Description
This Chicken Parmesan Baked Ziti recipe is incredibly quick and easy to make with just 6 basic ingredients, and always tastes so comforting and delicious!
Ingredients
Scale
- 12 ounces ziti
- 1 pound shredded cooked chicken (about 2 to 3 cups)
- 1 (25 ounce) jar marinara sauce
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3/4 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
- optional garnishes: extra Parmesan, fresh basil, crushed red pepper flakes
Instructions
- Prep oven and baking dish. Heat oven to 375°F. Mist a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cook the pasta. Cook the pasta in a large stockpot of generously-salted boiling water until it is just shy of al dente.
- Mix everything together. Drain and return pasta to the stockpot. Add chicken and marinara sauce and gently toss until combined.
- Layer. Pour half of the pasta into the baking dish and spread in an even layer. Sprinkle evenly with 1 cup mozzarella, ½ cup Parmesan, and all of the basil. Layer on the remaining pasta, followed by 1 cup mozzarella and ¼ cup Parmesan.
- Bake. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the cheese is melted and lightly golden. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Serve. Serve warm, sprinkled with any extra garnishes that you would like. Enjoy!
An easy weeknight dinner for the win!! Whenever I make a dish like this, my husband acts like I am the best cook in the world. He has no idea how easy it is. :) I love your chicken parm twist!
Looks like we both have cheesy pasta on our minds today! Love this Parmesan baked ziti! Such a wonderful comfort food! Pinned!
Baked ziti is one of my favorite things — I just love the chicken parm twist!
Ali! This pasta looks ah-may-zing! Chicken parm and pasta all baked into one dish that looks easy AND like my husband will eat it? I’m going to marry it. Pinned!
PERFECT timing! Chicago marathon is closing in, and I need a stock of carb filled recipes to get me through! We all know what everyones favorite carb is ;) This sounds wonderful, and I love that Delallo is made from wholesome ingredients. I like to make my own too, rather than smothering it in the corn syrupy mixtures that most jars have become. If I am going to destroy my 2:49, I need to start stocking on carbs very soon, and this would be a wonderful place to start!
Gorgeous! And such a classic dish!
Our favorite weeknight dinner!
Can we make this when I’m back in KC for Chopped?!!! Love the cheese!!!
Sometimes simple nostalgic meals like this are totally the best! Such a great weeknight go-to!
This looks heavenly! Can’t wait to make this! :)
Pasta bakes definitely have a special place in my home and in my heart – they’re comforting and easy … and gooey cheese gets me every.single.time.
Great recipe :)
I think you forgot to mention the part where you and your college roommates threw the pasta on the ceiling to see if it was done!
LOLOLOLOL!!! That is hilarious!! Too funny. Love that. I can just picture it! Although, I must say, my oldest daughter leaves Sunday for the dorms at UC Irvine, Califirnia (freshman….ahhhhh!) and my mental picture of that happening in her dorm room makes me quiver!!!! Ahhh! I can only imagine!! Hee! Hee!
Yay for easy pasta dishes! I know my boys will love this one!
Mmm now this looks great. Seeing as we left the freezer door open yesterday during work and we came home to a freezer full of melted or thawed foods – I’m looking for a few freezer friendly casserole bakes to make tonight! I need to use up all of that meat!
xo Rachel
Comfort food at its best!!
What temp is the oven?
Oops – thanks for catching that. 375. :)
Love the recipe. What is the oven temperature for baking? Thanks!
Hi Ali! What oven temperature did you use to make this dish? This looks delicious. Perfect for the cooler temperatures that lie ahead. I love the addition of the shredded chicken. Nice! And De Lallo’s products are such high quality. I love them all and use them, too, quite often in my kitchen.
Hey Danielle! Oh man, how did I leave out that important detail?! Thanks for catching that. The pasta should bake at 375.
Glad you love DeLallo too. They’re the best!!! :)
Thank you!!
A big plate of this for dinner tonight sounds perfect!
This looks so comforting and perfect for a quick dinner! I can always good for a cheesey pasta dinner!
That looks delicious.
Gosh your college basic food certainly topped mine. Now this recipe is solid comfort and grandkid food in my world.
Omg, looks delicious, yam! :)
YUM! Can never get enough pasta :)
This looks so amazing. I’m going to have to give it a try!
I am drooling over this recipe.. No sides needed with this dish. I love that you can make it with leftover chicken definitely a Sunday Night Supper meal! Thanks for sharing
I came on here looking for something new to try and I’m definitely glad I saw this. I will be cooking this for my little fam tonight. Thanks!!!!
We made this last night and it was SO AWESOME. Couldn’t have been easier but still loaded with flavor. Added extra chicken and basil. Thank you!!
This looks great and such an easy recipe to do as a college student I will have to try it at some point.
I work as a personal assistant for a family and they are going to LOVE this!
Delicious recipe! I would recommend cooking the chicken in Coconut Oil before adding it with the rest. I also added grape tomatoes and spinach which topped the meal off completely. Would definitely recommend this recipe to others.
what is the best way to reheat this?
Made it today,exactly as prescribed and turned out good,my 7 year old gave me a thumbs up and he usually does not like my Indian dishes but he ate this to the last bite.Oh! i did add peas so i would say this was easy peasy!
This a meal it’s simple and everyone can enjoy it.
Recommendations for freezing this dish?
Unfortunately, pasta dishes typically don’t freeze very well.
Not enough sauce for my taste but overall wonderful
We made this last week and it was delicious! Thanks for sharing :)
Thanks Lisa, I’m glad you liked it!
Thanks Lisa, I’m so happy you guys enjoyed it!
Hi.. I want to make this recipe tomorrow evening .. How is the best way you cook your chicken , so that you can shred it? Thanks
Hey Marilena! I usually just boil the chicken, let it cool, and then shred it with two forks. You can place your chicken breasts into a saucepan and pour in enough water to cover. Then bring to a boil, and then simmer until the chicken is no longer pink, 10 to 12 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a bowl, allow to cool, and then shred the meat with 2 forks. Here’s a tutorial video you can check out as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeVfdYJtdoU I hope you enjoy!
Hi.. Can you tell me how you cook your chicken to shred?
Thanks
I really enjoyed this recipe and will be adding this to my recipe box.
And your photos are elevating this humble dish.
Thanks Rachel, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! : )
I’m making this tonight, my husband is so excited!
Made this tonight and it was fantastic! However I made a change to the chicken. Instead of shredding it, I diced it up, topped it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, Parmesan and minced onions and fried it. Gave the chicken a wonderful flavor. Then added it to the pan of sauce and noodles and followed the rest! Thanks for the easy weeknight family dinner!
Thanks Vanna, I’m glad you liked it!
This recipe is awesome. This is gonna be a staple in my house now. Me being a newlywed, I’m looking for great recipes that I will keep with me all through my life. These beginning years, I plan on trying out recipes and finding ones that I like and work for me. Also, need more practice!
Here are my notes to share with ya’ll:
I sweated some sliced portabella mushrooms (2 packs) and half a chopped onion and spinach with garlic powder/italian spices/salt pepper, then added it to the mixture as well. Don’t cook them all the way! Don’t want them to loose their texture. I used one medium bag of spinach. I think I will do one large bag next time. I like the spinach with it.
I added a little more chicken so each portion would have a better protein to carb ratio. I chopped the chicken, not shredded. Much less work. Cooked it half of the way with the same seasonings as the vegetables.
I cooked the noodles about 4 minutes less than package suggested so it would keep it’s texture while continue cooking in the oven.Also contemplating to drizzle some olive oil on top of noodles and/or covering with foil so that I don’t get dried out noodles. That’s what happened to me. Not enough moisture on the top layer.
Thank you Marie, and thanks so much for sharing your take on this recipe – yum!
Quick easy and excellent !! Made it for a surprise dinner, she Loved it . Thank you
Hi! I’m planning on making this for a family gathering on Mother’s Day. I am just wondering how big the serving sizes are (like, cup wise) for this recipe? My family are very hearty eaters and just want to ensure enough food. This looks so good and can’t wait for everyone to try it!
Do you know the calorie amount for these dishes?
Hey Terri! I’m sorry but we currently are not publishing nutrition facts on the site. The nutrition calculators available are not 100% accurate, and we never want to publish anything that might be misleading. But many of our readers love the My Fitness Pal nutrition calculator, so feel free to try that for an estimate. I hope that helps!
I absolutely love this recipe and have used it multiple times. I am currently planning to feature it on my blog as a favorite recipe with you being mentioned and quoted directly (hope that is okay!).
Love this – and thank you so much for sharing!
Lesh
https://www.LivingLesh.com
Thank you, Lesha, we’re so glad you love it! And of course, that’s completely fine! Thank you for asking, and thank you for giving the recipe a try!
Love this. Added a twist by seasoning the chicken with lemon pepper. Also, I didn’t have zitti so I used broken fettachini. YUM. I love the basil, I added extra of course. Thank you! My hubby has wanted something like this for a while.
Thanks for sharing Megan, we’re happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Can I use prego sauce instead ?
Sure, you can use whichever sauce you’d like – we hope you enjoy! :)
Can I use prego sauce ?