Easy baked ziti recipe full of meat and melted cheese

What do you get when you combine pepperoni, Italian sausage, ziti pasta, and lots of tasty pasta sauce with melted mozzarella cheese? My easy-baked ziti recipe is the ultimate Italian-American comfort food.

Ingredients

• 1 16-ounce box ziti noodles
• 1/2 package pepperoni about 1 cup
• 1 pound Italian sausage, casings removed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 14-ounce jar pizza sauce
• 1 45-ounce jar spaghetti sauce of your choice
• 3 cups mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. Cook ziti according to package directions, cutting cooking time in half. Once half cooked, drain in a colander and pour cold water over to stop the cooking process. Set aside and allow to drain fully.
2. In a large skillet, place sausage, onion, and garlic. Chop and stir often over medium heat until fully brown and no longer pink in the center. Remove to a large bowl. If there is grease, drain first.
3. Coarsely chop pepperoni and add to sausage. Add the entire jar of pizza sauce and 1/2 of the spaghetti sauce along with partially baked pasta. Stir until mixture is well combined.
4. Spread half of the remaining spaghetti sauce in the bottom of a 3.5 or 4-quart baking dish (a 9×13 dish works well too). Top this with 1/2 of the pasta mixture, sprinkle half of the cheese on top, top that with the remaining mixture, and spread the top with the remaining spaghetti sauce. Finish with the remaining cheese.
5. Bake at 350, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

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