Baked Spinach and Cheese Ziti (Ziti Florentine)

This Baked Spinach and Cheese Ziti aka Ziti Florentine is an amazing meatless ziti option. Quick and easy! In under 20 minutes it’ll be in the oven! Also like ziti, it’s a great make-ahead…just pop it in the oven when you’re ready to eat. Remember, most Italian dishes are even tastier the next day.

Spinach +

You’ll be using spinach in place of meat in this recipe but there’s no reason you can’t add other veggies in as well. I like the combination of mushrooms and spinach. I usually use canned mushrooms because they’re already cooked therefore, they won’t add extra liquid to the recipe like raw mushrooms would. On that note, spinach and black olives are also good.

Baked Spinach and Cheese Ziti with Cream Cheese

Cream cheese and Parmesan mixed with spinach make up the creamy filling, it kind of reminds me of spinach dip.

Pasta

Lastly, even though this is a recipe for Baked Spinach and Cheese Ziti, I prefer penne pasta. The smaller sized tubes incorporate more of the sauce without being too large and dense, they work well with veggies. The regular size ziti noodles are a heartier choice when you’re using a meat sauce… just my opinion.

Gluten Free Pasta

Are you gluten free? Not a problem! If you’re making a gluten free version, I highly suggest this pasta (I find it to be the most like wheat and you can buy it anywhere). Finally, when using gluten free pasta, it’s especially important to make sure you only cook the pasta to al dente otherwise it can get too soft and lose its texture (become mushy) through the baking process.

Ingredients

16 oz. Penne, Ziti or small tube-shaped pasta

24 oz. jar Barilla Marinara Sauce

½ cup Water

8 oz. Light Cream Cheese, softened

½ cup Milk

10 oz. package Spinach (frozen)

¼ cup Parmesan Cheese, grated

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated

Instructions

Prepare pasta according to package directions for al dente, drain.

Add pasta sauce and water to the (cooled) pot you cooked your pasta in (less to clean-up). Add pasta and stir.

In a medium-size, glass bowl, thaw spinach in the microwave (about 3 ½ minutes). Drain thoroughly in a colander, squeeze excess water out and set aside.

Place your softened cream cheese in the glass bowl.  (I use the microwave, check after 30 seconds; it should be soft enough to stir). Add milk and mix until smooth (sauce-like).

Mix in spinach, Parmesan and nutmeg.

Spoon half the pasta mixture into a 9×13 baking dish.

Spread the spinach & cheese mixture evenly on top by dropping tablespoon sized doll-ups.

Top with remaining pasta mixture.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake additional 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and a bit browned.

Serves 8

 Enjoy!

*Italian food lover? Try my Easy Baked Ziti recipe.