Baked Spaghetti Casserole
Ready to Eat!
Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Casserole Recipe
This is a very easy to follow spaghetti recipe. You will start by making a garlicky beef sauce. The noodles and sauce get mixed together with cheese to make a delicious meal.
The main thing I enjoy about making this dish is that when I have company over, I can make everything up ahead of time and have a clean kitchen with all dishes washed and put away before the guests arrive.
Do you think you'd like this for a meal?
Cook Time
Ingredients
- 2 pounds of ground beef lean, cooked and drained
- 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
- 2 ribs of celery, chopped
- 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can of tomatoes, diced
- 1 jar of strained tomatoes or can of tomato sauce
- 5 dashes of Tabasco sauce
- a big pinch of thyme, dried
- a big pinch of oregano, dried
- a big pinch of basil, dried
- 1-1 1/2 Tbs of chili peppers, dried
- 2 cups of old cheddar cheese, grated
- enough to serve 4-5 spaghetti noodles, cooked and drained
Let's Get Cooking!
- Cook and drain your ground beef and set aside.
- In a frying pan saute the celery, onions, and garlic.
- In a large pot or dutch oven add the ground beef, the saute veggies, tomatoes, strained tomatoes (or tomato sauce), all the spices and Tabasco sauce. Bring everything to a boil stirring every once in awhile. Turn the heat down to simmer and let cook for an hour stirring every so often.
- In a pasta pot boil the noodles until they are cooked the way you like them.
- Once the noodle are cooked drain and toss with a bit of olive oil. This will keep your noodles from sticking together while they wait for the sauce to get done.
- Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Mix the noodles and sauce together and add 1/2 of it to the bottom of the casserole dish. Next add one cup of the grated cheese, then the rest of the noodles and sauce. Top with the second cup of cheese.
- Place in the oven for 30 minutes to 45 minutes or until cheese on top is nice and bubbly.
- Serve with a salad and or garlic bread and ENJOY!
Casserole Dish
Getting Ready to Bake the Casserole
The Noodles
Mixing the Noodles and Sauce
Into the Casserole Dish
Options to the Sauce
Don't like beef or you're a vegetarian?
Omit the beef and use chicken, sausage, ground turkey, or make it meatless.
I prefer my spaghetti sauce a little different.
Not a problem, add or change the sauce up any which way you like.
Cheese
I happen to like extra old cheese but you can use any type of cheese you feel would work well in this casserole. Maybe you'd even like to blend a few different cheeses together.
Garlic
I am a huge garlic fan. No vampire will ever attack me. But there are some people that cannot stand either garlic or garlic breath. Easy omit it if you don't care for it.
Your Thoughts on Baked Spaghetti
Have you ever made a spaghetti casserole before?
© 2014 Susan Zutautas
