Lightly grease a medium baking dish with olive oil cooking spray.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Add the ziti and cook until just al dente according to the package instructions.
Drain the pasta thoroughly in a colander.
Combine the cooked pasta, marinara sauce, cottage cheese, and half of the mozzarella in a mixing bowl.
Stir gently until the pasta is evenly coated.
Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish.
Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella evenly over the top.
Bake uncovered for 30–35 minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese is melted.
Remove the baked ziti from the oven.
Let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Notes & Wine Advice
Serving Suggestions
Serve creamy cottage cheese ziti with garlic bread, roasted vegetables, or a crisp dish from our salad recipes. Steamed broccoli or green beans provide a lighter contrast to the rich cheese and tomato sauce.
Recipe Notes
Cook the pasta only until al dente because it continues softening in the oven. Drain it thoroughly so excess water does not dilute the sauce. Use full-fat cottage cheese for the creamiest result. Browse our pasta recipes for more family meals.
Variations
Add cooked ground beef, Italian sausage, mushrooms, spinach, or roasted peppers. Ricotta can replace the cottage cheese, while Parmesan can be added to the mozzarella topping. Explore our cheese recipes for more ideas.
Wine Advice
A medium-bodied Chianti complements the tomato sauce and melted cheese. A fruity Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is another suitable choice.
Creamy cottage cheese ziti is an easy Italian-American casserole made with tender pasta, tomato sauce, mild cottage cheese, and melted mozzarella. The ingredients are combined in one baking dish and cooked until the sauce bubbles around the edges and the cheese develops a soft golden finish.
Cottage cheese gives the filling a creamy texture while remaining lighter and slightly more textured than ricotta. Mozzarella provides the familiar melted topping associated with baked pasta, while marinara sauce brings acidity, herbs, and tomato flavor.
This uncomplicated casserole is ideal for a family dinner, relaxed weekend meal, or make-ahead supper. Browse our pasta recipe collection for more comforting dishes built around familiar ingredients.
Why This Cheesy Ziti Casserole Works
The cheesy ziti casserole succeeds because each ingredient performs a clear role. Ziti or rigatoni has a hollow center that captures tomato sauce and small pieces of cottage cheese. The ridges on rigatoni also help the sauce cling to the pasta.
Cottage cheese adds moisture and protein without requiring a separate cheese sauce. Mozzarella melts across the top, creating a rich layer that protects the pasta from drying out during baking. Marinara sauce provides enough liquid for the pasta to remain tender.
Combining half of the mozzarella with the pasta distributes cheese throughout the casserole. Reserving the remainder for the top creates an attractive melted finish and gives every serving a balanced amount.
Preparing Creamy Cottage Cheese Ziti
For the best creamy cottage cheese ziti, cook the pasta only until al dente. It should be tender enough to bite but still slightly firm in the center. The pasta continues absorbing sauce and softening while the casserole bakes.
Drain the pasta thoroughly before mixing it with the other ingredients. Water clinging to the noodles can make the tomato sauce thin and prevent the cheese mixture from coating the pasta properly.
Mix the warm pasta with the marinara sauce, cottage cheese, and half of the mozzarella. Stir gently so the pasta retains its shape. Transfer everything to a lightly greased baking dish and spread the mixture into an even layer before adding the remaining cheese.
Baking and Serving the Pasta
Bake the cheesy ziti casserole uncovered at 175°C until the sauce is bubbling and the mozzarella has completely melted. The exact cooking time depends on the depth and material of the baking dish. A shallow dish heats more quickly than a deep casserole.
Allow the casserole to rest for five minutes after baking. This short resting period lets the sauce settle and makes the pasta easier to serve without falling apart.
Serve creamy cottage cheese ziti with garlic bread, green salad, roasted broccoli, or steamed green beans. Discover more warming combinations in our comfort food recipes.
Storage and Useful Variations
Store leftover baked ziti in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to four days. Reheat individual portions in the microwave or place a larger amount in a covered baking dish. Add a spoonful of marinara sauce before reheating if the pasta appears dry.
The casserole can be assembled one day ahead and refrigerated before baking. Allow the chilled baking dish to stand at room temperature briefly and add approximately 10 minutes to the baking time.
Cooked ground beef, Italian sausage, spinach, mushrooms, or roasted peppers can be added. Ricotta can replace cottage cheese when a smoother and richer texture is preferred.
Cool leftovers promptly and refrigerate them within two hours. Follow the FDA safe food-handling guidance when preparing, cooling, storing, and reheating pasta casseroles.
With its bubbling tomato sauce, creamy filling, and melted mozzarella topping, creamy cottage cheese ziti is a dependable family casserole made with simple supermarket ingredients.
Cioppino is a popular Italian seafood stew that was believed to have originated in San Francicso during the “gold rush”. It is common to have “cioppino feeds” throughout the Italian community in California. If you don’t have some of the items, you can substitute with any other seafood item.
Soak and scrub clams, let soak in water until ready to use.
Mince onions, carrot, parsley, and garlic.
Brown slowly in heated oil in a 6 quart pot.
Stir often.
Cut red snapper, sea bass, or halibut in pieces about 1 inch wide.
Add fish to sautéed items, cook for 5 minutes.
Stir.
To this mixture add crushed or chopped tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes; add canned broth, hot water, and bay leaves.
Keep heat high enough to keep mixture bubbling and stir.
After 10
minutes add clams and vermouth; cook 5 minutes.
Add crab, stir and cook another 5 minutes.
Add salt, all remaining spices, and shrimp, scallops, and squid.
Let cook for 10 more minutes and now we are ready to serve on toasted sour dough French bread or plain broiled rice: at this point add butter to the sauce, if desired.
Points you should remember: Cioppino may be prepared early in the day and reheated for dinner; this improves the flavor.
Sauce can be used for dressing of spaghetti also.
Careful with the shells.
Spicing is always a matter of taste–taste first and add spices you prefer.
If too thin, use cornstarch (a little) to thicken.
Use cuisenart to cut up veggies, garlic, and tomato.
Cioppino should be somewhat piquant.
Serve Cioppino hot from the pot and it should be kept warm during the meal.
A tossed green salad and red wine completes the meal.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
