Copycat Olive Garden Stuffed Ziti Fritta

What You Will ❤️ About Stuffed Ziti Fritta

• 5 Cheeses!!! It’s like mini manicotti – these little guys are filled with 5 different types of cheeses!
• Fry Options – you can make them on the stove or in your air fryer
• Copycat Favorite – This copycat of Olive Garden is a favorite among my friends and family – great as an appetizer! And it tastes exactly like the OG version! (But you can make a whole lot more for the money!)

Ingredients in Olive Garden Cheesy Stuffed Ziti Fritta

Olive Garden has five cheeses in their Stuffed Ziti Fritta – so I do too! I stuffed these pasta tubes with a delicious cheese mixture with ricotta, cream cheese, mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses. Here’s everything you’ll need for these fried stuffed rigatoni:

Filling

• Ricotta cheese – really my favorite – it’s so creamy and is 100% necessity! I cringe when people use cottage cheese in lasagna instead! NOOOOO!
• Parmesan, Romano & Mozzarella – If you’re not sure of the difference – Parmesan is made from cow’s milk, while Romano cheese is made from sheep’s milk – but they’re very similar. You can double up on Parm if you don’t have Romano. Mozzarella is
• Cream Cheese – always a good addition to a cheesy recipe!
• Fresh Basil – splurge and get fresh – or grow your own in an Aerogarden like me!

Breading

• Eggs – dredge the stuffed pasta in eggs
• Italian seasoning & Breadcrumbs – you can use regular or Panko
• More Parmesan Cheese!!!!!

The Rest!

• Ziti Rigati Pasta – be sure to get Ziti Rigati – it’s thicker and a little shorter than regular ziti. You can also use Rigatoni pasta – it’s pretty much the same thing and easier to find!
• Vegetable oil
• Alfredo sauce – you can make Olive Garden’s Alfredo Sauce – it’s so easy! Or you can buy some…
• Marinara or pizza sauce

How to make Copycat Stuffed Ziti Fritta recipe?

Copycat Olive Garden Stuffed Ziti Fritta has a few steps – but you’ve got this!!

1. First the pasta – you can use Ziti or Rigatoni for this – the main thing is you want to find a short pasta tube but you want it to have as large an opening as possible – you can’t fill macaroni! Then, in a large pot, cook the pasta according to the directions on box. Take them out on the low end of the cook time so they’re al dente. You’re going to be cooking them again for a few minutes so you don’t want them to fall apart.
2. While your noodles are cooking, in a large bowl, mix together your cheeses with a little basil and stir using a fork and mash into a smooth mixture. Spoon the cheese mixture into a piping bag or zip lock bag (trim a tiny corner off to make it a piping bag).
3. Once the pasta is cooked, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking and make the cooked rigatoni easy to handle. Next, pipe the cheese mixture into each noodle and set them onto a cutting board.
4. After that – prep your two breading trays – one with two beaten eggs and the other with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and Italian seasoning (or basil & oregano). Then dip & roll the pasta tubes into the egg (get the sides of the noodle too!) and then coat with the breading mixture and set back on a rimmed baking sheet.
5. The final step is the “frying” the breaded rigatoni – I tried it both ways – in vegetable oil and in my air fryer. They tasted about the same. The hot oil version browned a bit more – but you also had 1/2 cup of oil in the pan vs. a spritz of olive oil. So if you have an air fryer- I would use that! Drain the traditionally fried version on a paper towel before serving to eliminate excess oil.
6. Then serve your fried cheesy filled rigatoni pasta with marinara sauce and alfredo sauce! Everybody will love it!

Tips, Tricks & FAQs

What to serve with Stuffed Ziti Fritta

Stuffed Ziti Fritta is great as an appetizer or even a main dish! If you want to make it a main dish – it would be complete with my favorite Olive Garden Salad recipe. I’d love to have it on the side with the Olive Garden Minestrone as well. Or have it along side grilled chicken – these Traeger Smoked Chicken Thighs are a favorite in my house!

Other Perfect Appetizers

• Air Fryer Stuffed Mini Peppers
• Pimento Cheese Sausage Balls
• Sausage Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos

More Olive Garden Copycat Recipes

• Olive Garden Stuffed Mushrooms
• Olive Garden Pasta Fagioli soup
• Olive Garden Meat Sauce
• More Olive Garden Recipes