Baked Ziti
Image: 9x13 glass baking dish filled with a mixture of noodles, tomato sauce, meat, and cheese, and topped with dried herbs.
Description: This saucy, cheesy baked ziti made with ground turkey is the definition of a quick winter-time comfort meal! Try it for yourself and see!
Yield: Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
8 ounces dry Mini Ziti pasta
1- 32 ounce can of tomato sauce
1 - 8 ounce block Colby jack cheese, shredded
1 - 8 ounce block white cheddar cheese, shredded
1 pound ground lean turkey (or ground chicken, beef, or pork)
2 medium red bell peppers, cored, de-seeded, diced
2 medium yellow bell peppers, cored, de-seeded, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 yellow onions, diced
2 tablespoons Italian herbs, divided
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
2 teaspoons garlic powder, divided
2 teaspoon onion powder, divided
2 teaspoon black pepper, divided,
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375. Spray an 11 x 7 baking dish with cooking spray or grease with a bit of oil.
Bring 6 cups of salted water to a boil in a medium stock pot over high heat.
Bring a large sauce pan up to medium high heat, then add a bit of oil to the pan.
Once the sauce pan is hot, crumble the ground turkey into the pan, and add the minced garlic, diced onions, 1 tablespoon Italian herbs, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and stir to combine.
Begin breaking up the meat into smaller bite-sized chunks with a spatula, wooden spoon or a ground meat chopper. Continue stirring the chopped meat until the spices are throughout. Allow to cook for another 4-5 minutes or until fully cooked and the chopped vegetables have softened.
While the meat is cooking, add in the ziti pasta to the boiling water, and stir continuously for 10-15 seconds or so to keep the noodles from sticking.
Add the lid to stock pot, and reduce the heat to medium, cooking approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. You do not want to fully cook the pasta at this step as the pasta will continue to cook in the oven.
While the pasta is boiling, the meat should be close to being fully cooked. At this point, add the tomato sauce to the pan, along with the remaining spices, and sugar. Stir to combine, then reduce heat to medium and continue cooking for another 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
Once the pasta has boiled for 5 minutes, remove from the heat and drain, but do not rinse. Set the pasta back in the stock pot while the sauce finishes cooking for a couple more minutes.
In the final few minutes of cooking the sauce, shred up both cheeses, and mix together in a big bowl, then set aside.
Add the hot pasta sauce into the noodles pot and stir to combine. Now, add half the pasta mixture evenly to the baking dish, and layer on half of the cheese. Stir this a bit in the baking dish to mix the cheese in.
Add the remaining pasta mixture on top, then top with the remaining cheese and bake at 375 for 15 – 20 minutes or until cheese has melted and is browned a bit on top.
Remove from oven. Garnish with a bit of Italian herbs. Serve and enjoy!