by HollyBaked Spaghetti is a favorite casserole around here! A quick zesty meat sauce is combined with tomatoes and spaghetti and topped with cheese. This spaghetti casserole is baked in the oven until hot and bubbly.
Just like stuffed shells, this easy recipe is perfect served with crusty bread, homemade Garlic Butter and a Caesar Salad.
Easy Baked Spaghetti
This easy baked spaghetti casserole is a family favorite that is loaded with flavor! We love Italian flavors from Easy Meatballs to a simple bruschetta and this cheesy casserole is no exception!
While Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole contains a lot of cheese in the spaghetti mixture (like cream cheese, cottage cheese or ricotta), this recipe is simple has pasta and sauce with a little bit of cheese on top.
How to Make Baked Spaghetti
Baked Spaghetti Casserole is easy to make, simply prepare the meat sauce, toss with spaghetti and bake until bubbly. The prep can be done then night before and then baked before serving making this baked spaghetti the perfect potluck dish!
- Brown beef and onions. Add veggies and tomato sauce and simmer.
- Stir in spaghetti and place in a dish.
- Top with cheese and bake!
The cheese on top gets golden and crusty making for amazing flavor! Make sure your spaghetti is cooked al dente as the noodles do cook a bit more in the oven and you don’t want them to get mushy.
One great thing about this recipe is that you can add whatever you like to the sauce. If you don’t like green pepper, skip it and add diced mushrooms or zucchini. You can easily adjust this to your liking and add more or less sauce if you’d prefer.
How Long to Bake Spaghetti
Since the pasta and the sauce are warm when I put this dish together, it usually takes about 25 minutes or so to bake in the oven. If you prep it ahead of time and refrigerate, it’ll take a bit longer. Remove it from the fridge about 30 minutes before baking and bake about 35 minutes or until hot in the centre.
Do You Cover Baked Spaghetti
I never cover baked spaghetti because the crusty cheese on top is my favorite part! Covering this dish also makes it steam which can overcook the spaghetti.
Serve this with a side salad and garlic toast for an easy meal. This easy casserole is great leftover and freezes perfectly!
More Pasta Dishes You’ll Love
- Slow Cooker Spaghetti Bolognese
- Easy Shrimp Scampi
- Easy Marinara Sauce
- Baked Lemon Butter Salmon Pasta
- Caesar Chicken Pasta
- Baked Gnocchi Casserole in Creamy Tomato Sauce
Baked Spaghetti
Prep Time 25 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Ingredients
- 16 ounces spaghetti cooked
- ¼ cup fresh parsley
- 1 ½ cups mozzarella cheese shredded
- ⅓ cup fresh parmesan cheese shredded
Sauce
- 1 pound ground beef or italian sausage
- 1 small onion diced
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 green pepper diced
- 32 ounces pasta sauce
- 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Brown meat, onion, garlic, seasoning and green pepper over medium heat making sure to break up the meat very well. (Drain any fat if needed).
- Add pasta sauce, Italian seasoning and tomatoes to meat. Simmer 5-10 minutes uncovered. Stir in spaghetti and parsley.
- Spread into a 9x13 pan, top with cheeses and bake 25-30 minutes or until hot and cheese is browned and bubbly. Cut into squares to serve.
Nutrition Information
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
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Thank you for sharing I made this tonight. ❤ it took almost an hour at 350.
I’m planning on making this next week, and was wondering about the diced tomatoes. Should I drain the liquid out of them before adding to the sauce, or include the liquid with the tomatoes in the sauce?
The liquid in the diced tomato can amounts to over 1/3rd of a cup.
You can add the juices too, Howard. Enjoy!
Added ricotta and layered pasta, cheeses, sauce w/meat and repeat.
I’m trying baked spaghetti tonight can you use the powder parmasean in a jar instead of fresh
Hi Laila, we recommend using shredded fresh parmesan cheese for the best flavor and texture but in a pinch, you can use the powder parmesan.
Made for supper tonight. IT WAS A HIT!!! The men gobbled it up and went back for thirds.
I doubled this recipe and added extra garlic(total garlic lovers) and extra tsp of Italian seasoning. This def. will be a go to meal!!!
Thankyou for sharing.
You’re welcome, so happy to hear how much you love this baked spaghetti recipe Tannis!
I haven’t made the recipe yet. I will be cooking this for some friends. I do want to add mushrooms but as I do not like mushrooms, I need some help. What kind of mushrooms can I add, do I put them in raw or cooked and if cooked, what is best way to cook them? Thanks!
I love mushrooms and they’d be great in this dish!
Mushrooms can release a lot of water (and make the dish watery) if they aren’t cooked. Once the meat is browned and drained, you can add the mushrooms and let them cook about 4-5 minutes and then add the sauce and proceed with the recipe as written. Let us know how it goes!
Such an easy and flavorful recipe. The baked cheese on top really adds that extra flavor. Crispy but soft cheese with the spaghetti and I’m in heaven.
I used a 28 oz can of crushed san marzano tomatoes, added Italian seasoning, tiny bit of sugar and let that simmer for 30 min then added that into the meat when time to.
I also used a 24 oz can of Rao’s Marinara sauce.
I skipped the parsley and the green bell pepper and used up the rest of the mushrooms I had.
This came out absolutely perfect and I even wowed myself. My 18 month old loved it too! I’m not usually a fan of “casserole” type dishes but this is definitely going to be on rotation around here. Thank you!
Very bland.
I’m sorry that you didn’t enjoy the baked spaghetti as much as we do. I’m surprised to hear that you find it bland Seirra, as this recipe has a 5 star rating from over 160 votes! It’s definitely easy to add more seasonings, salt, and pepper to this recipe if you find it to be bland. Thank you for trying the recipe.
I Can’t wait to try them all, especially the chili which my kids love!!!!
Delicious recipe! I used mild Italian sausage and it turned out wonderfully!
I haven’t tried the recipe but it looks delicious. Is there by chance a substitutions for the tomatoes? My husband will eat speghetti but is not a huge tomatoes lover. Since you said not to drain them….should I just add more sauce? I can’t wait to try this.
I think that tomato sauce will work just fine Khristina. Enjoy!
I’d like to try this …
Thank you… when searching for a recipe I’m in need of (in-spite of having a BIG collection of cookbooks) your recipes have proven to be a great choice more than once..: and thanks for the additional info about freezing, baking, etc.—- !
You’re welcome! I am so happy to hear that the tips and information are helpful!
We loved this! I used Barilla protein plus angel hair pasta and ground turkey, instead of spaghetti and beef. Will definitely make it again. Yum yum!
Soo…maybe I missed something…but is the spaghetti precooked or does the recipe mean to just add the uncooked spaghetti into the ingredients that are being sauteed?
Looks like a winner dinner either way! Thanks!
The spaghetti is cooked.
I really loved this recipe
My family loved this for dinner last night. My only concern is when I calculated 1/8 of the recipes calories I came to 510 calories per serving size, which is very different than the 318 listed.
So happy that you love this baked spaghetti as much as we do! Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used. We did review the information based on our ingredients used and have updated it. Hope that helps.
I have never fixed baked spaghetti before. (and I am a senior). This recipe is impossibly easy, and it is about to come out of the oven. I had to make do with one of the ingredients–the cheese, but I plan on getting the shredded cheese when i go grocery shopping. i cannot wait for the timer to ding so I can have my lunch. Thank you for such a simple but complete recipe.
So happy to hear that Jean. This pasta is so delicious, I hope you loved it!