This baked spaghetti is a hearty and comforting baked pasta dish! Made with a delicious meat sauce and cheesy, creamy noodles it’s then oven-baked until hot and golden.
Easy Baked Spaghetti
This cheesy baked spaghetti is one of my favorite freezer meals. It’s perfect for busy weeknights with some homemade garlic bread. I also love chicken broccoli rice casserole, green chile enchiladas, Mexican lasagna and chicken pot pie.
This baked spaghetti casserole is an easy and delicious comfort mealt. It has 4 different kinds of cheese inside and is coated in a flavorful pasta sauce. It’s similar to lasagna, easy baked mostaccioli and my favorite million dollar spaghetti. Talk about delicious!
More spaghetti pasta recipes to try include spaghetti bolognese, spaghetti pesto and homemade spaghetti and meatballs!
How to Make Baked Spaghetti
- Brown ground beef: Add hamburger to a large pan and heat over medium-high heat. Break apart with a spoon, then add in onions. Cook until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add garlic and cook for 1 additional minute. Cook meat until browned. S&P to taste, then add in Italian seasoning.
- Add sauce and simmer: Add in spaghetti sauce and let simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.
- Cook spaghetti: Cook spaghetti noodles about 6 minutes, or until al dente. Do not overcook. Once noodles are drained, add in the cream cheese and toss. Add in the cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Then toss together with the sauce.
- Bake in the oven. Press spaghetti into a greased 9×13″ pan. Add remaining mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and parmesan to the top of the casserole. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 30-40 minutes. Serve with chopped salad and easy breadsticks!
Can You Freeze Baked Spaghetti?
This recipe makes a lot, so most of the time I will freeze half of the spaghetti (before baking) to save for a busy day. Follow the simple instructions below to freeze and then thaw.
- To freeze: Do not bake. Combine the sauce and noodles and then allow to cool completely. Once cooled, add to a freezer container and top with remaining cheese. Label with the date (I love these freezer labels), then store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- To thaw: Remove from freezer and place in refrigerator. Let thaw overnight, then cook in the oven at 350°F for 30-40 minutes.
If you love easy Italian recipes try baked rigatoni, easy spaghetti with meat sauce, baked ziti or baked chicken parmesan recipe next!
More Pasta Dishes
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Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef or turkey , or Italian sausage
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 2-3 cloves garlic , minced
- 24 ounce jar marinara or spaghetti sauce
- 12 ounces thin spaghetti noodles
- 4 ounces cream cheese , softened
- ½ cup cottage cheese , can sub ricotta cheese or sour cream
- ⅓ cup grated parmesan cheese , divided
- 1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Optional: Fresh basil, S&P, Italian seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
- Add hamburger to a large pan and heat over medium-high heat. Break apart with a spoon. Add onions and cook until they become soft (about 3-5 min). Then add garlic and cook a minute longer. Cook meat until browned. Salt and pepper to taste. Add in a teaspoon of Italian seasoning if desired.
- Add in spaghetti sauce and let simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.
- Cook spaghetti noodles al dente, about 6 minutes. Do not overcook. Reserve 1 cup of water for pasta sauce and then drain. Add up to 1/2-1 cup of the water to the red sauce.
- When the noodles are drained, add in the cream cheese and toss together. Once it has started to melt, add in the cottage cheese, 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Then toss together with the sauce. Then press into the pan.
- Add remaining mozzarella cheese, fresh basil and parmesan to the top if desired.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes.
Notes
- For a thinner sauce, add in 1/2 cup of the pasta water before simmering.
- To freeze: Do not bake. Combine sauce and noodles and then cool completely. Then add to a freezer container and top with remaining cheese. Label with the date, then store in freezer for up to 3 months.
- To thaw: Let thaw in the fridge overnight, then cook in the oven according to directions.
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: Beef, Casseroles, Dinner, Freezer-Friendly, Freezer-Friendly, Italian, Pasta
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
Absolutely delicious! I’m eating some and saving the rest for postpartum freezer meals!
Great idea! So glad you loved it :)
Can you bake it from frozen instead of thawing first? What would cooking instructions for that be?
I have not tried, but I would add an additional 20-30 minutes and check from there.
Be sure to use a BIG pot for your pasta so you’ll have lots of room for the tossing. I used 1/2 cup of the pasta water for my sauce, and thankfully I saved another 1/2 cup. As the pasta cooled it was difficult to toss the cheeses in, (they kept lumping up!) but I just added a bit of the pasta water to warm it up and it worked great! This was delish!! So much easier than a lasagna, and lots of leftovers! As good as any restaurant meal!
I do not like cottage cheese any suggestions rd substitution?
Thanks, can’t wait to make 😁
Just saw all the substitutes, sorry
Amazingly easy, I love to make ahead dinners and freeze…
The mozzarella cheese quantity doesn’t seem to add up. It asks for 1-2 cups in the ingredients but then within the directions, only 1/2 cup is used.
The remaining cheese will be sprinkled on top. :)
Total comfort food – can’t wait to make this tomorrow!
Great idea freezing before baking. I Just made large pan of Bake Ziti which I will divide half is going in feezer. Thank you for sharing your recipes.
Love the cheesy factor…..it makes spaghetti so much better!
Just what I was looking for for dinner tonight! Looks amazing; worthy of a restaurant, indeed!
Perfect for a busy weeknight! My spaghetti loving family will go nuts for this!!!
I happened to have all the ingredients so we made this tonight, loved it! A new favorite!
This is my all time favorite meal and I absolutely love this recipe!