Martha Stewart’s baked pasta is a vegetarian ziti in a garlicky tomato sauce made silky with cream cheese, topped with mozzarella and Parmesan. It goes under high heat for a browned, bubbling top and takes 1 hour 10 minutes total.
The recipe lives on marthastewart.com under the name Creamy Baked Ziti, so it will not turn up if you search her site for baked pasta. Same dish under a different title, and this version follows her published ingredients, timings, and method exactly.
Pull the ziti out of the water 4 minutes early, so it is still firm in the center. Fully cooked pasta keeps absorbing sauce in the oven and turns mushy, while par-cooked ziti finishes to a perfect bite as it bakes.
Martha Stewart Baked Pasta
Course: Pasta, DinnerCuisine: American, ItalianDifficulty: Easy8
servings30
minutes40
minutes480
kcal1
hour10
minutesThis creamy baked ziti proves a short ingredient list can still taste like Sunday dinner. A scratch tomato sauce with a low hum of red pepper heat carries the whole dish.
Ingredients
2 cans (28 oz / 794g each) whole peeled tomatoes
¼ cup (60ml) extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (from 2 to 3 cloves)
¼ to ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound (450g) ziti
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
4 oz (115g) cream cheese, cut into small pieces
8 oz (225g) low-moisture mozzarella, shredded (about 2 cups)
1 cup (100g) grated Parmesan, divided
Directions
- Puree the tomatoes. Preheat oven to 450F (230C). Blitz both cans of tomatoes in a food processor until smooth.
- Start the sauce. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Cook the garlic and red pepper flakes until golden and fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Simmer. Pour in the pureed tomatoes and bring to a boil over high. Drop the heat to medium and keep at a rapid simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, about 30 minutes.
- Par-cook the ziti. Meanwhile, boil the pasta in generously salted water for 4 minutes less than the package says, about 6 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water until cool, drain again, and move to a large bowl.
- Finish the sauce. Stir the cream cheese into the sauce until melted, then take the pan off the heat. Season with salt and pepper.
- Layer the dish. Spread 1 cup (240ml) of sauce over the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch (23x33cm) baking dish and scatter half the mozzarella on top.
- Coat the pasta. Toss the ziti with 3 cups (720ml) of sauce and ½ cup (50g) of the Parmesan, then spread it evenly in the dish.
- Top it. Pour the remaining sauce over the pasta, then sprinkle with the rest of the mozzarella and Parmesan.
- Bake and broil. Bake in the top third of the oven until the cheese melts, 10 minutes. Switch to the broiler and broil until bubbly and browned in spots, about 3 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before serving.
FAQs
Why cream cheese instead of ricotta in this ziti?
Ricotta bakes into dry, grainy pockets unless you loosen it with eggs and cream. Cream cheese melts straight into the tomato sauce, so every piece of pasta gets coated in one smooth, silky layer.
It also adds a slight tang that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes. Cut it into small pieces before it goes in, because a whole block takes ages to melt and can leave streaks.
Why does Martha rinse the pasta under cold water?
Rinsing is normally a pasta sin, but here it does two jobs. Cold water stops the ziti from cooking further and washes off surface starch, so it does not clump while the sauce finishes simmering.
You lose nothing by rinsing here because the pasta never needs to grip a pan sauce. It gets tossed in thick tomato sauce and baked, and the cheese handles all the binding.
Can I add sausage or ground beef?
Yes, though the dish was written meatless. Brown a pound of crumbled sausage in the saucepan first, then build the garlic and sauce on top of the drippings.
Keep the full simmer time so the meat softens into the sauce instead of staying chewy. Or leave the ziti meatless and serve the meat on the side, like her crown roast for a holiday table.
Do I really need the broiler at the end?
The short bake only melts the cheese, so without the broiler the top stays pale and rubbery. A few minutes under direct heat is what creates the browned, blistered spots.
Stay by the oven while it broils, because low-moisture mozzarella goes from golden to burnt fast. If your broiler runs hot, pull the dish the moment you see deep brown patches, even if that happens early.
How well does this baked ziti store and reheat?
Better than most pasta dishes. Covered in the fridge it keeps 3 to 4 days and reheats well, much like her scalloped potatoes. The ziti drinks up sauce as it sits, so leftovers come out thicker.
Add a splash of water before reheating, covered, at 350F (180C) until hot through. Freezing works but costs you a little texture, since cream cheese sauce can turn slightly grainy after thawing.
