Description
This is the best Baked Spaghetti recipe. It takes everything we love about spaghetti supper and raises it to the next level. Tender spaghetti, layered with a meat sauce and ooey, gooey cheese. Not only is it delicious, it stretches a lb of ground beef to feed 12. There’s nothing about this scrumptious pasta bake recipe that isn’t a win. It freezes well to bake later, too. Serve it with a green salad and some garlic bread for a perfect meal!
Ingredients
Scale
For the Meat Sauce Layer:
- 1 lb LEAN ground beef, browned and drained
- 5 cups homemade marinara (or your favorite store-bought spaghetti sauce/ marinara sauce)
- 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese
- 1 medium red onion, minced
- 1 cup fresh spinach, minced (Measure after it’s minced.)
- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
For the Noodle Layer:
- 1 lb spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained (gluten free Jovial brown rice noodles work great)
- 2 eggs
- 5 Tablespoons butter melted
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
For the 3rd Layer:
- 1 (16 oz block) Mozzarella cheese, grated (about 4 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° and grease the baking dish.
- Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Cook the spaghetti noodles. Cook the spaghetti 2 to 3 minutes less than the suggested time on the package. It will continue to cook in the oven.
- *Grate the Mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese.
- Melt butter in the microwave. Don’t overdo it. Heat it just enough to melt.
- Stir in the grated Parmesan cheese. (Remember, grate your own for maximum flavor and ease of melting!) Stirring the cheese into the butter will help to cool it quickly. Stir for awhile longer if it still feels to hot. Your going to beat the eggs into it next and you want them to mix in, not cook.
- Beat eggs.
- Mix the beaten eggs into the butter and Parmesan cheese.
- Pour the mixture over the cooked spaghetti. You can try to do this step with a spoon, but I find the easiest way to be sure the spaghetti is evenly coated is to simply toss it all together with my hands.
- Create the meat sauce by mixing the homemade marinara (or pasta sauce), cottage cheese, cooked ground beef, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning and spinach in another bowl.
- Grease a *9×13 pan .
- Place half of the cooked spaghetti noodles in the bottom of the baking dish to create the first layer. Next, spread 1/2 of the tomato/meat sauce over the spaghetti. The third layer is 1/2 of the grated cheese.
- Now, repeat all three layers. Your Baked Spaghetti is ready for the oven! Cover and seal the baking dish with foil. Spray the underside of the foil with pan spray. It really does help keep the foil from sticking to the cheese.
- Bake in a 350° oven for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 10 more minutes to finish melting the cheese. When the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbling and brown around the edges, it’s done.
- Let the pan rest on a cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes, so it holds together well, when you slice it.
- Prep Time: 20 min
- Cook Time: 40 min
- Category: Main Dish, Casserole
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian