Creamy Pesto Baked Ziti

photo by:kraft

This was delish! I do think it would be even better with hamburger not turkey sausage. I also did not have the cooking crème on hand so I used 8 oz. of cream cheese. I also...read more

posted by

SCLAWSON1975

on 3/26/2013

time

prep:

20 min

total:

40 min

servings

total:

8 servings, 1-1/2 cups each

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What You Need

pkg. (16 oz.) ziti pasta

Tbsp. olive oil

3/4

lb. Italian turkey sausage (about 3 links), casings removed

onion, chopped

cloves garlic, chopped

can (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes, undrained

1/3

cup pesto

tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Original Cooking Creme

bag (5 oz.) baby spinach leaves

pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese with a TOUCH OF PHILADELPHIA, divided

1/2

cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

Make It

HEAT oven to 375ºF.

BRING large pot of water to boil over high heat. Add ziti and cook until al dente.

MEANWHILE, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook until browned, using the back of a wooden spoon to break up sausage. Add onion and garlic and saute until tender. Stir in tomatoes and pesto. Simmer 10 min. Stir in cooking creme.

DRAIN pasta; return to pot. Add spinach, meat sauce and 1-1/2 cups mozzarella cheese and stir to combine. Spoon into 3-qt. baking dish. Top with remaining 1/2 cup mozzarella and Parmesan.

BAKE until completely heated through and golden on top, about 20 min.

Kraft Kitchens Tips

Serving Suggestion

Serve with a cold glass of prepared CRYSTAL LIGHT Peach Tea.

Make Ahead

Prepare the sauce the night before so all you need to do is cook the pasta, assemble and bake off the morning of the game.

Substitute

Prepare using KRAFT Shredded Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese.

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SCLAWSON1975

posted:3/26/2013

This was delish! I do think it would be even better with hamburger not turkey sausage. I also did not have the cooking crème on hand so I used 8 oz. of cream cheese. I also had about a cup of spaghetti sauce in the frig so I added that too. I also had a couple sun dried tomatoes and added those too. It was very dry the next day as leftovers but still delish.

mconrady

posted:11/7/2012

Oh my goodness, my husband and I both loved this! Followed the recipe exactly and it came out perfect! I will definitely be making it again!

PDunnevant

posted:9/1/2012

The flavors of this dish are so delicious! The pesto added yummy basil flavor, and the cooking cream gave it a wonderful creaminess. It was fun to watch the spinach wilt as I stirred everything together too! I am not a big fan of sausage, so I used ground beef instead; but I followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Next time I will reduce the amount a pasta just a little bit to make the dish saucier since it got a bit dry around the edges of the pan. This recipe will go into my rotation of favorites.

AbigailElizabeth

posted:4/25/2012

I used ground Italian sausage vs links. I made the entire batch & froze half... Amazing dish!! The other change I made was using only a 1/4 of the amount of suggested spinach -- the husband isn't a huge fan :) MUST TRY!

je3835

posted:3/2/2012

Neely's yall done it again. This is so delicious and its a new spin on ziti. Thanks.. I love it

KimiB46

posted:12/27/2011

This was so good we had seconds! I used the roll of sage sausage by Jimmy Dean instead and it was yummy. I decided not to bake it and just poured the sauce, spinach and cheese into the pot and mixed it all up and it was warm enough without having to heat it in the oven.

fjohnston

posted:12/22/2011

This turned out great when I made it! I love the creamy-ness of this casserole and had to use chicken because I could not find the turkey italian sausage. Will definitely make this again!

kloiselle05

posted:10/24/2011

Easy to make. Made a few modifications to reduce fat/calories. Used basil rather than pesto and only 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese (blk truffle cheese works too). Couldn't find turkey sausage so I used italian chicken sausage (from TJ's). Got the thumbs up from husband & 5 yr. old daughter!

taylor0825

posted:10/21/2011

This was very good and very easy to make. Fam ily loved it. Great way to add spinach for those who don't really care for it. I used regular cream cheese and pork itl sausage because that's what I had. Next time I make this I will add some crushed red pepper for a little kick. All in all...this will be in the bi-weekly rotation!

cpaige41

posted:9/13/2011

This recipe was just ok. I could not taste the pesto flavor(even used more then recipe called for). The spinach & turkey sausage did not help the flavor either. Italian sausage would be more flavorful,although not as healthy. I also, think it would be better if not baked. It was very creamy before it was baked,it was dried out after baking. This recipe was very expensive to make,therefore, being it was not exceptional, for the price,I will stick to a basic baked pasta recipe.