or until the top is crispy baked. I like to use the broiler setting for that.
- Serve up hot with freshly chopped parsley.
Video
Notes
- 8 ounces/230 grams makes about ½ a pack ziti noodles.
- plain marinara sauce is also called tomato passata
- combine the cheese quantities to your liking, I used about the same quantity of mozzarella, parmesan, fontina, and emmental. Sometimes I use cheddar instead of emmental.
Nutrition
Calories: 389kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 788mg | Potassium: 419mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 941IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 300mg | Iron: 2mg
