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spooky baked ziti in an orange baking dish.

Beefy Baked Ziti with Mozzarella Eyeballs (Spooky Halloween Pasta Recipe)

If you’re looking for the perfect spooky recipe for halloween night, I GOT YOU! #ad This cheesy beefy baked ziti recipe with mozzarella eye-balls is EYE-CONIC! It’s packed with so much beefy goodness, it looks amazing, and it’s so fun to make with the kids!
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Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course, pasta
Cuisine American, Italian
Servings 6 people

Video

Ingredients
  

For the Pasta

  • 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
  • 1 medium Sweet Onion finely diced
  • 5 cloves Garlic finely diced
  • 1 lb Ground Beef
  • 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
  • 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt plus more
  • 4 cups Marinara Sauce (about 1.5 jars)
  • ½ cup Heavy Cream
  • ½ cup Parmesan Cheese grated
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese
  • 1 lb Ziti Pasta
  • 3 cups Low Moisture Mozzarella shredded

FOR THE EYES

  • 8 medium-small Mozzarella Balls (about 14 oz of Bocconcini)
  • 8 medium Green Olives with Pimento
  • 4 slices Prosciutto halved lengthwise

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook a few minutes short of the recommended time to account for it cooking more in the oven. Strain and set aside.
  • Meanwhile, add olive oil, onion and a pinch of salt to a large sauce pan over medium heat. Once softened, about 3 minutes, add garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
  • Now add ground beef, Italian seasoning, and kosher salt and use a spatula to break it up into crumbles. Drain the beef if needed.
  • Once the beef is cooked through to 165 F, add marinara sauce to the beef and stir. Then add heavy cream, parmesan cheese and cream cheese. Let this mixture simmer, stirring often, until all the cheese has melted and is incorporated in the sauce; about 5 minutes.
  • Now combine the sauce and the al dente pasta and stir.
  • Grease a baking dish and then layer half of the pasta, half of the mozzarella, the rest the pasta and the rest of the mozzarella.
  • Place in the oven for 20 minutes. Then broil for the last 2-3 to get a crispy crust.
  • While the ziti is baking, make the eyeballs. Cut a small circle into each piece of mozzarella then remove the inner circle. Shove a green olive into the hole then wrap the bottom of the eyeball with prosciutto.
  • Once the baked ziti is cooked and bubbling, remove it from the oven and add the mozzarella eyes on top before serving.
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Keyword halloween, kid friendly, pasta, recipe, spooky
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