Baked Ziti with Ground Beef and Spinach

Baked ziti casserole cut in squares, garnished with parsley and shown on a glass rectangular dish.

This baked ziti casserole is a great comfort dish baked with a ground beef sauce that has lots of spinach inside. There's a layer of ricotta and cottage cheese inside the casserole to add more protein, flavor and creaminess to this pasta dish. Plus lots of regular cheeses like mozzarella and parmesan.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword baked ziti, baked ziti with ground beef

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Resting time 15

Total Time 1

Servings servings

Calories 543kcal

Author Sonila

Equipment

1 10x15 baking dish
1 Medium pot
1 Wooden spoon
1 Pasta Pot
1 Strainer for pasta

Ingredients

Beef Sauce

3 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion
4 garlic cloves
1.5 lbs ground beef
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1 tbsp sea salt
0.5 tbsp black pepper
2 cans tomato sauce about 15 ozs each
2-3 ozs water
4-5 basil leaves
2-3 ozs spinach

Ricotta/Cottage Cheese Sauce

8 ozs whole milk ricotta
8 ozs cottage cheese
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch sea salt

Pasta Boil

16 ozs ziti
1 tbsp sea salt
water enough to fill the pasta pot and cover the pasta

Shredded cheeses

8 ozs mozzarella
8 ozs parmesan

Instructions

Prepare the Beef Sauce

Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Set a medium pot over the stovetop in medium heat, add olive oil.
When oil is shimmery, add diced onions and minced garlic. Use a wooden spoon to stir occasionally. When translucent, add ground beef and brown while stirring
When beef is browned, add Italian seasoning, sea salt and black pepper. Mix.
Pour both cans of tomato sauce in then add a little water to each can, rinse and pour that in too. Mix the sauce and lower heat to simmer.
Add chopped basil to sauce as it cooks. Finally add spinach, it will take about a minute or so to wilt. Turn heat off, mix and cover the pot. Set it aside!

Prepare the ricotta/cottage cheese sauce

Mix ricotta and cottage with olive oil and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Boil the pasta

Get a pasta pot and fill it with water, set to boil. Add salt to your usual taste. Once water boils, add ziti in the pot. Cook pasta al dente and drain the water on a pasta strainer.

Casserole Assembly

Get a 10x15 casserole dish. Add a layer of meat sauce on the bottom.
Add ziti over the meat sauce. Then add a layer of ricotta/cottage cheese.
Then add the 2nd layer of meat sauce. Cover with a mix of shredded mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Add another layer of ziti pasta. Then the final layer of meat sauce. Cover with remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the casserole dish for about 30 minutes or until the cheese on top is becoming golden brown and bubbly.
Let the casserole cool down for about 15-20 minutes before cutting into it. Garnish with fresh flat leaf parsley. Enjoy:)

Notes

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for few days. Warm them up in the oven or microwave.

Nutrition