Easy Baked Ziti with Spicy Italian Sausage

Spicy sausage and ziti pasta in a baking dish.

5 from 29 votes

Easy Baked Ziti with Spicy Italian Sausage

Baked ziti pasta with spicy sausage, sometimes also called ‘ziti alla diavola’ (devilled), is a fantastic Neapolitan dish for those who love spicy food! This spicy baked pasta is a really flavourful dish. Plus it's easy to make with just a few main ingredients and minimal prep time.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Calabria, Italian, Southern Italian

Keyword: baked ziti with sausage, spicy baked ziti with sausage, spicy pasta, spicy sausage pasta

Servings:

Calories: 755kcal

Author: Jacqui

Ingredients

10 oz Ziti or Zitoni pasta or pasta tubes like short ziti or rigatoni
7 oz Sausage or soft salami (spicy)
7 oz scamorza cheese and/or mozzarella or smoked scamorza
14 oz peeled tomatoes or tomato passata
3 oz cherry tomatoes optional
1 onion
6-8 basil leaves
½ glass white wine
2 oz pecorino grated or Parmigiano
2-3 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

In a skillet, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium heat. Add the spicy sausage and onions and sauté the chopped onion is transparent, about 5 minutes.
Pour in the white wine and increase the heat to evaporate the alcohol. Add the cherry tomatoes (if using) and let them cook for about 2 minutes.
Then add the tomato passata. Season with salt, reduce the heat to medium and let the sauce simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Towards the end of cooking, stir in the chopped basil.
Preheat the oven to 390°F (200°C). Grease a baking dish with olive oil.
Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. Add salt once it starts to boil and bring to the boil again. Break the pasta into pieces if it's too long for your pot. Cook the pasta very al dente according to the instructions on the packet. Reserve a cup of pasta cooking water before draining.
Mix the drained pasta with the tomato sauce, adding a bit of the reserved pasta cooking water if the sauce seems too dry.
Begin layering the pasta in the baking dish, starting with a layer of pasta and sauce. Add a layer of sliced cheese and some sausage pieces. Repeat the layers, finishing with a final layer of pasta.
Top the last pasta layer with the remaining slices of cheese and a generous sprinkling of grated pecorino.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and begins to brown. For additional browning, place under the broiler for 2 minutes.
Let the baked pasta rest for a few minutes before serving.

Notes

If you can't find long ziti or zitoni, this dish can be made with candele pasta, broken into smaller pieces or already cut ziti or zitoni or other pasta tubes like penne, rigatoni etc.

If you can't find spicy Calabrian sausage, you could also use chorizo.

To make this recipe gluten-free, use a gluten-free pasta brand.

Nutrition