Laura, it will be delicious. I don't think I'd defrost it first, I'd do exactly what Faith recommends -- straight into the oven.

At first I though "Is this a legit question? Chrsitmas wasn't that long ago" Then I thought about it, and it's been six months. Where does the time go?

It should be fine though, as long as there is no freezer burn.

I'd worry about the baking dish cracking or exploding if popped right from the freezer into a hot oven, no?

Even if there is freezer burn, it'll still taste good!

I would not defrost it before baking either - that's just an invitation for bacteria, even in the fridge. Pretend it's a tray of frozen baked Stauffer's lasagna and bake it like normal.

I've frozen baked ziti before in a glass baking dish and it has never broken, although I normally only bake at 325 or 350 F and usually put it into the oven before it is all the way preheated.

And yes, eminthekitchen, it WILL be delicious. Baked ziti is always delicious, whether six months old or made yesterday.

What the others said :) Just don't preheat the over to avoid thermal choc for the tray if it's glass!

Thawing it out is fine, as long as you get it out of the danger zone (40-140 F) quickly. Overnight in the fridge would be best, since you can't easily run cold water over it. As with all leftover casseroles, shoot for an internal temp of 175 F.

Yay food management safety courses :)

You could keep it in the freezer for 4 years and it would be safe to eat (as long as it stayed frozen). It probably wouldn't taste so great, but it would be safe.

Oh, how helpful, I always have questions like this because I find stuff buried in my freezer all the time... Reminds me that I once thought Kitchn should do a column called "Keep or Toss" where people wrote in about stuff they'd unearthed in their kitchen cupboards, fridge, and freezer, and people gave their advice... ;-)

I would eat it. But yea, I would go from freezer to a cool oven. I never thaw frozen stuff out to avoid any possible bacteria just don't preheat the oven, cover, and bake longer. If you're worried check the internal temp in the middle. I have used both pyrex glass dishes and ceramic that was freezer and oven safe with this method. Although, those heavy duty foil pans work best for me.

@fodefafa
I came across some fillets of unidentified white fish in the bottom of the freezer that I'm pretty sure were at least three years old. Thawed them out, cut off the freezer-burned bits, cooked them, delicious. Of course they weren't too nice looking after surgery, so I made a fish Shepard's pie.

I do this often-do not defrost! Along with any bacteria concerns it can lead to soggy pasta. Straight into 350F oven and let it ride until bubbly and hot in the middle. Usually takes an hour to hour and a half.

she never mentioned that the "tray" was glass, but anyway: don't ever freeze stuff in glass! If she did freeze it in a glass dish just put into cold oven and set to 350 like everyone else is mentioning.

Perfectly safe! and sounds delicious!

It's fine--I remember a story where the army had chickens frozen for like 15 years and there was minimal bacteria growth.

but that baby straight in the oven at 400F and you'll be amazed at how delicious it still tastes.

i wonder why you first thought to treat it any different than any other frozen food you'd bake in the oven. thawing is unnecessary.

Thanks for all of the previous comments, this thread is very informative and fun to read.

I have a related question: A friend of mine had a frozen tray of the most unbelievable, delicious baked-ziti, made my his Great-Aunt Rose. The issue is it was made for Christmas 2003. He was planning to reheat and enjoy it in the Spring of 2004, but then went to work on a presidential campaign up north and had to leave it behind until after the election (sadly for him). After the election he took a new job out of state and had to put most of his things in storage. And he asked me to store the ziti for a "short time" until he could retrieve it somehow without it thawing out in transit. He made me promise not to eat it myself. Eventually I realized that it would be ridiculous to hold onto this thing forever. So after the 2008 election, with this frozen solid aluminum tray still taking up more than 1/3 of my freezer space, I said he had to come and get it or else I was going to eat it or dispose of it. I finally got him to concede that he and his ziti had overstayed my very generous welcome in my freezer and he propositioned that if by 2012 he did not come and get it AND if a Republican wins the White House, well then and only then could I claim and eat his great aunt's circa 2003 ziti. So that's a long time, but here we are in January 2012 and I'm already looking forward to November. (After all, I've made it almost nine years, so what's another 9 months?) So my question is, what do you think the chances are the Republicans will win? I mean Romney seems to have the best shot of all of the Republicans, but now with Santorum on the rise and conservatives looking for a viable alternative, I worry I may never get to eat this. So, wouldn't the best tribute to Great Aunt Rose's memory be to vote for Romney? I hope someone on here can give me some guidance on this, I don't know a lot about cooking. Thanks