Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno (Copycat)

by Sabrina SnyderApril 17, 2018 56 Comments
5 from 13 votes

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Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno copycat recipe made with marinara, alfredo, mozzarella, fontina, romano and parmesan cheese baked together with a crispy panko topping.

This baked ziti recipe is a huge hit with crowds and potlucks just like my super popular Baked Million Dollar Spaghetti and Ultimate Meat Lasagna.

Olive Garden Ziti al Forno Copycat Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno (Copycat)

This Ziti al Forno is like the best baked ziti recipe you’ve ever had kicked up about ten more notches. A mixture of marinara and alfredo sauce along with five (yes, I mean five) additional cheeses maked this dish an over the top extravagant recipe you won’t have to wait for a trip to Olive Garden to enjoy.

This baked ziti is different than the traditional baked ziti which is made with marinara sauce, mozzarella and ricotta cheese. With a mix of two sauces and five cheeses you’d think that all the flavors would be muddled, but they work so well together that you’ll find yourself routinely mixing marinara sauce and alfredo sauce even when making a simple spaghetti dinner.

Can you make this ziti al forno lasagna?

YES and I love the way you think. We had a girls night in recently and experimented with this recipe as lasagna. Let me tell you, it was probably the best lasagna I’ve EVER eaten. We did add ground beef to the recipe because it needed more substance than just cheese. We also definitely added the crispy topping.

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.

Ziti Al Forno Recipe

Can you freeze/reheat Ziti al Forno?

Yes, sort of. We tried this a couple of times and ended up with dry pasta. Then we tried something we’ve seen in frozen pastas and cooked the pasta, freezing it on a sheet in a single layer. Once frozen we made the recipe as directed.

Why freeze the pasta you ask? Pasta has this annoying quality where it sucks up all the liquids in a dish when there are leftovers. This means the next day your pasta is all dried out. By freezing the pasta before assembling we prevent the pasta from acting like a sponge.

Looking for more Copycat pasta recipes?

Let me know if you have any copycat recipe requests. I have a lot more coming, some from Olive Garden in fact! If you have a recipe you’d like to see let me know in the comments below.

Recipe

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Olive Garden Ziti al Forno Copycat
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Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno

5 from 13 votes
  • Yield: 8 Servings
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Course: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Italian
  • Author: Sabrina Snyder
Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno copycat recipe made with marinara, alfredo, mozzarella, fontina, romano and parmesan cheese baked together with a cripy panko topping.

Ingredients

PASTA

US Customary - Metric

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
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

  2. Cook the pasta one minute shy of the directions on the box and drain.

  3. In a large metal bowl add the pasta, marinara sauce, alfredo sauce, ricotta cheese and fontina cheese and mix well.
  4. Add to a large oven safe skillet or 9x13 pan.
  5. Mix the mozzarella, panko, romano, parmesan and garlic together and add the topping over the pasta.

  6. Bake for 30-35 minutes uncovered until golden brown and bubbly.

Nutrition Information

Yield: 8 Servings, Amount per serving: 534 calories, Serving Size: 1 , Calories: 534g, Carbohydrates: 55g, Protein: 23g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Cholesterol: 85mg, Sodium: 1431mg, Potassium: 581mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 8g, Vitamin A: 900g, Vitamin C: 8.8g, Calcium: 325g, Iron: 2.4g

All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.

Keyword: Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno copycat
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Olive Garden Ziti Al Forno
Ziti Al Forno

About the Author

Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

Categories:

Christmas Copycats Main Course Main Dishes Pastas Vegetarian

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Comments

  1. Baked this beauty copy cot today . Only substitution we did was gouda cheese for Fontina cheese . Delicious ?. Thank you

    Reply

    1. Oh no! I’m able to find it at any local grocer around here. You can use a mild provolone, gruyere, or gouda cheese to substitue if needed. Good luck!

      Reply

  3. What is the green stuff sprinkled on top? I notice that ingredient in the recipe posted but I see it in the photo!

    Reply

  7. Fontina cheese is not readily available to me as I am located in another part of the world. Would this recipe still work without it? I’m not fussed about replicating Olive Garden’s recipe, but instead, I want it to still taste good.

    Reply

  8. You have some really great recipes. I see you listed servings and calories but I have the carbs. I am diabetic and I am on a stick diet. I have to know every carb so I can adjust my insulin. Can you please list carbs. I love these recipes!

    Reply

    1. I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes. 🙂 All of the nutritional content comes from a computer plug in not a nutritionalist. I would suggest calculating on your own to be sure it’s completely accurate since it has to be so precise.

      Reply

  10. Hi! Is there a specific brand (or recipe) of marinara and alfredo you use? Mine didn’t come out quite right and I think it’s because of the sauces I used. Thanks!

    Reply

  11. I just made this for company and everyone absolutely raved about it! I added sautéed mushrooms, zucchini, and tomatoes. Thank you for a fantastic recipe!

    Reply

  14. I made this recipe for a few of my friends and it was a huge hit!! Everyone went back for seconds and wanted to take some home. I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who loves a good 5 cheese ziti!! It tastes very similar to the Olive Garden 5 cheese Ziti al Forno!!

    Reply

  18. What??? You tease us with reassurances that this drool-worthy dish can be turned into lasagna then give no specifics for added ingredients or changes in directions? Please, please give some details, or even a whole recipe. Thanks so much!

    Reply

      1. Yay! In hopeful anticipation, I had added Dinner Then Dessert to my Bloglovin’ feed. I already know that 3 out of the 4 of us will love this, and the to-come lasagna. (My older son doesn’t like cheese! I know, right?) Anyway, have a fantabulous rest of the week.

        Reply