Meals · Pasta & noodle bakes

Baked ziti

Name: Baked ziti
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients: 550 g dry ziti pasta, cooked 2 min shy of al dente; 14 oz 90% lean ground beef; 1 yellow onions, diced; 3 cloves garlic, minced; 1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes; 1 tsp dried oregano; 1 tsp dried basil; 1 tsp salt; 1 cup ricotta cheese; 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded; 1/2 cup grated parmesan

The lasagna you don't have to layer: ziti folded through marinara and ricotta, baked under mozzarella until bubbling. Feeds a table, freezes like a dream.

Time: 55 min (15 prep + 40 cook)
Servings: 6
Per serving: 712 kcal
Protein: 41 g

Both directions are legitimate — the score measures fullness per calorie, not virtue. Every version is the same dish, rebalanced.

Ingredients

550 g dry ziti pasta, cooked 2 min shy of al dente1298 g
14 oz 90% lean ground beef400 g
1 yellow onions, diced120 g
3 cloves garlic, minced10 g
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes800 g
1 tsp dried oregano2 g
1 tsp dried basil2 g
1 tsp salt6 g
1 cup ricotta cheese250 g
2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded200 g
1/2 cup grated parmesan40 g

Every ingredient links to its food page — same data, same score, same formula.

Steps

Brown the beef with the onion, add the garlic, then the tomatoes, herbs and salt. Simmer 10 minutes.
Undercook the ziti by 2 minutes — it finishes in the oven, and fully-cooked pasta bakes to mush.
Fold the pasta, sauce, ricotta and half the mozzarella together loosely — pockets of ricotta are a feature.
Into a baking dish, remaining mozzarella and the parmesan on top, 200°C for 20–25 minutes until browned and bubbling at the edges.

Why this score

moderately filling

No single route carries this one — a moderate amount of protein, volume and fiber.

Three routes to fullness — one is enough

24% of kcal

62% water

10 g/Mcal

What pulls it down

Nothing here converges the way engineered food does — no sugar, no savoury and no alcohol penalty.

How scores work

Computed on the finished dish, not an average of the parts: 4272 kcal goes into the pot, 3128 g of ingredients comes out as ~2398 g of food → 178 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water, and energy density is the score's biggest lever — so we show the math. Full formula here.

Per

Calories: 178
Protein: (24%); 10 g
Fat: (29%); 6 g
Carbohydrates: (48%); 21 g
of which sugar: 2 g
Fiber: 2 g
Sodium: 324 mg

Percentages are the share of calories from each macronutrient.

Computed from the ingredients' USDA data — nothing typed by hand. Every number is traceable, every score recomputable.

More meals

Photo: AI-generated. Nutrition and score are computed from the ingredients with the published formula — this recipe hasn't been kitchen-tested by us yet.