Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno copycat recipe with two Italian sauces and 5 melty cheeses baked together with a crispy panko topping.
Baked Ziti is the ultimate cheesy, crowd-pleasing Italian Dish. Try my Baked Million Dollar Spaghetti and Ultimate Meat Lasagna for more potluck favorites.
Table of contents
Sabrina’s Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno Recipe
This is a tried and true best baked ziti recipe you’ve ever had! It takes a classic dish and kicks up about ten more notches. A mixture of marinara and Alfredo sauce along with five (yes, five!) additional cheeses make an over-the-top, flavorful pasta. And you don’t have to wait for a trip to Olive Garden to enjoy it!
Traditional baked ziti is made with marinara sauce, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, but this Olive Garden version is even more indulgent. With a mix of two sauces, you’d think that all the flavors would be muddled, but they work so well together that you’ll find yourself routinely mixing marinara and Alfredo even when making a simple spaghetti dinner.
Let me know if you have any Copycat Recipe requests. I have a lot more on the site, some from Olive Garden in fact! If you have a specific recipe you’d like to see let me know in the comments below.
How to Make
Time needed: 45 minutes.
- Prep time:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and add the pasta to a pot of boiling water. Cook for 1 minute shy of the box instructions, then drain and set to the side.
- Combine ingredients:
Add the pasta, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, ricotta cheese, and fontina cheese to a large bowl and mix well. Then, add the pasta mixture to a skillet or baking pan.
- Add Panko topping:
Mix together the mozzarella, romano, parmesan, breadcrumbs, and garlic. Sprinkle the cheese and breadcrumb mixture over the pasta dish.
- Baking time:
Put the ziti in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and toasted golden brown.
Ingredients
PASTA
- 1 pound ziti pasta
- 4 cups marinara sauce
- 2 cups alfredo sauce
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/2 cup Fontina cheese , shredded
TOPPING
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese , shredded
- 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
- 1/4 cup romano cheese , grated
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese , grated
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Cook the pasta one minute shy of the directions on the box and drain.
- In a large metal bowl add the pasta, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, ricotta cheese and fontina cheese and mix well.
- Add to a large oven safe skillet or 9×13 pan.
- Mix the mozzarella, panko, romano, parmesan and garlic together and add the topping over the pasta.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes uncovered until golden brown and bubbly.
Nutrition
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Can you freeze it for later?
- Yes, sort of. I tried freezing this recipe for meal prep and ended up with dry pasta. But, then I tried adding the cooked pasta to a baking sheet in a single layer, and freezing it on its own. Once the pasta was frozen, I combined it with the other ingredients, and froze the whole recipe in a freezer-safe container to bake later.
- Why freeze the pasta you ask? Pasta has this annoying quality where it sucks up all the liquids, drying out your leftovers. By freezing the pasta before assembling, you prevent the pasta from acting like a sponge, and maintain the amazing texture and flavor. To serve pop the frozen recipe in a 375 degree oven and bake until warmed through.
Frequent Questions
YES and I love the way you think. If you prefer lasagna, you can swap out the ziti pasta for lasagna sheets, and layer the sauce and cheese between the pasta layers. You may want to add seared ground beef to give it some more substance than the cheese and sauce.
This Olive Garden recipe is vegetarian but you can absolutely add meat or seafood to the dish. Adding shrimp is a fantastic option, sliced and seared chicken would be great too.
Looking for more Copycat pasta recipes?
What is the serving size? I get it serves 8, but how much does each person get with this recipe. Thanks!!!
Our nutrition values are created by a nutrition calculator. Feel free to use your own nutrition calculators with the recipe ingredients. Serving sizes become an issue because people will have ingredients of different sizes. Packaged products are weighed and measured at the time of creation which makes their measurements accurate. The only way to accurately know the measurements of meals is to weigh and divide.
Could I add hamburger to the ziti?
Sure!
I would like to make this. Could I add another to it?
Add “another”?
I made this recipe tonight and it was amazing! Taste just like Olive Gardens.this is a keeper.and its so easy.You will not be disappointed! Promise!
Best home recipe and tastes just like the original, three teens loved it. Thanks for sharing
You’re welcome Sandy and thanks for the five star review!
Could you make this in a crockpot? I need to take it for a potluck, but if I bake it the night before I’m worried it will be too dry. Any suggestions?
I haven’t tried this recipe using a crock pot. if you’re looking for Chicken crock pot options, check these recipes out! https://dinnerthendessert.com/?s=chicken+slow+cooker
This recipe is awesome! I’ve made 4 times now, and it is my go to when I want a cheesy Ziti. Tastes great the next day too. Leftovers don’t last long.
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Ezequiel! Thanks for the five star review.
My kids take turn cooking once a week, and when it was my son’s turn he wanted to make the Five Cheese Ziti he had at Olive Garden. I found your recipe and it was a huge it! He said it tasted just like the original.
I love hearing that the kids enjoyed the recipe! Thank you Kelly and thanks for the 5 stars.
This was the absolute BEST BAKED ZITI I HAVE EVER HAD!!!!!! Totally recommend. Family favorite now! ????
Yay! So glad you guys enjoyed the recipe. Thank you Madison for the five star review.
This is a simple recipe that everyone loves. I use a 48 oz jar of Prego sauce which makes it moister. I also add in 1 pound of browned ground meat and 1 pound of ground mild Italian sausage so the extra sauce is better. Add some onion and green pepper along with some basil and oregano. Tastes even better the next day!
I like your ideas! Sounds yummy Bertie!
I am confused about your comment regarding freezing the pasta before assembling. Probably a silly question, but does that mean to boil the pasta and then freeze or freeze it uncooked and then assemble everything and cook?
We tried something we’ve seen in frozen pastas and COOKED the pasta, then freezing it on a sheet in a single layer. Once frozen we made the recipe as directed. Let us know what you decided to do and how it turned out!
Did it all with your Alftedo and Marinara recipes (almost used Raos) but, this was great!!! It was a hit!
Great recipe! My family loved it. Only thing I changed was substituting Gruyere, since I couldn’t find the Fontina.
This was DELICIOUS! Tastes so much like Olive Garden and leftovers were delicious too!
I made that it was so good.
It turned out perfectly! Delicious!
Ive never been to Olive Garden and my husband has promised to take me. But in the mean time, I made this and it was sooo good. My only mistake was I couldn’t find fontina and I forgot the mozzarella. Othee than that, it was even a hit with friends I had over today
Absolutely delicious, and LOVE the fast Alfredo recipe too. I would recommend people budget 2 hours for this dish, or make your sauce ahead of time. Thank you for a great meal. 🙂 Lisa
You’re welcome! Thanks for the 5 stars Lisa!
This was probably one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had! It is just like olive garden’s I love love love it
That’s great Journey! Thanks for letting us know!
delicious so easy to make it i would eat this every day if I could
Can you make this a day or two before for a party?
Yes! Baked Ziti is the perfect make-ahead meal to either refrigerate and bake the next day or to assemble and freeze. Assemble and refrigerate. Enjoy!
this is the best ziti ever!!
Mine turned out good but very dry like all the sauce was pretty much gone
can i make this in the crockpot?
I haven’t tested it in the slow cooker so I couldn’t give you directions on how, I’m sorry.
I’m so excited to try this for my sister’s birthday. Can I assemble this the night before and cook it the next day?
I’m in the process of making this for the first time but trust that it will be delicious.
BUT – is anyone else as frustrated as I am with buying food in jars or containers and there being less than the packaging says!? I bought the jar sauce. On the Alfredo sauce, it says it is 16 oz.,1 lb. – which would be 2 cups. There was actually a little less that 1 3/4 cups of sauce! I really hope this won’t make a difference. If the jar had said it was 14 oz. I would have bought 2! Grrrrr!!
Alfredo sauce is really easy to make…melt a stick of butter add 2cups of crème..heat on low as you mix in grated parmesan cheese until thickened..add black pepper and salt to taste…always a hit at my house!!!
Can you use a 15 oz container of ricotta in this recipe?
We’re moving to a town where the nearest Olive Garden is overlap two hours away, so I NEEDED this recipe!
Now, could you figure out how to make Mei Wei’s Thai Coconut Soup?? I’ve been trying, but my turns out too sour or too sweet.
Just made this recipe for my husband and I and Oh My God!! It is so good and maybe even better then olive garden.LOVEEE. Definitely saving this recipe. Thank You!
I did this recipe a long time ago for a family reunion and everyone loved it!!! I did enough big portions (we are Cubans…) and it finished and people wanted more!!! There was about 20 people and I did enough for like 60 people thinking some of us could bring home some…DID NOT HAPPEN!!!
The bread crumbs burned and got hard? Any suggestions
Next time, maybe try covering for half the cook time and then uncover for the last 15 minutes.
I added the breadcrumbs on the very top and kinda mixed it into the cheese. I only cooked it for 30 minutes and it gave it a very nice crunch but not burnt.
This is such a good recipe! I’ve never had the actual Olive Garden version but tried this recipe because of the pictures. Such an easy meal to throw together after a busy day, and tastes like hours were spent working on it. I cannot say enough good things about this recipe!
Thank you Kayla!
This is amazing! So, so, good. My daughter requested for her birthday. Do you think it could be adapted to slow cooker??