Holiday Baked Ziti + 3 Holiday Kitchen Hacks You NEED This Season

If there’s one dish I make every single Christmas season — it’s this baked ziti. It’s cozy, cheesy, make-ahead friendly, and tastes like it came straight off an Italian holiday table. But what truly makes this recipe a holiday lifesaver are the three kitchen hacks that keep me sane while feeding a crowd.

These aren’t complicated hacks — they’re simple little things that make Christmas Eve and Christmas Day cooking actually manageable. Combine them with this ridiculously delicious baked ziti, and your holiday menu basically runs itself.

Let’s get into the hacks first, then into the recipe that I’m absolutely obsessed with. More holiday dishes!

Holiday Hack #1: My Ingredient Prep Containers (Game-Changer)

The best holiday cooking hack? Prep the ingredients you use constantly.

I keep little containers in my fridge filled with:

• finely diced onions
• finely diced carrots
• finely diced celery
• minced garlic
• chopped parsley
• freshly shredded mozzarella

Instead of dicing onions and garlic 15 times for 15 different dishes, you just scoop out whatever you need. No chaos, no tears, no knives flying on Christmas morning.

I’ll link my favorite containers in the recipe card because they save my brain every year.

Holiday Hack #2: The “Slow-Simmered” Sauce… That You Didn’t Slow Simmer

This baked ziti tastes like you spent eight hours simmering sauce on the stovetop — but you didn’t.

Antonio Carlo did.

His sauces are legitimately the best jarred sauces I have ever used. They’re rich, perfectly seasoned, deeply flavorful, and taste like homemade marinara that’s been bubbling all day.

For this recipe I use:

• 24 oz Antonio Carlo Original Recipe Marinara
• 24 oz Antonio Carlo Arrabbiata

But his Tomato Basil and Roasted Garlic are also incredible.

And because the sauce is already slow-simmered and perfectly seasoned, you don’t need to add any extra spices anywhere — not even in the ricotta mixture.

Holiday Hack #3: Save That Last Cup of Sauce — It Becomes an Appetizer

After assembling your baked ziti, you’ll have about 1 cup of sauce leftover.

Do not toss this.

This is your bonus appetizer.

Use it to:

• simmer shrimp
• simmer frozen meatballs
• warm it and use as a dipping sauce with crusty bread
• toss it with gnocchi
• spoon it over burrata

A tiny bit of leftover sauce = instant holiday appetizer.

If you’re looking for the easiest and best containers to prep your ingredients with look no further than here!

It’s not a debate anymore Antonio Carlo’s Arrabbiata and Original sauces are absolutely ethereal.

Again, If you’re looking for the easiest and best containers to prep your ingredients with look no further than here!

👝 How to Store Leftovers

• Make Ahead: Assemble completely, cover, and refrigerate up to 3 days.
• Freeze: Wrap tightly and freeze up to 3 months.
• Bake from frozen: Add 10–15 extra minutes.
• Leftovers: Reheat at 325°F covered with foil.

🤔 Common Questions