Bring your baked ziti up a notch with Italian sausage and spinach. Baked Ziti with sausage and spinach is a dish your family will love, and one that is easy to share with others.
Today’s recipe is always a family favorite. And not just my family! I have taken this dish to lots of family’s when someone was sick or had a new baby and it is always a big hit. After they enjoy their dinner, they always request the recipe. It is also a delicious dish to make for company.
How to Make Baked Ziti with Sausage
The sauce for the baked ziti can be made a day ahead. You start by cooking the sausage with chopped garlic and onion until it is cooked through. Then you add the tomatoes, juice and all, and simmer until it begins to thicken slightly. Then you add the pesto and salt and pepper to taste.
In a bowl, combine the cooked pasta and cheese. Then stir in the warm tomato sauce and pour it into a greased 9×13 pan. Sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top and it is ready to go into the oven.
The addition of spinach and pesto makes this a little unique as far as baked ziti dishes go. The pesto gives it a wonderful flavor and the spinach balances out the meal nicely.
You will love how easy it is to make this delicious baked ziti. Double the recipe and share with a neighbor. They will love it too.
If you love baked ziti, check out more of my favorite easy pasta dishes:
Slow Cooker Garlic Chicken Pasta
Baked Ziti with Sausage Recipe
Baked Ziti with Sausage and Spinach
Ingredients
- 1 pound sweet or hot Italian sausages
- 1/2 C chopped onion
- 3 large garlic cloves chopped
- 1 28- ounce can diced peeled tomatoes
- 1/4 C pesto
- 10 ounces ziti or penne pasta about 3 cups, freshly cooked
- 4 cups or hand fulls of baby spinach leaves
- 6 ounces grated or cubed mozzarella cheese
- 1 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cook sausage, onion and garlic until sausage is cooked through
- Add tomatoes with juices
- Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes
- Add pesto
- Season sauce with salt and pepper
- You can prepare up to this point a day ahead and refrigerate
- Bring mixture back to simmer before continuing
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- Lightly oil 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish.
- Combine pasta, spinach, mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese in large bowl.
- Stir in warm hot tomato mixture.
- Place in prepared baking dish
- Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese over
- Bake until sauce bubbles and cheeses melt, about 30 minutes
Nutrition
This looks soooo delicious. Would I be able to use diced tomatoes instead of peeled one’s.
Thanks so much. Will definently be making this soon.
I am not much of a cook but this recipe sounded so good, I tried it. It was delicious! Very easy to follow recipe and all of the yummy spinach makes it nutritionally redeemable. Thanks, Leigh Anne!
Just had this for dinner. It was fantastic.
I have made this several times since finding it on your site. we love it! So easy and delicious!
So glad you have enjoyed it!
Looks fantastic – thanks for sharing this! I am forwarding it to my boyfriend’s mother..I’m sure it’ll make amazing dinner one of these nights.
This is a good recipe. It appeared in Bon Appetit in November 1994.
Made this last night – for the missionaries – and it was a hit! It was delish and will definitely become a staple on our family’s dinner menu 🙂
I tried your recipe tonight and it was absolutely DELICIOUS!!! It got rave reviews from the family and is definitely a keeper. Thanks!!!
We love your “meal for many” with an extra kick of flavor and sophistication. The pesto as a layer of additional flavor is genius. We’re sure your guests left hoping for another invitation to dine at your place!
Wow this is beautiful food photography! My dinner photos always come out less than stellar. Any tips? I’m going to try this recipe this week.
I made this for dinner tonight – wow! It was delicious and I have plenty left over for lunches this week. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
Leigh Anne – I made this ziti recipe last night and it was such a hit! Jenny went back for seconds, which is pretty unusual. I forgot to get pesto so made it without it and it was still delicious. I also used Trader Joe’s sicilian chicken sausage and it tasted wonderful, and maybe a tiny bit healthier? Thank you once again for sharing what will become another family favorite!
Wow, Leigh Anne, that dish sounds wonderful and perfect for these cold days.
Let’s get together next week when I’m over my cold thing! I didn’t realize Cali is a month older than Katie.
Fixed the baked ziti tonight and it was wonderful!! Definitely one we will have again. Felt like I was eating at a quality Italian restaurant. 🙂 I even made my own pesto for the first time, but I used a weight watchers recipe that was very low in fat. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Thanks do much for sharing this recipe I made it last night for my family and we all LOVED it. It was so delicious and pretty simple too! I will definately make this again. I love getting comments like “This tastes like something you’d order at an expensive resturant”! Thanks for helping me look like a superstar in the kitchen!
Hey, we feed THOSE guys all the time, too (ok, not THOSE particular guys but you know what I mean). Pasta and breadsticks is the only way to go when feeding 19-ish year old boys. I’m glad you liked the breadsticks and it is so sweet (and funny) that your neighbor boys came begging for one or two. Also, the pasta looks absolutely delicious!
This recipe sounds and looks delicious! This reminds me I need to invite the missionaries over for dinner. Thanks for sharing another yummy dinner!
Mmmm looks so yummy! I bet the cookies were great too, I just love a good chocolate chip cookie (or five).
How generous of you to share your food with neighbours!
I always offer the missionaries bottled water, food and my restroom when they stop by. We are not Latter Day Saints but part of my family and many of my friends are.
I am so grateful to people like you who have opened up their homes and made my family members and friends feel comfortable when they were so far from home!
Thank you! as a return missionary we always appreciated people who were kind to us! It is far more appreciated then you could know-especially the water on a hot day! : D
We love feeding missionaries at our house and are so grateful for all the people who feed our two missionaries.
This looks really delicious! I’m pretty new to the whole cooking scene…what is pesto? How do I make it, or where do I buy it? I really want to try this recipe. The missionaries looked very happy to be at your house!
April,
Pesto is made out of basil but you can purchase it at the grocery store too. It is usually in the produce area in a jar. It is a combo of basil, olive oil, pine nuts – yum!! Have fun with your cooking!! Recipes for pesto are pretty easily available. You can check http://www.allrecipes.com. I’ll have to post my recipe for pesto too! Thanks!
The ziti looks great! Kind of like the America’s Test Kitchen recipe – except baked.
D could not stand how good our house smelled – he had to come get a bread stick! Thanks for welcoming him – he feels very comfortable swinging on by anytime, eh?
I have a skillet recipe similar to this that I love so I can’t wait to try this.
I love seeing the missionaries at your house. They look so happy and the food looks so good! Happy belated birthday to Cali. Wow, 20 years old! She looks like a fun loving and confident girl. Go Cali and many blessings to you!