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.
I wonder how this would be using Vodka sauce instead of marinara. I’m going to make it tonight and debating which sauce to use.
I haven’t tried it Lisa, but it sure sounds delicious! Let us know how it is if you use the vodka sauce!
Have you ever made this with groundmeat in place of sausage?
Yes, and it works perfectly.
Lisa, how did the Vodka sauce work out???
I recieved a similar recipie from a friend and found it plain. I found your recipe and it was everything I needed! I have 5 teenagers (4 BIG boys + 1 girl) and they LOVED this version! They asked me to make it again next week! LOL Thank you!
You’re welcome! Love filling up teenagers!!
Thx for asking as I was going to ask if anyone had compared this to others. I’m looking for a Christmas Eve dish that I can make ahead. Unfortunately I’m not able to do all the standing necessary for my annual prime rib dinner :(
Do you have a favorite spaghetti sauce that you use?
I usually just buy whatever is on sale Wendy
This casserole was rich, filling, and delicious. It made a ton, so I was able to share. Just tweaked an otherwise excellent recipe:
*used 2 lbs meat (1 lb hamburger/1 lb pork sausage-also seasoned it with salt/pepper/garlic powder too
*doubled the cottage cheese (16 oz) and added a bit more sour cream (not much-didn’t measure extra)
*added Parmesan to the cheese mixture
*layered meat and shredded cheese on both layers (more like lasagna)
My family loves it. Thank you for sharing this recipe! ❤️
We love this recipe! The only change we make is we use hot italian sausage because we like it! Since there are only two of us now I can freeze in serving size and get several meals from one recipe. Thanks you!
I added 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained) to cheese mixture. Could do artichoke or water chestnuts (think spinach dip) too I suppose. Added black olives in the meat layer. Didn’t use butter. It was a hit. YUM YUM
Love, love, this recipe my go to for pot luck dish,
Thank you Vivian, you made my day!
I am so glad i ran into this recipe!!! Delish!!! A new go to fav of mine and my family.
I’ve gone to all this work
You never mentioned if you cover it to bake it???????
This is baked uncovered.
Susan just for the record (from an OLD cook), unless a recipe says “covered” then assume it is made UNcovered.
I added a pkg of frozen chopped spinach to the cheese mixture and a couple cups of mushrooms to the meat sauce to sneak in a few veggies…Kids still loved it. Great recipe – I think the cream cheese makes a big difference.
Did some tweaking due to how product sizes are hard to get dead on. Ex. Ground sausage comes in 16oz so I just went a head and did 2 pounds instead of pound and a quarter. Cream cheese came in 7.5oz. Did about a 3rd of a cup of sour cream. Instead of a quarter cup.
Turned out amazing. Building mixtures seems daunting but its easy. And im.a novice when it comes to cooking. This is like a spaghetti lasagna.
PS: Sadly It doesn’t make you a millionaire ;)
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I’m getting ready to make this tomorrow so we can eat it while watching the returns. I first make this in September when we were camping. I was trying to clean out the refrigerator and had a lot of the ingredients on hand. I did a few things differently – some in error, some on purpose. I made my own sauce because I see no purpose in buying jarred sauce when it’s so easy to make ones own. I used the whole container (16 oz) of Ricotta because I had it and because I’m Italian and would never ever use cottage cheese in a Pasta recipe! I used about 2/3 C. of sour cream because it had it, I used everything else as called for in the recipe. This was beyond anything I expected! You just can’t mess this up! We loved it and I can’t wait to make it again tomorrow. Thank you for a wonderful recipe – its a keeper. I just recently found your website and everything I’ve made has been absolutely wonderful!
Sounds delish. Want to make it this week. BUT can you use marinara sauce or half marinara/half spaghetti sauce? Not sure of the difference between the two…if it would change taste of casserole?
Marinara and pasta sauce can be used interchangeably in this recipe.
This is SUPER DELICIOUS!!! I followed the recipe exactly. Wouldn’t change a thing! AMAZING!!!!
Wow! I made this tonight and we all had more than one serving. It was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly except for the fact that I added more garlic than called for, we love garlic. :)
I don’t have Italian seasoning on hand. I do have basil, parsley, and rosemary in my garden. I have dried oregano and thyme? What am I missing? How would you use what I have? Also have fresh mint and dried fennel. My Nana always put a bit of mint in her Sunday gravy.
We use this Italian seasoning recipe.
I would love be to make this tonight but don’t have the cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. Any suggestions? Thank you!
I’ve only tried this as written but you could try a little bit of cream cheese in place.
I’ve been making this for a couple yrs now. Only thing I do different is I add a giant 63oz spaghetti sauce jar in it from Costco. I like mine to be more saucy. Yesterday I made two casseroles to freeze one, since I’m having a baby soon. Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Was wondering how people choose to heat up.the leftovers…in the microwave or put back into the oven? If in the oven would you cover it so it doesn’t dry out then?
Hi Leslie, I would place the casserole dish in the oven @ 350°F for 20 minutes or so, covered with tin foil. Covering it will keep in the moisture.