Million Dollar Spaghetti is a cheesy baked pasta layered with tender spaghetti, a creamy cheese filling, savory meat sauce, and plenty of melted mozzarella. This cheesy baked spaghetti is made for sharing and makes an easy, hearty dinner for family or guests.
Round off the meal with a simple green salad and homemade garlic bread.
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Holly’s Recipe Highlights: Million Dollar Spaghetti
- Flavor: Zesty marinara, savory Italian sausage, and three creamy cheeses give every layer rich, savory flavor.
- Why Make It: It delivers the layered look of an easy homemade lasagna without arranging individual noodles.
- Make Ahead: Assemble this up to a day ahead and keep it refrigerated until ready to bake. It makes dinner easier when feeding family, bringing a dish to a potluck, or serving a crowd.
Cook Time: 1 Hr 25 Mins Servings: 12 Cooking Method: Sauté and Oven
Ingredient Notes
- Spaghetti: Cook the pasta until al dente, as it will continue cooking in the oven. Swap in any medium pasta, like penne, rigatoni, or rotini.
- Italian Sausage: Ground beef or turkey work well too, but season the meat more generously to build the same depth of flavor as Italian sausage.
- Marinara Sauce: Choose a sauce you already enjoy because its flavor carries through the entire casserole. Or try making a homemade marinara sauce instead.
- Cottage Cheese: Cottage cheese makes the center creamy while adding a little structure to the layers. Replace with ricotta for a smoother, more traditional lasagna-style filling.
- Cream Cheese: Let the cream cheese soften to room temperature so it blends smoothly with the other filling ingredients without lumps.
- Sour Cream: Use full-fat sour cream for the richest, creamiest texture.
How to Cook Million Dollar Spaghetti
- Cook the pasta, and stir in the marinara sauce.
- In a skillet, sauté the sausage, onions, and garlic.
- In a bowl, prepare the cheese filling (full recipe below).
- In a casserole dish, add the spaghetti, then layer with the cheese mixture and more spaghetti.
- Top with the meat mixture, sprinkle with cheese, and bake.
Save Those Million Dollar Leftovers
- Keep leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Reheat individual portions in the microwave until heated through, or cover and warm them in a 350°F oven.
More Pasta Casseroles
Did you enjoy this Million Dollar Spaghetti Recipe? Leave a comment and rating below.
Million Dollar Spaghetti
Million dollar spaghetti layers saucy pasta, savory Italian sausage, and a rich cream cheese filling under plenty of melted mozzarella. It's an easy, hearty casserole made to feed a crowd.
Ingredients
- 16 ounces spaghetti
- 1½ pounds Italian sausage casing removed, or ground beef or turkey*
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 2 (24 ounce) jars marinara sauce or spaghetti sauce, divided
- 3 teaspoons Italian seasoning divided
- 8 ounces cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese divided
- chopped fresh parsley and parmesan cheese for garnish, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain well and return the pasta to the original pot. Add 24 oz of prepared spaghetti sauce and toss to combine. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, combine Italian sausage, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat. Cook until no pink remains and the onion is soft. Drain excess fat. Stir in the remaining 24 oz of spaghetti sauce and 2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, blend cottage cheese (or ricotta), cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella, and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning using a hand mixer. Set aside.
- Spread half of the spaghetti in the prepared baking dish, then top with the cottage cheese mixture. Spread the remaining spaghetti over the cheese mixture. Pour the meat sauce evenly over the top.
- Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes, until the casserole is heated through, adding the mozzarella on top for the last 20 minutes of the cook time.
- Rest for 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
*If replacing the sausage for ground beef or turkey, add additional seasoning to the sauce. For a little kick, add ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes.
This casserole can be prepared 24 hours in advance. If made ahead of time, let it set at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before baking. Add 15 minutes to the baking time.
Store leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 583 | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 23g | Fat: 39g | Saturated Fat: 19g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 826mg | Potassium: 337mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 745IU | Vitamin C: 2.5mg | Calcium: 209mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Casserole, Dinner, Pasta
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
In regards to your Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole, in the ingredient section you state 48 ounces spaghetti sauce 2 jars. Does this mean you want a total of 48 ounces of sauce, or do you want two 48 ounce jars of sauce?
We use 2 jars of pasta sauce to equal 48 ounces in total. We say divided because 24 ounces is added in step 2 and the additional 24 ounces is added in step 3.
Love this!!!! I put ingredients of the middle layer in my food processor and added Parmesan cheese and a teaspoon of dried basil. Then, I sprinkled Parmesan on top after adding Mozzarella! Serving it again tonight to guests with a salad and crusty bread! Already can’t wait for the leftovers! Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
Great flavors, easy to prepare. BUT, I couldn’t get it all in a 9×13 dish, and yes, I measured everything. Not a bad thing as I ended up with spaghetti and meat sauce left over alone for a lunch during the week.
I was looking for a baked spaghetti recipe and this one popped up and I had to try it. The 2 layers of sauce worked with my intention of using half white (spaghetti), and red meat sauce on top. Hubs is sensitive to tomato sauces, so I always need to adjust. Wow! This came out sublime! I subbed one jar of the tomato sauce for a quickly whipped up parmesan cream sauce. Because of that I used only about half the butter called for. And I used hot Italian sausage rather than the sweet.
This one is going into my permanent file! Thank you for sharing it! Delicious.
Looks delish, I will try it, but what is the purpose of the butter?
The butter on the bottom keeps it from sticking as well as adding flavor throughout. Enjoy Jennifer!
Does anyone know if I can use mild Italian sausage as I can’t find sweet italian? would it make a huge difference?
Yes, this will work just fine!
Way too cheesy for us and now I have SOOO much food. Don’t want to waste it but it’s just too much cheese.
The dish is VERY rich and VERY heavy. We couldn’t eat it, and had to toss it all down the garbage disposal. If you have a big family, especially young children, perhaps this recipe makes sense. But for just the two of us oldies, not so much. At our age, we just don’t eat much anymore, and especially no heavy foods. To start with, I should have cut the ingredients in half. Then I should have cut out all the cheese except the mozzarella, and maybe substituted fresh chopped spinach. What was the point of all the butter? Why was cottage cheese, cream cheese, and sour cream included? None of it was necessary. I also think two jars of sauce is overkill. Sorry. It’s a “no” for us.
Bev why did you even make this recipe? From your comments it seems you knew it would not be to your liking.
Do u use 48 ounces total or 96 ounces of spaghetti sauce
We use 2 jars of pasta sauce to equal 48 ounces in total. We say divided because 24 ounces is added in step 2 and the additional 24 ounces is added in step 3.
Made this for the family last night and it was a slam dunk! This will definitely go into our regular dinner rotation.
Great recipe all the family enjoy especially my granddaughter !
Only thing I find is 16oz of spaghetti noodles is WAY too much. Made a 9×13 pan and 9 inch pan and still threw out some noodles!
I did use 1/2 mild Italian sausage meat and 1/2 extra lean hamburger as my grandson loves the taste of the sausage!!
A family favorite! A definite “must make”.
ALWAYS TAKES ME LONGER TO PREPARE!! I have no doubt about the taste of this. I have 2 foreign exchange students, both 16 year old boys at the YMCA while I cook.
They haven’t complained yet about my cooking!!!
Bad thing is, I have way less left overs for my work lunches!! Oh well, I’ve raised 7 kids already so I know what it’s about.
Excellent! Entire family loved it! My married son called and asked if he could come and get another piece!
I am so happy to hear this was a hit with the whole family!
I love this recipe….I have made it several times and it is always a big hit. The leftovers are just as good as the first time. I highly recommend trying this if you haven’t already.
This is so delicious! My hubs doesn’t care for sour cream so I just increased the cottage cheese. Oh my goodness!!
It does make a huge amount of foot as you stated. We enjoyed it through the week and froze some too. Great for football nights or leftovers! Thanks for the recipe!
You’re very welcome Lisa! This tastes just as good leftover!
It was OK. I don’t think I liked the taste of the cream cheese in this recipe so I won’t make this again. I made as is but substituted ground beef for the sausage. I don’t think that the sausage would have helped hide the cream cheese taste. Don’t get me wrong I love cream cheese but it just didn’t work in this dish for me.
Great recipe. Not sure why so many question using butter. It’s a very common ingredient added at yhe end ofmany high end chef made a spaghetti sauces. Usually added just be f ore serving. Considered a secret ingredient.
Delicious! Great recipe! Definitely will make this again!
This is by far the best spaghetti casserole I have tried thus far. The only thing I did different was I added a pound of ground beef and reduced the sausage to a pound of ground sweet Italian. It was delicious!