Baked ziti is delicious, but definitely falls into the category of not that healthy. I decided I wanted to make some baked ziti and found a chickpea based pasta called Banza which totes 25g of protein and 13g of fiber. I've had mixed luck with bean based pastas in the past, but I found that in the baked ziti, this was pretty good. I did find that it released a ton of starch while cooking, so I'd recommend a larger pot than average unless you want a starchy pasta water boil-over.
Recipe
Grocery List
- 1 box Banza Rotini
- 1 jar tomato sauce
- 1 container crumbled goat cheese
- 1 container shredded asiago cheese
- Side salad
Ingredients
- 8oz Banza chickpea pasta
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese
- 1/2 cup shredded asiago cheese (mozzarella will also work here if you want a more melty topping)
Process
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Bring a large pot of water to boil and toss in the banza pasta for about 7 minutes. (I actually cheated here and dumped in the pasta while the water was boiling. I'm not sure I'd recommend this though because it released a TON of starch, but it did speed up the total cooking time.)
When the pasta is cooked, drain and mix with the tomato sauce and goat cheese.
Put the pasta mix in a 9x9 inch baking dish and cover with the asiago cheese.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes (really until the cheese is sufficiently melted for you).
While the pasta is baking, make a side salad and enjoy!
Total Costs
- Price: ~$12 for 4 servings (or $3/serving) - with some leftover ingredients!
- Time: ~ 30 - 40 minutes (less if you cut corners and cook the pasta while the water is boiling)
- Dirty Dishes: 1 pot, 1 9x9" baking dish, 1 spoon