Cheesy Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs is a fun new way to serve this family favorite comfort food! Add this dinner recipe to your menu for spaghetti with a twist. A simple casserole made with layers of pasta, marinara sauce, cheese and meatballs.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Classico Riserva. All opinions are 100% mine.
Easy Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
It was time for traditional spaghetti and meatballs to get an update. This family spaghetti dinner is baked into a casserole. Meatballs, cheese, noodles and sauce all baked to perfection.
For this dinner recipe I started by Opening up a Bottle of the Good Stuff! Classico Riserva Pasta Sauce is made with no artificial ingredients or added sugar. Classico Riserva’s vine-ripened tomatoes are picked at the peak of sweetness and are perfectly balanced with herbs and spices, extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt, then slowly simmered to perfection. So opening a bottle of Classico Riserva Pasta Sauce is like opening a bottle of fine wine.
How To Make Baked Spaghetti
I chose the Roasted Garlic Classico Riserva Pasta Sauce, of course. This recipe calls for 1 (24 oz) bottle of pasta sauce. That creates a great pasta casserole with noodles that are lightly coated with sauce. If, like me, you prefer a saucier dish go ahead and use 36 ounces of sauce. Or heat up sauce to serve on the side. That way everyone can use as little or as much sauce as they prefer.
Once the meatballs are browned and the pasta is boiled it is just a matter of layering. Sauce. Noodles. Meatballs. Cheese. More Noodles. More Sauce. And More Cheese.
Then bakity-bakity-bake.
Once the meatballs are cooked through and the cheese gets super melty, you are good to go! Dig In.
This makes a fantastic family dinner. It would also be perfect for inviting friends over to enjoy Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs, wine and good conversation. Dinner parties don’t always need to be super fancy. Sometimes good ol’ comfort food with a unique twist will do the trick.
Here are a few more easy pasta recipes for you: Lemon Garlic Pasta, Spinach Tortellini Pasta Salad or Shrimp Pasta with Creamy Sauce.
Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
Cheesy Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs is a fun new way to serve this family favorite comfort food! Add this dinner recipe to your menu for spaghetti with a twist. A simple casserole made with layers of pasta, marinara sauce, cheese and meatballs.
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1/2 Lb Lean Ground Beef
- 1/4 Lb Italian Pork Sausage
- 1/2 Cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- 1/4 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Dried Italian Seasoning
- 1 Large Egg
- 1/4 Cup Whole Milk
Baked Spaghetti
- 16 ounces Spaghetti Noodles - break in half and cook according to package instructions
- 24-36 ounces Classico Riserva Pasta Sauce*
- 3 Cups Shredded Mozzarella - divided
- 1 Cup Shredded Parmesan Cheese
Instructions
Meatballs
- In large bowl, combine all ingredients. (pour milk over the bread crumbs) Mix by hand until just combined, do not over mix. Form into 10-12 golf ball sized meatballs.
- Working in two batches, fry in large pan over medium heat. Continually rotate meatballs until all sides are dark brown. Transfer to tray.
Baked Spaghetti
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Cook and drain pasta.
- Spread half pasta sauce into 9x13 baking dish. Top with half the spaghetti noodles.
- Nestle meatballs into pasta then top with 1 cup mozzarella and 1 cup parmesan.
- Distribute the remaining spaghetti noodles then evenly spread the remaining sauce.
- Top it all with 2 cups mozzarella and a sprinkle of parmesan.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 more minutes. (broil 1 minute for browned top - optional)
- Serve immediately.
Notes
*24 ounces for lightly coated noodles. If you prefer a saucier dish go ahead and use 36 ounces of sauce. Or heat up sauce to serve on the side.
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 2162Total Fat 75gSaturated Fat 16gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 43gCholesterol 157mgSodium 16225mgCarbohydrates 291gFiber 65gSugar 178gProtein 77g
Nutritional information on WonkyWonderful is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site.
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I like this idea! But, I’m thinking summer dish – so I plan to make these with more veggies in the meatballs and to make these in individual smaller bowls so its lighter (and for 2). Ever since I got Fiestaware and can bake in them, I really like making individual eats. This will be super tasty!
That all sounds fantastic! Enjoy 🙂
I am so hungry right now and seeing this is driving me crazy, it looks amazing!
Thanks Matt!
Cheesy and delicious! Pure comfort food—Italian style!
Oh, I love anything Cheesy!
I’ve never tried this version of Classico before, but I can’t think of a better way to enjoy it than with meatballs!
It is really tasty!
This is absolutely stunning. I love spaghetti and meatballs. This is such a fun recipe. I adore the Classico sauces. They are such great quality. Your photos are stunning.
Thanks Kim! I love Classico too. I’m having it tonight, in fact 🙂
I dish we all love to eat now you make it easy to make, thank you .
Thanks Beverley! I appreciate it 🙂
Sometimes nothing beats the classic when it comes to comfort food! These are some of the very few jarred sauces I actually like, so much easier to throw together a dish like this when you don’t have to make your own sauce!
Absolutely! I am loving the convenience and flavor of the Classico sauces!
I would use this sauce to elevate my lasagna.
Love this recipe Nicole ,will be trying this Classico sauce & making this over the weekend for my family .Thanks for sharing it with all of us .
Have a lovely weekend and Enjoy!
Amazing recipe! Thanks!
I’m glad you like it! 😀
What temperature should I bake this at?
It is baked at 375°F 🙂
Nevermind I read the instructions lol
Oh, haha! I already answered you anyways. Enjoy 😀
I tried this last night for family… they LOVED it!
Awesome! I’m happy to hear it 🙂
I used to eat spaghetti and meatballs without cheese but this time I am going to try this with cheese. I am really excited to see what kind of taste it is going to add in my spaghetti and meatballs.
I add cheese to just about anything possible. Enjoy!
This sounds GREAT! Have you ever made it a day or two ahead of time? If so, did you change anything in the recipe?
I have not made this dish ahead of time. I would imagine that the pasta would soak up the sauce and get a bit soggy/squishy.
I’m 2 years behind, but it’s baking tonight! Thanks for the great recipe!
😀
Hi , we love mushrooms in our sauce , therefore just added some, yum
So do I, Yum!
Are the pics shown the saucier results? Or do the pics show the version with 24 oz?
That is saucier…I like a lot of sauce 🙂
Hi Nicole! I’m feeding my sons football team tomorrow and need 3 lbs of pasta! Should I just double or triple the recipe?? Thanks!
Christi
Shoot! I’m sorry this comment got hidden from me. I hope it worked out okay. I would probably triple this for a hungry football team 🙂
Can you make ahead and bake it at dinner time?
I think that should be fine. You may want to add the pasta sauce just before baking to prevent the pasta from absorbing it all.
When ever you double process pasta, in the first process only cook al dente – just about done but not quite.
I just made this recipe and it’s very good! I ended up using 4 cups of shredded mozzarella and I added a can of small whole mushrooms to half of it. Be sure to cook pasta al dente. Also, I think 36 oz of sauce is barely enough and it almost doesn’t all fit in a 9×13 pan! I always use Classico sauce…..whatever flavor Costco has. Also I used frozen Italian meatballs from Costco too. So much easier and still tasted great! I did have to cook an extra 10 minutes to heat thru. I don’t think the foil is necessary. I will make again! Thanks!
I’ve made this once before and it is delicious! Does it freeze well?