Baked Spaghetti
Baked Spaghetti marries two favorite dishes into one. This easy Baked Spaghetti recipe transforms a classic spaghetti dish into a bubbly, cheesy casserole, similar to lasagna but with spaghetti noodles.
This spaghetti casserole dish is mouthwatering good and can be baked in just 1 hour! If you don’t know how to make Baked Spaghetti, you will be surprised how truly easy it is.
This Baked Spaghetti dish is perfect for when you are craving a comfortable home cooked meal or are looking for a dish that you can easily transport to a potluck or neighbor in need. Serve with Garlic Bread Twists or the World’s Best Cheesy Garlic Bread.
Easy Baked Spaghetti!
Want an easy, yet delicious comfort food? How about an Easy Baked Spaghetti recipe!
Why This Dish Is Easy:
Minimal Chopping.
Sometimes a deal breaker for me is when I am tired and the recipe requires tons of veggies to chop. No thank you. Easy meal just took a turn for the worst.
Don’t worry with this recipe you just have to chop one onion and mince one garlic clove. So I mean just one veggie to chop, really. The garlic is mincing, not chopping, if you want to be technical.
Prepped In No Time At All.
It only takes 25 minutes to prep. You could prep and watch a show and you would be done before the show was over.
Spaghetti Sauce Is Simple.
You don’t need to make a homemade sauce with tons of ingredients and tons of chopping.
There are so many great flavors from the cheeses and meat that for this recipe I chose to keep it simple with a bottled jar of spaghetti sauce that you will add your meat to.
I guess you could kind of call it homemade, since you add ingredients to the sauce or I like to think of it more as a doctored up store bought sauce. Either way the sauce is simple.
Simple sauce, quick prep time, little chopping equals an easy Baked Spaghetti dish. Yes!
How To Make Spaghetti Casserole?
First of all after preheating the oven you will lightly grease a baking dish.
What Pan Should I Use For Baked Spaghetti?
A deep Pyrex pan is the most optimal.
Why?
Pyrex has made newer pans with more space. This helps with spillage concerns and allows for you to fit more in your pan. Yay!
Plus Pyrex pans come with a lid making them perfect for on the go.
You can easily transport your dish covered without having to worry about perfectly fitting foil over the pan for coverage.
Now that you know your pan options, let’s talk about the next steps for making this Baked Spaghetti recipe.
- Cook spaghetti in boiling water.
- Cook on stove ground beef, sausage, and onions.
- Drain grease and combine meat mixture with sauce.
- Combine ricotta and cottage cheese.
- Whisk eggs, parmesan, and butter and then stir spaghetti into mixture.
- Assemble dish by layering spaghetti mixture, ricotta mixture, meat sauce, and mozzarella, and then repeat layering for a second time.
- Cover and bake. Then uncover for last 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven, garnish with fresh basil and serve.
Note: For more specifics see recipe at end.
Basically cook ingredients over stove top, mix different ingredients together for different layers, layer, and bake.
What Is The Filling For Baked Spaghetti?
What Is In The Filling:
- Tomato Based Sauce
- Meat
- Cheese
Usually there is a tomato based sauce with meat and some element of cheesy goodness like mozzarella and/or ricotta.
For this recipe I really upped the cheese element and used a combination of greats.
Cheese Used In This Recipe:
- Curd Cottage Cheese
- Ricotta
- Mozzarella
- Parmesan
What Meat Is In Baked Spaghetti?
- Ground Beef
- Sausage
Note: Other recipes may not use both.
Tomato Sauce:
- Store Bought Sauce
The three elements of sauce, meat, and cheese make up the delicious, mouthwatering filling that makes the dish.
Baked Spaghetti Or Million Dollar Spaghetti:
Both are similar dishes. However, when you think of Million Dollar Spaghetti you usually have a more cheesy filling and a lot of times use cream cheese.
I think this Baked Spaghetti is a lot like Million Dollar Spaghetti. There is no skimping on cheesy, gooey filling like some baked spaghetti recipes and the taste is rich, bubbly cheesy goodness.
Whether you are in the mood for Million Dollar Spaghetti or Baked Spaghetti, you can’t go wrong with this dish.
Tips For Making Baked Spaghetti:
- Tip 1: Buy A Jar Of Already Minced Garlic.
Looking for ways to save time? Keep on hand a jar of already minced garlic and then for this recipe or any number of recipes that call for mincing garlic, you can then skip the mincing. - Tip 2: Use Both Sausage And Ground Beef.
While you don’t have to use both, I find that the combination of sausage and ground beef add a greater depth of flavor. That is why this recipe calls for both.
However, if you don’t want sausage, just add more ground beef in place of the sausage. - Tip 3: Cook Noodles Al Dente.
The spaghetti will further cook in the oven. In order to avoid your pasta from becoming mushy and less appetizing, plan on cooking the spaghetti a little bit underdone, al dente.
Definitely don’t over cook the noodles.
Should You Cover Baked Spaghetti?
Yes and then no.
Cover and uncover your Baked Spaghetti.
Cover your Baked Spaghetti in the beginning so the topping doesn’t get too crispy.
Then for the last 20 minutes bake uncovered to give the cheese a chance to get the perfect amount of crispiness on the top.
Can You Use Homemade Spaghetti Sauce?
Most homemade spaghetti sauces should work just fine.
However, there is already enough depth of flavor with this recipe. Plus with homemade sauce you will need to factor in how much or if there is any meat already in the homemade sauce. I say save yourself the extra work and use bottled sauce.
Just follow this recipe and use bottled sauce as the base and trust the added ingredients will take care of the rest.
Serving Suggestions:
Serve this Baked Spaghetti with a side of Garlic Bread Twists and Garlic Green Beans.
Then finish the dish off right with Lemon Cheesecake Bars, pure deliciousness.
Don’t Miss Out On This Baked Spaghetti Recipe!
This easy Baked Spaghetti recipe may just be just your new favorite dish. This is a bubbly, cheesy spaghetti casserole that will be a crowdpleaser.
Other Dishes To Try:
- Keto Marinara
- Baked Ziti
- Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
- Keto Meatballs Skillet
- Old Fashioned Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Crockpot Lasagna
- Keto Lasagna
How to Make Baked Spaghetti Video:
Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 16 ounces spaghetti
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- ½ pound ground italian sausage
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 32 ounces spaghetti sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 5 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 cup small curd cottage cheese
- 1 cup ricotta cheese
- 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- Fresh Basil for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish, and set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and cook spaghetti. You want it al dente, about 12 minutes cooking time. Then drain.
- While spaghetti cooks, heat a large skillet over medium heat, and add onions, garlic, ground beef, and sausage. Cook until sausage and ground beef are browned and onions are soft, about 7-10 minutes.
- Drain excess grease off, and then combine meat mixture with spaghetti sauce, and set aside.
- Combine ricotta cheese and cottage cheese, set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk eggs, Parmesan cheese, and butter together.
- Stir cooked spaghetti into the egg mixture.
- Assemble baked spaghetti by layering: ½ the spaghetti mixture into baking dish. ½ the ricotta mixture, ½ the meat sauce, and ½ the mozzarella. Repeat for a second layer to use up the rest of the ingredients.
- Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes.
- Remove foil and continue baking for about 20 minutes, until the mozzarella cheese is melted and lightly browned.
- Remove from oven, garnish with fresh basil and serve!
Nutrition
Our recipe card software calculates these nutrition facts based on averages for the above ingredients, different brands, and quality of produce/meats may have different nutritional information, always calculate your own based on the specific products you use in order to achieve accurate macros for this recipe.
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Allyson Zea says
Thank you for this easy recipe! It was a hit at my house!
Stephanie says
I had never baked spaghetti before but it turned out great! So easy and had a wonderful taste and texture!
Melissa says
Perfect dinner for my big family! There wasn’t much left after we were done! Thank you
Cathy says
Can you freeze before baking or after
Rachael says
Yes, both.