Healthy Baked Ziti
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Healthy Baked Ziti is a lighter twist on a classic Italian dish. This Baked Ziti is made with ground turkey for a tasty high protein meal!
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I’m not sure whose idea it was to take pasta and bake it with cheese + meat until it got all melty and delicious, but wow I love them for it.
This healthy baked ziti is one of my favorite comfort meals and tastes just as good as the regular version!
It’s extremely simple to make, high in protein, and easily made gluten free by swapping out your pasta for a GF option. If you’re looking for a new weeknight meal, you will love this recipe too!
liz’s top tips for healthy baked ziti
- Baked ziti should be baked covered at first to keep it moist and not dry it out. At the end of cooking, the cover should be removed for perfectly melty cheese.
- If you want to prep before a family dinner, assemble the ziti ahead of time and keep it uncooked in the fridge. Then let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking according to directions below.
Ingredients:
Substitutions
Olive Oil: You can substitute olive oil with avocado oil or melted butter.
Meat: You could make this with ground chicken, ground beef, or ground Italian sausage.
Pasta: If you can’t find ziti, rigatoni or penne will work. Read our post Is Thrive Market Worth It to find out why we love to order their pasta!
Can you use gluten free pasta? Yes! You can use gluten free or regular white flour pasta in this recipe. Just make sure not to overcook the pasta!
Tomato Sauce: You can use homemade tomato sauce or jarred tomato sauce.
Mozzarella/Ricotta: I wouldn’t recommend using low fat mozzarella or ricotta. I think low fat cheese is significantly less creamy and does not have nearly as much flavor or melt as well.
Can you make this baked ziti with spinach? Yes, I have made this with chopped spinach added in and it is delicious.
Can you make this baked ziti with cottage cheese? I haven’t tried this but I think you can swap 1/2 of the ricotta for cottage cheese if you’re looking for a higher protein, lower fat dinner
Can you make baked ziti without meat? If you’d like to, sure! It will not have as much protein, but it will still be yummy!
Can I add vegetables to baked ziti? Yes, you can add vegetables to baked ziti. We’d recommend chopped spinach, mushrooms, or finely diced carrots. You can also check out our Vegetable Baked Ziti.
How to Make This Healthy Baked Ziti
- Brown your meat ahead of time on medium high heat in a large skillet.
- Cook your pasta until al dente (about 1/2 the cooking time recommended on the box). Drain and add to a bowl with remaining ingredients.
- Stir together well.
- Press pasta mixture into a glass baking dish or casserole dish.
- Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top.
- Cover and bake at 350° for 30 minutes until cheese is melted.
What makes this baked ziti healthy?
- Turkey for protein – This recipe uses turkey for the meat instead of beef or sausage. You can definitely use those, but turkey is a much leaner meat which leaves this dish higher in protein and lower in fat.
- Whole wheat pasta – Whole wheat pasta is always a better choice when possible! The whole grains are much better for you and will help to keep you feeling full.
- Less cheese – this healthy baked ziti pasta recipe doesn’t have nearly as much cheese as many other recipes do. I promise you won’t miss it though – it’s perfectly cheesy as is!
Is ziti the same as penne?
Ziti and penne are not the same. Ziti is flat on the edges and penne is angled at the edges.
How is baked ziti different from lasagna?
Baked ziti is very different from lasagna. Lasagna is made with long, flat noodles that are layered with ground meat, cheese, and sauce. Baked ziti is cooked pasta tossed with meat, cheese, and sauce and baked. If you want a low-carb lasagna, we love this Zucchini Lasagna!
Serving
Baked Ziti is a complete meal in itself, so you don’t need to serve it with anything else. You can top it with some crushed red pepper to give it a nice spicy kick!
You could serve it with some garlic bread or extra veggies on the side. Here are some veggie side dishes we like:
Making Ahead, Storing & Freezing
Make Ahead: You can assemble this baked ziti ahead of time. Keep it in the refrigerator and before baking, let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes (You don’t want to put a cold dish in the oven because it may crack)
Storing: This baked ziti will last in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Freezing: You can freeze this and bake it again in the future, but freshly baked ziti is always best. It may get a little watery when defrosting and baking. We rarely have leftover pasta as it doesn’t last long in our house!
Other healthy pasta dishes:
Looking for other easy meals? Check out these 40+ Healthy Dinner Ideas for Family. Click here to grab our free healthy 30 minute dinners cookbook.
Here are some of our favorite pasta dishes:
Healthy Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 lb ground turkey or ground beef
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 lb whole wheat ziti
- 2 ½ cups low sodium marinara 23.5 oz jar – low or no salt added
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella divided
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil ziti until al dente- approximately 8 minutes. Check your pasta box and I would suggest to cook 3-4 minutes less than the time they recommend. Remember, the pasta will continue to cook in the oven and soak up the sauce along the way!
- While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a separate pan. Brown the turkey, garlic and pepper until completely cooked (approximately 10 minutes) + set aside.
- Drain your pasta in a colander and set aside. In the pot you boiled the pasta, mix together drained pasta, cooked turkey, tomato sauce, 1 cup of mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan cheese, and basil.
- Pour mixture into a large baking dish (13×9 or 11×7) Sprinkle remaining cup of mozzarella cheese on top.
- Cover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes until cheese is melted. Grab a bowl and enjoy!
Video
Notes
- Meat: You could make this with sausage or any other type of meat you like. Ground beef or chicken would work.
- Can you make this baked ziti with spinach? Yes, I have made this with chopped spinach added in and it is delicious.
- Can you make this baked ziti with cottage cheese? I haven’t tried this but I think you can swap 1/2 of the ricotta for cottage cheese if you’re looking for a higher protein, lower fat dinner
- Can you make baked ziti without meat? If you’d like to, sure! It will not have as much protein, but it will still be yummy!
- Can you use gluten free pasta? Yes! You can use gluten free or regular white flour pasta in this recipe. Just make sure not to overcook the pasta!
- Can you use low fat ricotta? I would not recommend doing this. I think that low fat ricotta is significantly less creamy and does not have nearly as much flavor.
Loved this meal! Creamy and delicious and easy to make. I can’t wait to eat more leftovers. We paired it with a small side salad.
Oh so good! You would never suspect this is a healthy version. We used ground turkey and another curly pasta we had on hand. It made much more than expected so we had lunch/dinner for several days. Very easy to make during the week.
Absolutely delicious! I used half hamburger and half Italian sweet sausage. Easy, simple ingredients that I already had at home. Teen approved also. 🙌
Absolutely delicious! Teen approved also.
Woo! Love hearing that!
My toddlers loved it! Fan favorite!
Love this! It’s been a staple for our family. We now have 1 nightshade free eater (womp womp!) so still looking for a way to include them with a tomato free ingredient!
So easy and so good! And kid approved!
Have this saved…could I sub cottage cheese in place of ricotta? Looking forward to trying this!
Never mind…I saw my answer above…forgot to look there first. Thank you for the recipes!
Made tonight and added chopped spinach. So good!!
Another winner! Delicious, cheesy, and super filling! My grocery store didn’t have whole wheat past in stock, so used regular pasta, but otherwise followed to a T. My boyfriend said it was incredible and I couldn’t agree more.
Another winner in my book!
Yay! Love to hear that!
I made the Baked Ziti Sunday! It was great. Recipe was very easy to follow.
So happy you liked it, Dawn!
This sounds delicious and I look forward to trying it! Can I fully assemble it, put it in the fridge and bake it the next day?
Thanks Andrea! Yes you can!
I liked the look and sound of your pasta so I veganized it for my family. I used whole wheat pasta and made my own ricotta cheese from tofu and used mozzarella shreds from Violife. I will say the next time I will cook the pasta the entire time before finishing this casserole as after 30 minutes they tasted uncooked still. However, because I used vegan products which doesn’t have the moisture of ricotta and mozzarella I covered the dish and cooked it longer. I took it out of the oven and put the mozzarella shreds on top and put the dish under the broiler. It worked perfectly. For the meat I used Gardein meatballs and I cooked them and crumbled them into the dish. This is a real keeper. My family loves it and I will make it again. Every recipe takes time the first time but now that I know the ins and outs, this is an easily veganized dish.
I’m so glad you liked it, Laurie! Thank you so much! The pasta should be somewhat cooked before going in the oven
I recently made this for my friend who had a baby. Her and husband loved it! I added in some spinach for extra nutrition
That’s so nice of you!! Glad they enjoyed it and love the addition of the spinach!
Tried this for dinner last night and OMG it will definitely be added to our weekly meal plan. It was AMAZING! The only thing different I will do next time is cut back on the pepper and add a little salt. For those of you with little ones, our 11 month old DEVOURED his.
So glad you liked it, Nikki! The salt content definitely varies with the cheese you use so yes it might need a little more to your taste 🙂 So glad your little one enjoyed it too!
This was great! I did end up using skim milk/lower fat ricotta and mozzarella. To make up for the flavor, I sautéed chopped onions before the ground turkey then minced two cloves of garlic with the cooked meat. This might be overkill for some on garlic with the garlic powder but we love garlic so it was perfect! So yum!!! Looking forward to following more of your recipes.
I’m so glad you liked it, Taylor! We usually do the same with the garlic – I personally feel like the more garlic, the better 🙂 It’s so delicious!!
What spices are used in this? Step 4 says to add the spices. I noticed the ingredients do not call for anything like garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, no salt (just pepper), etc.
Hi Gina – the last ingredients in the recipe are basil, garlic powder and pepper. Those are the spices. Feel free to add others if you’d like. Thanks!
So easy and tasty!! Lasted all week, great meal prep dish?
Love hearing that, Carli!! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂
This turned out AMAZING! I’m obsessed with pasta and cheese (of course it’s amazing), and this recipe just makes me feel more at ease because I can still enjoy both while being healthier and lighter. It came out so creamy and full of flavor. I made it for my roommates and I and we destroyed the entire thing. HIGHLY recommend!
I’m SO glad you liked it, Madi!! I mean.. there is really nothing better than pasta and cheese, but making it a little lighter makes it even more enjoyable to your point!!
Made this last week. It was delicious! Can I freeze it?I have lots of leftover s. Thanks!
Peggy
Hi Peggy – I haven’t tried freezing it, but I’m sure it would be ok. However – if you made it a week ago, I probably wouldn’t eat it. After more than 5 days I would be worried about the meat going bad 🙁
This is so delicious and easy to make! My entire family enjoyed this meal! Super great for left overs as well!
Been a follower of yours for 2 years now and this may be my favorite meal yet! PS I wonder if this recipe is inspired by your dog Ziti LOL
I’m so glad you liked it, Ellie! We love baked ziti as much as our dog ziti 🙂