Baked Spaghetti
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This amazing, simple baked spaghetti meal is a filling yet really, really easy dish to make. Creamy soup, hearty ground beef, lots of yummy cheese, and seasonings that you probably already have at home combine to make a family-pleasing main course. You can use canned soup and tomatoes, so there’s no need to spend extra time preparing a whole bunch of extra dishes before starting this recipe. The recipe comes together in just a few minutes and then sits in the oven, giving you time to talk to family or put things away as you wait for it to cook.
This baked spaghetti casserole is a family favorite! It’s one of those recipes where every family seems to have its own version, but this is the best baked spaghetti recipe, of course. You’ll serve up seconds of this classic spaghetti casserole, and depending on the serving size you go with, you could even have some left over for the next day. This is an easy, two-dish meal that starts on the stove and finishes in the oven. Put this together whenever you need a satisfying main that doesn’t require fancy techniques or constant attention. This family friendly baked spaghetti will quickly become one of your favorites, too!
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s SUPER easy to make and totally delicious.
- It’s ricotta-free, in case you or a family member are not fans of ricotta.
- It’s a good recipe to make when you have leftover spaghetti and don’t want to simply reheat the stuff.
- This quick baked spaghetti recipe is freezer-friendly, so you can put a couple of batches together at once and save one to make later.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 35-40 minutes
Servings: 8
Ingredients:
16 oz. Spaghetti noodles cooked
1 C. Green pepper chopped
1 C. Onion chopped
28 oz. Chopped canned tomatoes
1 Tbsp. Butter
1 lb. Ground beef
1 tsp. Minced garlic
1 tsp. Oregano
1 Can Cream of mushroom soup
½ C. Water
2 C. Mozzarella cheese shredded
½ C. Parmesan cheese grated
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
Cooked spaghetti noodles: You’ll use cooked here because the moisture in the recipe isn’t enough to cook the noodles. You’re also not going to be able to stir or mix the spaghetti in the middle of cooking, so using uncooked noodles wouldn’t give you the twirly, tangled base that cooked noodles would.
Pepper, onion, and tomatoes: All these veggies lend flavor and color. Canned tomatoes are best here because it’s way easier to just open a can and pour the tomatoes in.
Ground beef: Go for a leaner ratio of fat to meat for this recipe, like 85/15 or 90/10. While you want the casserole to have sufficient fat and moisture, if you rely on fattier ground beef for that, you’ll end up with an excessively greasy and soggy casserole. Let the soup and tomatoes take care of the fat and moisture here.
Cream of mushroom soup: This adds that needed moisture and fat to the recipe, making each bite creamy. It’s also an additional source of flavor.
Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese: The mozzarella forms gooey layers between the other ingredients, helping to hold the casserole together. The Parmesan adds that final, savory, deep flavor that rounds out the dish.
How to Make It
Step 1. Place the butter, beef, onions, and peppers in a large skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Cook until the meat is browned and the vegetables have begun to soften. Drain any excess fat. Browning the beef first helps ensure the excess grease from the small amount of fat is gone.
Step 2. Mix the chopped tomatoes, minced garlic, and oregano into the meat mixture and saute for another 30 seconds.
Step 3. Layer 1/2 of the cooked spaghetti in the bottom of a well-greased 9×13 baking dish. Do grease the dish to make removing the cooked food easier.
Step 4. Place half of the meat mixture on top of the spaghetti, followed by half of the mozzarella cheese. This is sort of like spaghetti lasagna.
Step 5. Repeat the layers with the rest of the spaghetti, then the meat mixture, and finally the mozzarella cheese. You shouldn’t have more than two layers of each, though.
Step 6. Mix together the mushroom soup and water, and pour over the casserole. Pouring it over the assembled dish instead of adding it to the baking dish first (and putting ingredients in after that) helps ensure the top layers are coated, too.
Step 7. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
Step 8. Bake for 30 minutes.
Step 9. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
Enjoy!
Tips for Success
Definitely drain the grease from the beef before mixing in the tomatoes. If there’s too much grease in the casserole, the ingredients won’t really mix together well, the casserole will have too much moisture, and the overall flavor and texture will seem off.
Don’t use Parmesan cheese from a shelf-stable canister. That cheese isn’t going to melt well; it’s meant as more of a garnish. Choose either a fresh block of cheese that you can grate yourself, or check your supermarket’s refrigerated cheese section for pre-shredded cheese.
If you don’t have canned tomatoes, you could try chopping up fresh ones. You could also potentially use marinara or another pasta sauce that isn’t heavily flavored with things like garlic, but the overall flavor and texture of the dish will be a little different.
Storage & Reheating
If you have leftovers, place them in an airtight container and store that in the refrigerator. Use them up within three to four days. You can also cut the remaining casserole into portions and freeze them. Place each portion on a baking sheet and freeze them for about 30 minutes. Then, take them out, wrap each in freezer-friendly plastic wrap, and place each wrapped portion in a freezer-safe container. Use them up within three months.
To reheat refrigerated portions, place them in a saucepan with a little bit of water and reheat them gently. For frozen portions, let them thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and then warm them up. Remember to reheat these to at least 165 degrees Fahrenheit!
Serving Suggestions
This healthy baked spaghetti version would normally be a main dish at a meal, and it already has both meat and carbs. So, serve this with a veggie side like salad, green beans, roasted carrots, or sauteed squash. Try this Garlic Lemon Oven Baked Zucchini or this Parmesan Asiago Garlic Cheese Bread!
FAQs
Can I make this ahead of time?
Yes! Assemble it a day or so ahead of when you want to cook it, and then refrigerate it, covered in an airtight container. Or, assemble a batch and freeze it; let it thaw thoroughly in the refrigerator before cooking, however. In both cases, let the dish sit at room temperature for a few minutes before baking so you avoid thermal shock, which can cause baking dishes to crack or shatter.
Notes
Think of this easy baked spaghetti for beginners and advanced cooks alike as a faster, easier version of lasagna. Given how easy lasagna is to make already, that should tell you how much of a cinch it is to put this together. It’s a great dish for dinner on colder nights because each creamy, cheesy, meaty bite is so satisfying and warming. If you’ve been looking for a way to use up cooked spaghetti, this is one of the best homemade baked spaghetti ideas you’ll find. It’s so tasty! Enjoy it!
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Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 16 oz. Spaghetti noodles cooked
- 1 C. Green pepper chopped
- 1 C. Onion chopped
- 28 oz. Chopped canned tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp. Butter
- 1 lb. Ground beef
- 1 tsp. Minced garlic
- 1 tsp. Oregano
- 1 Can Cream of mushroom soup
- ½ C. Water
- 2 C. Mozzarella cheese shredded
- ½ C. Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Place the butter, beef, onions and peppers in a large skillet over medium high heat on the stove. Cook until the meat is browned and the vegetables have begun to soften. Drain any excess fat.
- Mix the chopped tomatoes, minced garlic and oregano into the meat mixture and saute another 30 seconds.
- Layer ½ of the cooked spaghetti in the bottom of a well greased 9x13 baking dish.
- Place half of the meat mixture on top of the spaghetti, followed by half of the mozzarella cheese.
- Repeat the layers with the rest of the spaghetti, then meat mixture and finally the mozzarella cheese.
- Mix together the mushroom soup and water, and pour over the casserole.
- Sprinkle the parmesan cheese on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.
- Enjoy!
Nutrition
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