Quick answer: The five cheeses are ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and fontina — Olive Garden calls it a 'five-cheese marinara,' and that cheese-enriched sauce bakes up creamy, not thin. To match it at home, don't use plain marinara: toss very undercooked ziti with about 2 cups marinara blended with 1 cup of a quick Alfredo cream sauce, plus the five cheeses, pour into a 9×13, top with more mozzarella and fontina and a garlicky panko-Parmesan crust, and bake at 375°F for 30–35 minutes until golden and bubbly. Rest 10 minutes before serving. At Olive Garden it runs about $18 (prices vary by location) and 1,220 calories with 36g saturated fat; this home version is roughly $12–14 for six servings at about 700 calories each.
Copycat Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno at home: ziti tossed in a creamy five-cheese marinara (marinara blended with a quick Alfredo) with fontina, mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan, and Romano, topped with garlicky panko and baked golden. The secret most copycats miss is the cream in the sauce.
Medium
Prep: 20 min
Cook: 1 hr
Total: 1h 20m6 servings
~$4.50/serving
Prep20 min
Cook1 hr
Total1h 20m
Servings
6
At home~$4.50/serving
vs
Restaurant~$20.25/serving
You save ~78%
Ingredients
Instructions
💡
Pro tip: This recipe tastes even better the next day. The flavors need time to meld together in the fridge.
❄️
Storage: Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Freezer-friendly for up to 3 months.
~350-550 cal/serving · Rich & Indulgent🔥
CopycatSpices
Copycat Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno at home: ziti tossed in a creamy five-cheese marinara (marinara blended with a quick Alfredo) with fontina, mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan, and Romano, topped with garlicky panko and baked golden. The secret most copycats miss is the cream in the sauce.
olive-garden · casual-dining · pasta · italian
🕑Prep20 min
🍳Cook1 hr
⏱Total1h 20m
🍽Serves6
⭐DifficultyMedium
Ingredients
1 lb ziti (or penne rigate as substitute)
Kosher salt for pasta water
Alfredo cream component:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
Sauce assembly:
2 cups marinara sauce (good-quality jarred, such as Rao's, or homemade)
Five-cheese filling:
1 cup whole-milk ricotta
1 cup shredded mozzarella (for the filling; see below for topping)
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, divided (1/4 cup filling, 1/4 cup topping)
1/4 cup freshly grated Romano
3/4 cup shredded fontina, divided (1/2 cup filling, 1/4 cup topping)
Baked topping:
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella (reserved from above)
1/4 cup shredded fontina (reserved from above)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (reserved from above)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/4 tsp garlic powder)
1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
Instructions
1.Cook the ziti very short. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a rolling boil. Add the ziti and cook 3 to 4 minutes less than the package directions for al dente — the pasta should still have a white, chalky center when you bite into it. It is not edible at this stage and should not be. It will finish cooking in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Overcooked pasta going in equals mushy pasta coming out. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water before draining. Drain but do not rinse.
2.Make the Alfredo cream component. While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and cook, stirring, 30 to 45 seconds until fragrant — do not brown it. Pour in the heavy cream and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook uncovered 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cream coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan in two additions until smooth. Season with salt and white pepper. Set aside.
3.Combine the sauces. In a large mixing bowl, combine the 2 cups of marinara with the Alfredo cream component. Stir until uniform — you'll have an orange-pink, creamy-tomato sauce. Taste for seasoning. This is the base that coats the pasta.
4.Mix the five-cheese filling layer. To the mixing bowl, add the ricotta, 1 cup shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup Parmesan, the Romano, and 1/2 cup of the fontina. Stir to combine — the ricotta will blend into the sauce, making it thicker and creamier. Add the undercooked, drained ziti and fold everything together until every piece of pasta is evenly coated. If the mixture looks very thick, add a splash of the reserved pasta water to loosen it slightly.
5.Prepare the panko topping. In a small bowl, combine the panko breadcrumbs, olive oil, minced garlic (or garlic powder), and Italian seasoning. Toss with a fork until the panko is evenly coated in oil and the garlic is distributed. Set aside.
6.Assemble the baking dish. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with butter or cooking spray. Pour the ziti mixture in and spread it into an even layer with a spatula. Scatter the reserved 1/2 cup mozzarella, 1/4 cup fontina, and 1/4 cup Parmesan evenly over the top. Finish with the prepared panko topping spread in an even layer.
7.Bake. Place the baking dish uncovered on the center oven rack. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the sauce is visibly bubbling at the edges. If the panko starts browning too quickly before the 25-minute mark, loosely tent with foil. The center should be set and hot — test by inserting a knife into the middle; it should come out steaming.
8.Rest before serving. Pull the dish from the oven and let it rest, uncovered, on the counter for 10 minutes before serving. This is non-negotiable for baked pasta — the sauce needs to re-set slightly or every portion collapses. Use a large spoon or offset spatula to serve in generous portions. Finish each plate with extra Parmesan if desired.
Notes
The Story Behind the Recipe
Copycat Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno
Prep: 20 min | Cook: 1 hr | Serves: 6 | Cost: ~$18 at Olive Garden (varies by location) vs. ~$12–14 for six servings at home
Olive Garden’s Five Cheese Ziti al Forno has one of the most widely circulated copycat recipes in casual dining — and most versions come out thinner and drier than the restaurant’s. The reason is almost always the sauce: they use plain marinara. The two things that get this dish right are a creamy five-cheese marinara (marinara enriched with a quick Alfredo-style cream sauce) and fontina in the cheese blend. This recipe covers both.
The creamy-sauce secret. Olive Garden’s menu calls this a “five-cheese marinara” — not plain marinara. The defining characteristic of the dish, the orange-pink, creamy-rich sauce that coats every piece of pasta, comes from a marinara enriched with cheese and cream. The reliable way to reproduce it at home is to combine marinara with a simple Alfredo cream sauce. Without that cream component, the baked ziti is noticeably thinner and drier. The combination produces what cooks call a “rosa” or blush sauce, and it’s the single biggest upgrade if you’ve tried other copycat versions and found them lacking.
The fifth cheese. The five cheeses are ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and fontina — that’s the blend most commonly cited from Olive Garden’s five-cheese marinara. One honest caveat: sources disagree on the fifth cheese, and some reputable copycats use asiago instead. Olive Garden has never published a definitive ingredient list, so this isn’t fully settled. We recommend fontina because it melts into a smooth, buttery layer without sharpening the flavor, which matches the mellow, creamy character of the restaurant dish; asiago is drier and tangier and pulls it in a slightly different direction. If you can’t find fontina, asiago (or a little Monterey Jack for melt) works.
See Also — More Olive Garden
Round out the Olive Garden experience at home:
Olive Garden Breadsticks — the classic garlic-butter pull-aparts that belong alongside every pasta dish
* Estimated values based on standard recipe preparation. Actual values may vary.
🥗
Make It Healthier
Love Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno but want a lighter version? Try these simple swaps:
✓Skip the Alfredo cream component and use 3 cups of marinara only — you lose the characteristic creaminess but reduce the dish by about 150 calories per serving and eliminate the saturated fat from the cream.
✓Use part-skim ricotta and reduced-fat mozzarella. Both melt adequately for a baked dish, unlike fresh mozzarella which can separate. You save roughly 80 calories per serving.
✓Serve in smaller portions (8 portions from the dish instead of 6) alongside a large [Olive Garden-style salad](/blog/copycat-olive-garden-salad) — the salad adds volume without adding the density of the pasta.
✓Add 3 cups of baby spinach to the sauce-and-cheese mixture before pouring into the baking dish. Spinach wilts completely into the filling, adds iron and fiber, and adds essentially zero calories while increasing the volume of each serving.
Equipment You'll Need
9×13-inch baking dish
Glass or ceramic distributes heat evenly and lets you see the bubbling at the edges. Metal pans work but can brown the bottom faster — check at 25 minutes.
Large pot
For boiling the ziti in heavily salted water. A wide pot allows the pasta to circulate freely, preventing clumping.
Medium saucepan
For making the Alfredo cream component. A 2-quart saucepan is ideal — small enough to control the simmer, large enough to whisk in the Parmesan.
Large mixing bowl
For combining the sauce, cheeses, and pasta. Needs to hold about 3 quarts comfortably — a standard large bowl works.
Cheese grater (Microplane or box grater)
For Parmesan, Romano, and fontina. Pre-shredded bags contain anti-caking cellulose that prevents clean melting. Grate from blocks.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the five cheeses in Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno?
Ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and fontina. Olive Garden describes the dish as a 'five-cheese marinara,' and the blend most often cited from that sauce is ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, and fontina. Be aware that sources genuinely disagree on the fifth cheese — some reputable copycats list asiago instead of fontina, and Olive Garden has never published a definitive ingredient statement to settle it. We recommend fontina: it's a semi-soft Italian cheese that melts into a silky, buttery layer without sharpening the flavor, which matches the creamy, mellow character of the restaurant dish. Asiago is drier, harder, and tangier, so it pushes the flavor in a slightly different direction — still good, but a step away from the restaurant version. If you want the closest match, use fontina; if fontina is hard to find, asiago (or even a little Monterey Jack for melt) is a reasonable substitute.
Does Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno use marinara or Alfredo sauce?
Olive Garden's menu calls it a 'five-cheese marinara' — a marinara enriched with cheese and cream, which is why the baked dish is creamy and rich rather than thin and tomato-forward. Plain marinara is the single most common copycat mistake; it produces a drier, thinner result. The reliable way to replicate the restaurant's creamy sauce at home is to blend marinara with a quick Alfredo-style cream sauce (butter, garlic, heavy cream, Parmesan). That gives the 'rosa' or blush effect — an orange-pink, creamy tomato sauce that coats every piece of ziti before it bakes. Use roughly 2 parts marinara to 1 part cream sauce, which keeps tomato as the backbone while the cream adds richness and keeps the baked pasta from drying out.
What pasta cut does Olive Garden use?
Ziti — the dish is literally named 'ziti al forno' (ziti baked in the oven). Ziti is a smooth, large-diameter tube pasta with no ridges. At Olive Garden they use actual ziti; at home, ziti can be harder to find than penne rigate, and penne rigate is the most common substitute. The ridges on penne rigate hold sauce better than smooth ziti, so penne actually works well here, but the restaurant uses smooth ziti. Do not use rigatoni (too large, uneven distribution) or regular penne (same diameter problem as rigatoni; the ridges help anyway so use rigate).
How do you prevent baked ziti from getting dry or mushy?
Two techniques solve opposite problems. (1) To prevent dryness: use plenty of sauce. The pasta continues to absorb liquid in the oven for 30-plus minutes. The pasta-sauce mixture in the bowl before it goes into the baking dish should look wetter than you think you'd want to eat it — it will tighten up as it bakes. Adding a splash of reserved pasta water helps. The Alfredo component also adds fat that keeps the pasta supple. (2) To prevent mushiness: cook the ziti 3 to 4 minutes less than the package directions for al dente. It is going to cook again for 30-35 minutes in the oven. If you cook it fully before baking, the finished dish will be overcooked. Pull it early — it should still have a white, chalky center when you drain it.
How many calories are in Olive Garden Five Cheese Ziti al Forno?
The Olive Garden dine-in dinner portion is 1,220 calories with 71g total fat, 36g saturated fat (180% of a day's worth), 103g carbs, 6g fiber, 45g protein, and 2,160mg sodium per Olive Garden's published nutrition data — one of the richer pasta dishes on their menu, driven by the cream and cheese. The home version in this recipe, divided into six servings from a 9×13 pan, comes in at approximately 700 calories per serving (35g fat, 70g carbs, 30g protein, ~900mg sodium) depending on the marinara brand and specific cheese amounts.
What is the difference between Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno and their Five Cheese Lasagna?
They are two different dishes — and the Five Cheese Lasagna was discontinued; the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno is the current active menu item. The old Five Cheese Lasagna was a meatless lasagna built on a cream sauce with sun-dried tomatoes and added fontina to the standard four-cheese blend. The Ziti al Forno is a tube pasta dish using both marinara and Alfredo (no sun-dried tomatoes), the same five cheeses, and a breadcrumb-topped baked crust. Do not add sun-dried tomatoes to the Ziti al Forno — that was a detail from the old lasagna recipe, not this dish.
Does Olive Garden's Five Cheese Ziti al Forno have meat or vegetables?
Neither. The restaurant version is a pure pasta dish — ziti, dual sauce, five cheeses, baked breadcrumb topping. No Italian sausage, no chicken, no spinach, no mushrooms. Many copycat recipes add Italian sausage or sautéed spinach because the dish seems like it would benefit from them — and it does taste good with those additions — but they are not in the Olive Garden original. This recipe replicates the restaurant dish. Add sausage (brown 8 oz crumbled Italian sausage in the same pan before making the Alfredo sauce) or spinach (stir 2 cups baby spinach into the warm sauce until wilted) as a variation.
Can I make Five Cheese Ziti al Forno ahead of time?
Yes — it's an excellent make-ahead dish. Assemble the pasta completely (pasta + sauce + cheeses in the baking dish), cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate up to 24 hours before baking. Add the panko topping just before it goes into the oven (soaking overnight makes panko soggy). When baking from cold, add 10 minutes to the bake time and cover the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes, then uncover for the last 15 minutes to get the golden crust. The pasta will have absorbed some of the sauce overnight, making the assembled dish look drier than you expect — bake anyway; it reconstitutes.
What sides does Olive Garden serve with Five Cheese Ziti al Forno?
The full Olive Garden experience: unlimited breadsticks with garlic butter and a choice of soup or salad. At home, pair this with copycat [Olive Garden breadsticks](/blog/copycat-olive-garden-breadsticks) and the [house salad with Italian dressing](/blog/copycat-olive-garden-salad). For soup, both [Zuppa Toscana](/blog/copycat-olive-garden-zuppa-toscana) and [Pasta e Fagioli](/blog/copycat-olive-garden-pasta-e-fagioli) are strong pairings. Avoid heavy, cream-based starters — the ziti already provides significant richness.
Every recipe on Copycat Spices is developed and tested in our home test kitchen. We reverse-engineer beloved restaurant dishes and refine each one until the flavors and the instructions work reliably for home cooks of all skill levels.
