Spicy Sausage and Kale Baked Ziti

A simple, healthy lunch or dinner ready in about 30 minutes. This healthier baked ziti is the perfect comfort food and is perfectly spicy.

I’ve only had traditional baked ziti once, and it was straight awful. Granted, I’ve never been a huge fan of tomatoes or the retched sauce they make from it, but still. 

I haven’t been brave enough to try making it myself until my sister made some other kind of pasta dish the other day <without any tomato sauce>. And it actually tasted good. It was that moment when I knew I had to try to make my own version of baked ziti—without the sauce.

So I started tossing things together: sausage, noodles, kale, roasted garlic, etc. Well, actually that etc. is just cheese. Because what’s a pasta dish without cheese. A LIE, that’s what.

By now, you probably already know how much I love spicy food.

I mean, I add hot sauce and sriracha to just everything and I never pass up a chance to add jalapeno’s to something. It’s already been established that spicy=YUM!

So I knew I wanted to incorporate some of the spicy flavor I’m totally obsessed with into this dish. Looking at my cabinet I saw red pepper flakes that were dying to be used. I was thinking about adding hot sauce, but I think that would have been TOO much spiciness.

And now that I think about it, I should have added pickled jalapeños! Yeah, I’m a jalapeño junkie.

The problem with not adding sauce to baked ziti is—there’s really nothing to hold it together. No tomato-y substance that binds the whole thing together.

UNLESS you add mass amounts of cheese! Nah, I’m just kidding. A little goes a long way. <– I like to forget about that when I make mac n’ cheese. 

But seriously, the cheese is all that’s holding this spicy sausage and kale baked ziti together. So in order to keep things from falling apart, you have to layer. Noodle mixture, cheese, noodle mixture, cheese. (And then you can put a little extra cheese on top if you’re feeling spunky).

So, I used penne noodles, because guess what? I didn’t have ziti noodles. Please don’t hate me. I figured penne was close kin to ziti, so I just used penne noodles. No big deal, right?

I mean it when I say you guys are going to LOVE (♥) this spicy sausage and kale baked ziti. It’s savory, cheesy, noodle-y, meaty, healthy, inexpensive to make, and downright delicious.

Here’s the recipe:

Looking for more healthy dinner inspiration?

These Savory Hibiscus Chicken Enchiladas from Buddha Teas taste amazing! They’re a fiesta of flavor and an incredibly easy meal that anyone can make! For a quick dinner, serve these enchiladas with tortilla chips and fresh salsa.