Freezer Meal Baked Ziti is one of the easiest recipes for make-ahead freezer meals for your family.
With a little planning, you can have ready to cook meals in the freezer for those busy days that you don't have much time to spend in the kitchen.
Easy Weeknight Meals for busy Families
Do you struggle at dinner time? Do you constantly find yourself as the dinner hour approaches trying to figure out what you're going to feed the family?
Easy dinner recipes for the family like this baked ziti recipe will help you avoid the panic of the approaching dinner hour.
Baked ziti and baked spaghetti are some of my favorite freezer meals to make when I am meal planning.
Besides my crock pot freezer meals they are some of the easiest make-ahead meals to prep and freeze.
Cooking a pasta freezer meal couldn't be easier and this recipe is packed full of flavor from the meaty spaghetti sauce, rich and creamy ricotta cheese and shredded mozzarella cheese.
Just pull the frozen meal out of the freezer the night before to thaw and pop the tray in the oven the next day at dinner time.
Foil Trays for the freezer
What kind of trays can you use for freezer meals? You can use inexpensive aluminum foil trays, glass or metal baking dishes or plastic food-grade meal prep containers.
You can even buy glass food storage containers with lids.
For this recipe, I used two large family size aluminum trays with cardboard lids.
You can make a combination of small single servings or two large family size freezer meals, whichever works for your family using this recipe.
- Two 9 x 6 ½ inch deep family size aluminum meal prep trays with cardboard lids (family size)
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Recipe Prep
Before beginning this recipe you will need to prepare the pasta sauce, ricotta cheese mixture and boil the pasta.
- Make the recipe for the Crock Pot Meat Sauce the day before or early in the day you plan to assemble the freezer meal baked ziti trays.
- Don't want to make homemade pasta sauce? You can use store-bought pasta sauce. You will need 4-5 cups of sauce to assemble two family size trays of baked ziti.
- Prepare the ricotta cheese mixture by mixing 1 slightly beaten egg, the salt, the ground pepper, the dried parsley and the ricotta cheese in a large mixing bowl.
- Cover and chill the ricotta cheese in the refrigerator while boiling the pasta. The ricotta cheese can be chilled overnight if needed.
- Boil the pasta following the instructions on the box and rinse well with cold water.
Crock Pot Meat Sauce Recipe makes about 11 cups of pasta sauce. It is a perfect sauce recipe to freeze. I'll be sharing some other easy freezer meals using this recipe in the near future.
I will make the crock pot spaghetti sauce recipe to use for dinner and then I will freeze the leftover sauce in containers.
This way whenever I am cooking a dinner recipe that has pasta sauce in the ingredients I already have my homemade spaghetti sauce made in the freezer.
Scroll down below for the recipe card where you will find the ingredient amounts, directions and for one-click printing or to Pin the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 lb box of Ziti Pasta
- 16 oz Ricotta Cheese
- 1 tablespoon fresh or dried parsley flakes
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4-5 cups Crock Pot Meat Sauce Recipe (I used about 3 cups of sauce per large tray and about 1 cup for the single-serve tray)
- 2 cups Shredded Mozzarella cheese divided between the 3 freezer meal containers
Expert Recipe Tips
- Cook the pasta and rinse well with cold water to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
- You can make single serving size baked ziti or you can make two family size trays of baked ziti.
- Or you can use single-serve dinner or lunch tray by dividing the ingredients between the smaller containers.
Thawing Freezer Meals
Thawing freezer meals is easy. To thaw the freezer meal baked ziti the night before you will remove the frozen tray from the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before baking.
Instructions
- Divide the cooked ziti noodles between the two freezer containers (or the smaller trays if using).
- I put 5-6 cups of cooked ziti noodles into each of the large trays.
- Add 1 to 1 ½ cups of sauce to each family size tray. Mix with a spoon to cover the noodles with the sauce.
- Add ½ to ¾ cups of the prepared ricotta cheese mixture to each of the large trays. Mix with a spoon to combine with the sauce and noodles.
- Add 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to each tray and toss the noodles with the cheese to evenly distribute the cheese throughout the pasta.
- Divide the sauce and spread over the top of each tray.
- Divide the ricotta cheese and spread over the top of the sauce.
- Sprinkle about a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of each tray.
- Place the cardboard lid on each tray. Crimp the edge of the aluminum tray over the edge of the cardboard lid to seal the tray.
- Place the trays in the freezer.
- Cook the Freezer Baked Ziti within 3 to 4 months.
Cooking Directions
If using aluminum trays or glass baking pans preheat the oven to 375 F. degrees. Place the tray on a baking sheet and remove the lid. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until the center is hot and the cheese topping is melted.
If using plastic food prep containers you can cook the baked ziti in the microwave. Loosen the lid and heat for 4 to 5 minutes on high or until the center of the ziti is piping hot and the cheese is melted. Check after about 3 minutes and remove the lid if needed.
Ground Beef Freezer Meals
If you like making ground beef freezer meal you can check out my 25 Ground Beef Freezer Meals post.
Have a freezer meal recipe you are looking for? Drop me an email at flouronmyface@gmail.com and I will see what I can do to get you that recipe.
More Freezer Meals
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Freezer Meal Baked Ziti
Ingredients
- 16 oz box ziti noodles
- 5 cups of pasta sauce
- 16 oz container of Ricotta cheese
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ½ teaspoons dried parsley flakes
Instructions
Prep
- Make the Crock Pot Meat Sauce early in the day or the day before assembling the freezer meal baked ziti trays. Or you can buy jarred pasta sauce. You will need about 5 cups of pasta sauce to make two family size trays of baked ziti.
- Make the ricotta cheese mixture by mixing 1 slightly beaten egg, the salt, the ground pepper ,the dried parsley and the ricotta cheese in a large mixing bowl. Cover and chill in the refrigerator until needed. The ricotta cheese can be chilled overnight if needed.
- Boil the pasta following the instructions on the box and rinse well with cold water.
Instructions
- Divide the cooked ziti noodles between the two freezer containers (or the smaller trays if using). I put 5-6 cups of cooked ziti noodles into each of the large trays.
- Add 1 to 1 ½ cups of sauce to each family size tray. Mix with a spoon to cover the noodles with the sauce.
- Add ½ to ¾ cups of the prepared ricotta cheese mixture to each of the large trays. Mix with a spoon to combine with the sauce and noodles.
- Add 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese to each tray and toss the noodles with the cheese to evenly distribute the cheese throughout the pasta.
- Divide the sauce and spread over the top of each tray.
- Divide the ricotta cheese and spread over the top of the sauce.
- Sprinkle about a cup of shredded mozzarella cheese over the top of each tray.
- Place the cardboard lid on each tray. Crimp the edge of the aluminum tray over the edge of the cardboard lid to seal the tray.
- Place the trays in the freezer.
Cooking Directions
- Thaw the tray of ziti in the refrigerator overnight. Pour off any water that forms before cooking.
- If using aluminum trays or glass baking pans preheat the oven to 375 F. degrees.
- Place the thawed tray on a baking sheet and remove the lid. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until the center is hot and the cheese topping is melted.
- If using plastic food prep containers you can cook the baked ziti in the microwave. Loosen the lid and heat for 4 to 5 minutes on high or until the center of the ziti is piping hot and the cheese is melted. Check after about 3 minutes and remove the lid if needed.
Video
Notes
- Cook the Freezer Baked Ziti within 3 to 4 months.
- Each tray will serve 4 to 6 people.
- Cook the pasta and rinse well with cold water to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
- You can make any proportion size baked ziti that you like. You can make two family size trays of baked ziti.
- Or you can make single serving dinner or lunch trays by dividing the ingredients between the smaller containers.
- Thawing freezer meals is easy. To thaw the freezer meal baked ziti the night before you will remove the frozen tray from the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before baking.
