Baked Spaghetti Casserole
This spaghetti casserole brings all of your favorite pasta dinner ingredients in a one dish meal. You’ll make this recipe again and again.
by Diana Rattray
Spaghetti has long been a family favorite meal that is enjoyed once a week in many homes. This cozy casserole brings all of the elements of a spaghetti dinner together in one baking dish. The cheese topping finishes the casserole perfectly.
Feel free to change up the homemade sauce with your family’s favorite ingredients. Replace the ground beef with ground turkey if you like to limit your red meat intake. Or add some sautéed mushrooms to the mixture and reduce the ground meat a bit. I used thin spaghetti in the dish, but it would be good with linquine or bucatini as well.
Here’s another quick Italian meal: sheet pan with peppers. Or try this Neapolitan pasta with sausage.
Baked Spaghetti Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 14.5ounces can diced tomatoes
- 1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon basil fresh, chopped or about 1 teaspoon dried
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper or to taste
- Optional: 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or to taste
- 8 ounces spaghetti uncooked
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese grated, plus more for serving
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 375 F.
- Spray a shallow 2 1/2-quart baking dish with cooking oil spray.
- Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Drain and discard excess fat, if desired.
- To the browned beef, add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and continue to cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer, or until the onion is softened. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, bay leaf, parsley, basil, kosher salt, and black pepper, along with the crushed red pepper flakes, if using. Bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer the sauce for 15 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaf and stir the Parmesan cheese into the sauce.
- Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water following the package directions. Drain well.
- Combine the drained spaghetti with the sauce mixture and toss to blend thoroughly.
- Turn the spaghetti mixture into the prepared baking pan and the sprinkle with the shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the top.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbling around the edges and the cheese is melted.
- Serve the casserole with garlic bread and pass more Parmesan cheese at the table.
