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Baked Ziti with Sausage and Peppers feeds your family easily & deliciously. The whole family will love this Sunday Supper skillet recipe loaded with sausage and peppers and lots of ooey gooey cheese!
This recipe is perfect for those busy back to school nights and makes a fun hot lunch idea to send to school with the kiddos.
Hot Lunch Ideas
Since this recipe serves 10 people, you just might have leftovers to pack in a thermos for the kiddos to take to school for a comforting hot lunch that will fill them up and energize them to get through the school day. Or bring a container to the office for yourself.
It’s easy to pack leftovers for lunch. Just heat it up and spoon it into a hot thermos or other insulated container. We recommend heating the insulated container first by pouring hot water into it and putting the lid on for a few minutes.
The thermos can heat up while you warm the leftovers in the microwave. If the pasta seems a little dry just add a bit of milk to make it nice and creamy again. Check out our Hot Lunch Ideas for more back to school recipes we recommend.
Baked Ziti with Sausage and Peppers Recipe Tips
- Start the ziti first and cook to al dente according to the directions on the package
- Use a large oven safe skillet. We recommend a 12″ cast iron skillet for best results, but any large oven safe skillet will do. Alternately, you may use a casserole dish after preparing everything in the skillet, pour into the casserole dish and bake as directed.
- While the ziti is cooking, brown the sausage. We recommend browning the sausage in one piece initially to get a good sear on one side for maximum flavor results. Once seared nicely on one side, start crumbling up the sausage with the spoon or spatula and continue cooking until nicely browned.
- Use the fat from the sausage to cook the onions and peppers.
- Remove the skillet from the heat to add the cheese. The residual heat should be enough to melt the cheese gently. Melting cheese gently is always best to keep it from getting clumpy and rubbery.
- When reheating the baked ziti, be sure to reheat gently in the microwave or on the stovetop. Add milk a little at a time, as needed for creaminess.
Baked Ziti with Sausage and Peppers
🍳 Equipment
🥘 Ingredients
- 1 pound ziti
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- ½ pound Italian Pork Sausage turkey sausage with the casing removed can also be used
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup green bell pepper cut into strips
- ⅓ cup red onion sliced
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 ¼ cups whole milk
- 2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese grated
- Parsley for garnish optional
🔪 Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare pasta according to package directions. In a large skillet over mid-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon butter and brown ½ pound sausage. When the sausage is nicely browned, remove from skillet, reserving fat in skillet.
- Cook 1 cup sliced green peppers and ⅓ cup sliced onions in the sausage fat until tender but not brown. If you do not have enough fat in the skillet to cook the vegetables, add butter as needed.
- Stir ⅓ cup flour into the pepper and onion mixture and slowly stir in 2 ¼ cups milk.
- Cook over mid-low heat while stirring constantly, until thickened.
- Stir 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and ½ cup Parmesan cheese into the skillet mixture. Give it a taste and salt and pepper to your liking.
- Stir cooked ziti and sausage into the cheesy mixture.
- Bake uncovered for approximately 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly. Garnish with parsley & enjoy!
Nutrition
Recipe source: Family Foodie
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