Comforting Baked Spaghetti

Baked Spaghetti is total comfort food with homemade meat sauce and cheesy goodness. Make it ahead of time and throw it in the oven for the best warm dinner.

Side view of of a serving spoon serving a portion of Baked Spaghetti from baking dish. - 5

As a lover of cooking and food, I treasure having my kids in the kitchen with me. I love teaching them simple cooking skills that I know they will carry with them as they grow. And they learn how to feel confident in the kitchen as I pass down this tradition of sharing love through food.

My Baked Spaghetti recipe is a great recipe to make with kids. It has moving parts and timing, so it is perfect for teaching those skills, while being a relatively uncomplicated recipe.

We had friends over this weekend and I was looking for a simple meal to fix. This baked spaghetti was just the ticket. Simple to make and everyone loved it.

Overhead view of ingredients on countertop for Baked Spaghetti recipe. - 6

How to Make Baked Spaghetti

Cook the Spaghetti and Ground Beef

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook your spaghetti noodles. You can find all of my tips for cooking pasta here: How to Cook Pasta . While they are cooking, cook your ground beef with onion and garlic. Break it up as it cooks until you no longer see any pink.

Overhead view of a skillet of browned hamburger and onions with a spoon for Baked Spaghetti recipe. - 7

Make the Sauce

Drain the grease from the ground beef and stir in the marinara sauce and seasonings and allow to simmer.

Overhead view of a skillet of meat sauce with wooden spoon for Baked Spaghetti recipe/ - 8

Make the Spaghetti Filling

Drain and rinse the cooked noodles and stir in Parmesan cheese and eggs.

Overhead view of a glass mixing bowl of spaghetti noodles, cheese, and eggs for Baked Spaghetti recipe. - 9

Put it All Together

Layer the ingredients by starting with a little meat sauce, then adding the spaghetti mixture. Add the rest of the sauce and then top with shredded mozzarella.

Overhead view of a baking dish with meat sauce on the bottom for Baked Spaghetti recipe. - 10

Overhead view of a baking dish of Baked Spaghetti recipe with sauce on top before baking. - 11

Bake and Enjoy!

Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes. Enjoy!

Overhead view of a baking dish of Baked Spaghetti with glasses of red wine beside. - 12

Storing and Reheating Leftovers

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days. To reheat, cover and microwave the portion you plan to eat at half power until warmed through. You can also cover and bake just the portion you want to eat. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes.

Making Easy Baked Spaghetti Ahead

This is a great recipe to make on a Sunday afternoon, and then wrap and put in the refrigerator until you get home from work Monday evening. Put the dish together as the recipe calls for up to the point of putting it in the oven. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and put in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake, put it in the preheated oven (straight from the refrigerator) for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 20 minutes.

If you would like to make ahead and freeze, it can be stored, tightly wrapped for up to three months in your freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator the overnight before baking.

Double all of the ingredients and make it in two casserole dishes. Make one to eat right away, and freeze the second dish. It’s double the dinners without double the work.

Baking dish of Baked Spaghetti with piece missing, garnished with parsley. - 13

Tips and Tricks

Grate your own cheese. The melty cheese is one of the highlights of this recipe. A block of cheese that you grate yourself will melt a lot better than pre-shredded cheese.
Make it vegetarian. Swap the meat that you brown at the beginning for vegetables. Good options are carrots, celery, zucchini, and bell peppers. Sauce them in two tablespoons of olive oil before moving on to Step 4.
Swap the ground beef for ground turkey. Brown the ground turkey in two tablespoons of olive oil.
Make your own marinara sauce : I love to make my Easy Homemade Marinara Sauce for this recipe. It is also delicious with meatballs.
Leave out the eggs: If you are cooking for someone who can’t have eggs, you can leave them out of this recipe.

Plate of Baked Spaghetti with fork beside. - 14

What to Serve with Baked Spaghetti

I love the delicious flavors in this recipe for baked spaghetti. To round it out for dinner, I like adding a vegetable side dish. Here are a few that would go perfectly with this casserole.

Parmesan Roasted Broccoli
Mediterranean Salad
Oven Roasted Asparagus

If you make this baked spaghetti recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

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Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti (see note 1)
1 pound ground beef (I used 80/20)
1 small yellow onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
32 ounces marinara sauce homemade or store-bought
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (see note 2)
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes optional
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs beaten, see note 3
1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to a roaring boil and cook the spaghetti according to package directions, boiling for 2 minutes less than is indicated on the package, drain the noodles, and rinse in room-temperature water. (Continue to Step 3 while the water is coming to a boil.) 1 pound spaghetti
In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic. Break up the beef and cook until just after the beef is no longer pink and the onions are soft. Drain any excess grease and return the skillet to the heat. 1 pound ground beef, 1 small yellow onion, 2 cloves garlic
Stir in the marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer. 32 ounces marinara sauce, 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
In a large bowl, toss the cooked spaghetti with the beaten eggs and Parmesan cheese. 2 eggs, 1 cup Parmesan cheese
Pour just enough of the meat sauce into the bottom of the pan to coat it. Then add the spaghetti. Pour the remaining meat sauce over the spaghetti and top with mozzarella.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additonal 20 minutes. 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Notes

Because this recipe will be baked, you want to make sure that you don’t overcook your pasta. To be on the safe side, cook it for the shorter length of time suggested on the box. For example, if it says 8 to 10 minutes, drain after 8 minutes of boiling the noodles.
You can replace the Italian seasoning with 1 teaspoon of basil and 1 teaspoon of oregano.
You can leave out the eggs in this recipe if you want or need to.

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Baked Spaghetti

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Baked Spaghetti is total comfort food with homemade meat sauce and cheesy goodness. Make it ahead of time and throw it in the oven for the best warm dinner.

Side view of of a serving spoon serving a portion of Baked Spaghetti from baking dish. - 20

My Baked Spaghetti recipe is a great recipe to make with kids. It has moving parts and timing, so it is perfect for teaching those skills, while being a relatively uncomplicated recipe.

We had friends over this weekend and I was looking for a simple meal to fix. This baked spaghetti was just the ticket. Simple to make and everyone loved it.

Overhead view of ingredients on countertop for Baked Spaghetti recipe. - 21