Five Cheese Ziti al Forno

Five Cheese Ziti al Forno is an Olive Garden copycat recipe combining mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, fontina, and ricotta with tender pasta, flavorful marinara sauce, and creamy Alfredo sauce for a decadent, delicious comfort food dinner!

 

I can say with conviction that, growing up, Olive Garden was my favorite "fancy restaurant." I still fondly remember my first going-out-to-eat birthday dinner at their newly-built south Austin location in the late 80s. Olive Garden is also where I would treat my brother to "a good meal" in college when he was a freshman and I was a senior. I mean, how can you beat endless salad and breadsticks at any age?!

Alas, I haven't dined there in a good many years at this point. But that doesn't mean I haven't figured out how to replicate some of my favorite OG recipes at home, from their zippy Italian Salad Dressing to their Chicken Gnocchi Soup to today's decadent, positively divine Five Cheese Ziti al Forno!

It's basically like an Italian version of mac and cheese, y'all...only better. 😉

Ingredients

The star ingredients of Five Cheese Ziti al Forno are -- you guessed it! -- ziti pasta and FIVE different types of cheese!

But what exactly are those cheeses? And what else do you need to whip up this drool-worthy comfort food recipe?

• Ziti pasta. If you can’t find ziti, another sturdy pasta (such as penne, for similar tubes, or even rotini or farfalle) will work.
• Cheese, cheese, and more cheese! Specifically, (1.) shredded mozzarella, (2.) shredded fontina, (3.) grated Parmesan, (4.) grated Romano, and (5.) ricotta.
  • Any soft cheese (I'm looking at you, mozzarella and fontina) is easier to shred if you briefly chill the block in the freezer first.
  • Since fontina can sometimes be hard to find, provolone is a good substitute for this recipe.
  • Use reduced-fat or whole milk ricotta, but keep in mind that whole milk is creamier.
• Marinara sauce. You may, of course, use homemade marinara if you've got some on hand. But a jarred sauce that you enjoy the flavor of also works beautifully in this recipe.
• Tomato sauce. Tomato puree would be fine as well.
• Alfredo sauce. I'll be honest here...lots of store-bought Alfredo sauces contain some rather icky ingredients. But I was able to track down a jarred Alfredo sauce that's both tasty and made with decent ingredients. And again, if you'd like to whip up your own from scratch, knock yourself out! 😉
• Italian breadcrumbs. Feel free to use store-bought, or easily make them yourself.
• Italian seasoning.
  • If you don't already have a bottle in your spice cabinet, you can use substitute ½ teaspoon dried parsley + ½ teaspoon dried basil + ½ teaspoon dried oregano + ¼ teaspoon dried thyme + ⅛ teaspoon dried rosemary in this recipe instead.
  • Or if you have access to fresh herbs, feel free to add those to this recipe in place of dried. Just keep in mind that dried herbs are about three times more potent than fresh, so you will need a total of 2 tablespoons of minced fresh herbs to replace the 2 teaspoons of dried herbs called for in the recipe.
• Minced garlic cloves + extra-virgin olive oil. For the breadcrumb topping.

Cook the pasta:

1. Preheat the oven and grease a baking dish.
2. Cook the pasta in salted, boiling water until al dente; drain and set aside.

Make the topping:

3. In a medium bowl, combine the mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, Italian breadcrumbs, minced garlic, and EVOO; set aside.

Make the sauce:

4. In a large bowl, stir together the marinara sauce, Alfredo sauce, tomato sauce, mozzarella, fontina, ricotta, and Romano until well-combined.

Assemble & finish the dish:

5. Combine the sauce and the cooked pasta until evenly coated. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Evenly sprinkle with the cheesy breadcrumb topping mixture.

6. Bake your Five Cheese Ziti al Forno until golden brown and bubbly!

Gluten-Free Five Cheese Ziti al Forno

I have one gluten-free kiddo, so I made a GF version of this recipe for him using our family's favorite gluten-free penne pasta (I couldn't find GF ziti) and my Homemade Italian Breadcrumbs made with GF bread.

Alternatively, you could use store-bought gluten-free Italian breadcrumbs...or gluten-free plain breadcrumbs with 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning stirred in.

If making this recipe GF, just be sure you also check the ingredient label on your Alfredo sauce.

Optional: Adding Meat

If you would like to beef up this recipe (no pun intended--heh) by addding ground beef, ground turkey, or even Italian sausage to this dish, I'd suggest browning 1 pound of meat in a pan, draining the grease, and seasoning with salt and pepper, to taste. Then simply stir in the meat at the same time you combine the pasta with the sauce.

Just be sure your baking dish is large enough to accommodate the extra goodness!

Dividing Between Two Dishes

Instead of baking your Five Cheese Ziti al Forno in one baking dish, it can be divided between two 8- by 8-inch baking dishes (or baking dishes of varying dimensions, as long as they have capacities of 1.5- to 2-quarts each).

You can share the second dish with someone or freeze it to enjoy another day (see “Freezing Instructions” below).

Make-Ahead Instructions

If you’d like to assemble this recipe ahead of time, you may tightly cover the baking dish with foil and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

When you’re ready to bake it, remove the baking dish from the fridge while the oven preheats to 350°F and bake (still covered with foil) for 15 minutes. Remove the foil from the dish and then bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and completely heated through.

Freezing Instructions

Assemble your Five Cheese Ziti al Forno as directed (in a freezer-safe baking dish!) but do not bake. Place the assembled recipe in the refrigerator (uncovered) for a couple of hours until chilled. Then tightly cover the dish in two layers of freezer-thickness foil, label with recipe name and date, and freeze for up to three months.

The day before you’re ready to bake your ziti dish, place it in the refrigerator to thaw for at least 24 hours.

Remove the thawed baking dish from the fridge while the oven preheats to 350°F and bake (still covered with foil) for 15 minutes. Remove the foil from the dish and then bake for an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and completely heated through.

Helpful Tips, Tricks, & Equipment

• As shown in the step-by-step photos (above), I cooked my ziti for this recipe in a large pot. So after draining the water and returning the pasta to the pot, there was plenty of room to stir the sauce into the drained ziti in the pot. Alternatively, if you mix up your sauce ingredients in a very large bowl, there may be room for you to stir the drained ziti directly into the sauce. Either way works…you just want to combine the two components wherever you have the most room!
• Separate amounts of mozzarella cheese are needed for various steps in this recipe, and they are broken out as such in the recipe card. However, for shopping purposes, the total amount of shredded mozzarella required for the entire recipe is 2 cups.
• Similarly, the total amount of grated Romano required for the whole recipe is ½ cup.

And there you have it! Five Cheese Ziti al Forno is a cozy, scrumptious pasta dish that'll have you reminiscing about your fondest Olive Garden memories...

...whether 20 years ago or last week...

...from the comfort of your very own kitchen. 😉

More Pasta Dinner Favorites

• One-Pot Spaghetti
• Beefy Cheesy Baked Tortellini
• 30-Minute Skillet Lasagna
• Easy Skillet Pastitsio (Greek Lasagna)