BAKED SPAGHETTI
Baked Spaghetti is a family favorite! Delicious meat sauce, pasta and cheesy goodness is a wonderful combination!
If you love this delicious dish you should try out Stuffed Green Peppers. They are one of our most popular recipes and the meat mixture they are stuffed with is delicious.
Table of contents
❤️WHY WE LOVE THIS DELICIOUS DISH!
This dish combination of pasta, meat sauce and cheese then baked together allows the flavors to really meld together and create a wonderful dish. This spaghetti is easy to make and it reheats really well. You can also be versatile with the meat sauce and add what you love.
This dish is very convenient because it can be made in advance. You can assemble the dish and bake it when ready. It’s perfect for church gatherings, potlucks or even the holidays.
🍴KEY INGREDIENTS
SWAPS
If you are looking for a higher protein lower fat meal, you can switch it out with ground turkey or ground chicken. You can also add any vegetables you like and use different pasta, but this is the way we enjoy this recipe.
🍽️HOW TO MAKE
This dish isn’t complicated to make; you can make the pasta while you make the meat sauce.
PREPARATIONS
I like to cut up all my veggies and organize my spices before I get started.
COOKING STEPS
Step 1
Brown ground beef, green pepper, and onion in a large skillet on top of the stove, drain. Add the oregano, black pepper, salt, minced garlic and Italian Spaghetti sauce to hamburger and stir to mix.
Step 2
Cook the spaghetti according to package directions, drain. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add the hot spaghetti and toss with the 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese.
Step 3
Spread spaghetti in bottom of dish and cover with entire container of cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. Spread the hamburger mixture over the cottage cheese. Top with the other 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and the 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
Step 4
Bake in preheated 400 degree oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove covering and cook for 15 more minutes.
Step 5
Let it rest a bit and then cut and enjoy!
⭐TIP
We cover the baked spaghetti for the first part of cooking so the cheese doesn’t get overly brown. Then remove for the last part so it will melt well and set up a little.
RECIPE VARIATIONS
Cajun Baked Spaghetti
Mexican Baked Spaghetti
BBQ Baked Spaghetti
SERVE THIS WITH
These Garlic Herb Crescent rolls are only a few ingredients and super easy to make! Add this easy Cucumber Tomato Salad for a great meal.
❓FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
I have never made it without precooking the noodles. I suggest cooking them before hand.
Yes, you can just make sure you have a good ratio to the meat sauce.
STORING AND REHEATING
Cover with foil or in an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator. You can freeze this dish. Let cooked baked spaghetti cool to room temperature, then divide into freezer containers and freeze. When thawing, let thaw in fridge over night.
💕MORE POPULAR RECIPES TO ENJOY
SERVING SIZE
This recipe makes about 10 servings depending on the size you cut each portion. We love to make this for Sunday night dinner and then enjoy it for a few days.
Baked Spaghetti
Video
Ingredients
- 1.5- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 green pepper chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 24 ounce container Italian Spaghetti Sauce or pasta sauce of your choice
- 8 ounces of spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese divided
- 1 24 ounce container cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Brown ground beef, green pepper, and onion in a large skillet on top of the stove, drain. Add the oregano, black pepper, salt, minced garlic and Italian Spaghetti sauce to hamburger and stir to mix.
- Cook the spaghetti according to package directions, drain. Spray a 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add the hot spaghetti and toss with the 2 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Spread spaghetti in bottom of dish and cover with entire container of cottage cheese or ricotta cheese.
- Spread the hamburger mixture over the cottage cheese. Top with the other 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese and the 2 cups of mozzarella cheese.
- Bake in preheated 400 degree oven covered for 30 minutes. Remove covering and cook for 15 more minutes.
Notes
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Do you have a favoritebbrand of spaghetti sauce you recommend?
I’m a big fan of the Classico brand.
I made this baked spaghetti for a church event. It was the first baked spaghetti finished. I received many compliments
Saying how good it was. I agree. I did get a small piece. It was wonderful. I told all that asked where I got the recipe from. I’ve told a lot of people about your wonderful food that you prepare for us all to try. Thank you and keep the goodness coming.
YAY! We are so happy to hear this! Thank you so much for the kind words.
Can you use other pasta or does have to be spaghetti?
You can use other pasta!
This recipe is delicious! I made it the day before and added about 15 minutes to the cook time. Definitely going into our meal rotation!
Love hearing this was a hit!
I’m making this ahead to give to someone. I want to freeze it. Should I put it together and freeze and let them bake when they want or cook it and freeze for them to reheat?
I honestly think either way would work.
Made this and liked it. Could I use grated Parmesan instead of ricotta or cottage cheese? I don’t want to ruin the recipe by trying it on my own. I will definitely put this on my keeper pile. Thanks so much y’all. Love getting your great recipes.
I think you will lose the moisture of the ricotta or cottage cheese with using parmesan, its just not a very wet cheese. You can always try it, but that may be the issue you run into and make the dish dry.
Can you prepare the dish and refrigerate before baking couple of days later
I really can’t say as I have never tried that.
My daughter made this and brought it to us today. We loved it and I will be making it soon. I will also be checking out your website for other easy dishes.
Wonderful! I am so glad it was a hit!
This is my favorite spaghetti dish! I love it”.
Made this last night and reheated today for lunch. Grandkids said, “it is a keeper”. They had no clue that it had cottage cheese in it. We all loved it!
Glad it was a hit!
Made this today. Delicious! Just what I was looking for. Absolutely perfect!!
Made this for our Christmas Eve dinner. It was so delicious. Liked it better than the lasagna I have been making . Will definitely keep making this to share with others.i love your recipes- they always taste great and are easy to make. Thank you for sharing!
Thrilled you enjoyed this baked spaghetti! Thank you for letting us know 🙂
Made this for a family dinner and everyone loved it! Rave reviews and requests for me to make for the next family gathering. This recipe is a definite five star keeper
YAY!! We’re thrilled your family loved it!
Does the recipe call for 8 ounces of spaghetti or 18 ounces of spaghetti?
8 ounces.
This is the best baked spaghetti recipe! Thank you soo much my whole family loved it.
This is the best baked spaghetti recipe!! Thank you so much!! My husband went back for seconds!
This recipe for baked spaghetti is awesome! First time trying it, followed it to the letter. My husband said it is delicious. Will definitely be making it again.
Delicious! And it’s much better than those “million dollar” spaghetti recipes that always want to add sour cream. Your recipe for baked spaghetti is much better. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much for the kind comment! We’re thrilled it was a hit for you!
I really enjoy your recipes and am looking forward to making this for my grandchildren. Just wanted to confirm that this recipe requires only 8 ounces of spaghetti to serve 10 to 12 people. Thanks for sharing your culinary talent!
The recipe is correct as written. If you scroll down, you’ll see many reviews from people that have made this recipe and loved it. Thanks so much!
Made this spaghetti dish last night and it was fabulous! I did add mushrooms and mixed ricotta and cottage cheese together for that layer. Otherwise baked as stated. A keeper in our house, thank you!
I tried this baked spaghetti and loved it! Everyone who likes spaghetti should try this!! .Vernon.
Does it make any difference whether you use small curd or large curd cottage cheese?
No, it makes no difference at all.
Great! This recipe is a keeper!!
Have you ever doubled the recipe?
Yes, this recipe can easily be doubled. I just put it in 2 9X13 casserole dishes.
Great dinner idea! Kind of like a lasagna with a different spin
good recipe and easy to make no hassle dinner thank you
Gréât recipe my family loved it thank you sharing
So glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is wonderful! My family loved it! Thank you for another winner . This is my favorite website!!
Would adding some Italians sausage with gr beef work?
This was amazing! I just made it tonight with some roasted vegetables. I will definitely be making it again. My son even asked to bring it to school tomorrow in his lunch. I did substitute the cottage cheese for ricotta though. Thank you again for another delicious recipe!
We’re so glad you enjoyed it!! Thank you so much!
I make a similar recipe but use a block of room temp cream cheese mixed with 1/4 cup parmesan cheese and some garlic salt instead of cottage cheese. I also add black olives to the meat mixture. Sometimes I put cheddar cheese on top in place of Mozzarella. It’s always a hit at my house!
Sounds delicious!
This sounds awesome. I will try this. Thank You.
Plan on trying this tomorrow. If you are going to freeze part of the recipe do you freeze it before it is cooked or after?
I would think you could do either Melanie. I usually freeze it after it is cooked but I think you could do it before, too.
This recipe is very similar to one I used to make. I found the recipe many years ago when we lived in the Lexington Herald in a “cookbook” they printed every year. It would have been between 1978 to 1981. I lost the recipe somewhere in the last 15 to 20 years. It had bay leaves and a lot of other recipes and instead of pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste. Any chance you are familiar with this recipe?
Am going to try this, sounds wonderful. Was watching one of the chefs on food network and they said not to add butter to pasta because it hindered the absorption of the sauce, what do you think?
I have not had that problem and have used butter before.
I followed recipe exactly as written here and oh my gosh it’s delicious!!! I can’t wait to try more recipes. Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much Monica. I am so happy you liked this recipe and thank you for letting me know. We love this baked spaghetti and it always turns out great for me.
I used to make this all the time. We would have spaghetti one night, then I’d mix the pasta and sauce together, put it in a pan the next night, with grated cheese sprinkled liberally over the top, then pop it into the oven long enough to heat it through and melt the cheese. My kids loved it.
Made this tonight and it was an instant hit. The only difference I made was adding mushrooms and green olives to the meats sauce, and I cooked the ground beef with the minced garlic and oregano. Kids and hubby ate it up….no leftovers!! Thanks for a great recipe!!
Can I substitute something in place of the cottage cheese?
Ricotta cheese.
Good, Large,Easy !! This is a winner. I love, love, love to see what you offer us every time. Thanks, my friend !!
Looks wonderful!! Is there something that can be substituted for cottage cheese? My husband has some sort of mental hangup about it. 🙂
You could use ricotta cheese.
my hubby has a similar hang up too, so I mix a block of cream cheese in with the spaghetti.