Baked Spaghetti For Two
Baked Spaghetti for Two is filled with tender pasta, ground beef, marinara and alfredo sauce with some melty mozzarella all baked together!
AN EASY PASTA DINNER IN UNDER AN HOUR
I can’t be the only one who makes spaghetti but makes enough to feed an entire village of people, right?! No matter what I try, I’m always making more spaghetti than I really need. This delicious Baked Spaghetti for Two is enough for two people for dinner and a little bit for leftovers (but not a ton like usual recipes) or even for two people to have very generous servings or enough for average size servings for a family of four. Easy, delicious and comforting!
This is one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had! I did add a few chili flakes.
– Bonnie
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Nope! If you don’t want to use ground beef, you can easily customize this and swap it out to your needs. Try making it with Italian sausage, ground turkey, or ground chicken instead or go meatless and make this without any ground meat at all.
Just like the ground beef, you can trade out the spaghetti for any other pasta of your choice. Feel free to try this with rigatoni, penne, linguini, etc.
Try adding ½ cup of ricotta to the noodle mixture to make it extra cheesy.
You could add some spinach or diced veggies to the mix as well.
A mix of provolone and mozzarella would be fantastic as a cheese topping.
Like I mentioned before, it’s really easy to over measure when making anything with pasta. I almost always over do it. But, with this recipe, you only need a little less than half of a 1 pound box of spaghetti. Don’t worry though, if you accidentally over measure when you’re making your baked dish, you can fix it. This recipe uses a lot of sauce, so you’ll still have plenty of sauce to work with. However, if you feel like you need more, you should have some leftover spaghetti or Alfredo sauce in your jars to work with too. Just make sure you don’t overfill your baking dish.
Any leftover sauce you have can be saved for serving too. I enjoy having a little extra sauce for serving and for dipping my Garlic Bread into!
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or you can freeze them for up to 3 months. I love pasta leftovers. This specific recipe is GREAT when reheated the next day, making it perfect for lunch leftovers.
Reheat your leftovers in the microwave or in the oven, covered in foil.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED: (SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW FOR THE FULL RECIPE)
- spaghetti – see above in the Frequently Asked Question section on how best to measure the amount of spaghetti you need.
- ground beef – this is also delicious with Italian sausage. See above for other suggestions.
- Italian seasoning
- garlic powder
- onion powder
- grated parmesan cheese – I just use the stuff in the green bottle. You can use freshly shredded as well.
- jarred marinara – I used Rao’s Marinara, but any brand will work. You could even make your own Marinara Sauce. See my above Frequently Asked Question section on what to do with any leftover sauce.
- jarred Alfredo sauce– Again, I used Rao’s Alfredo sauce, but any brand will work. If you’re up to it, you could make your own Homemade Alfredo Sauce. This recipe is super customizable.
- shredded mozzarella cheese
HOW TO MAKE BAKED SPAGHETTI FOR TWO
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Cook the spaghetti per the directions on the back of the package to al dente, and drain well. While the spaghetti is cooking, add the ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and crumble until there is no pink left, 8-10 minutes. Drain any excess grease.
Add half of the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, onion powder, and parmesan cheese to the skillet and stir until combined. Add in the spaghetti sauce, stir to combine, then take off the heat.
In a large bowl, stir together the cooked spaghetti, the Alfredo sauce, and the remaining ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Add the alfredo covered spaghetti to the bottom of the baking dish.
Smooth out the meat sauce on top of the spaghetti. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Cover with nonstick foil, or spray a piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and it is bubbly along the edges. Allow to cool for 10 minutes to set up and serve.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES FOR TWO?
Baked Spaghetti For Two
Ingredients
- 6 ounces spaghetti
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning divided use
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ cups jarred marinara sauce
- 1 cup jarred alfredo sauce
- 1 ½ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- Cook 6 ounces spaghetti per the directions on the back of the package to al dente, and drain well.
- While the spaghetti is cooking, add 1/2 pound ground beef to a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and crumble until there is no pink left, 8-10 minutes. Drain any excess grease.
- Add ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon onion powder and 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese to the skillet and stir until combined.
- Add in 1 1/2 cups jarred marinara sauce, stir to combine, then take off the heat.
- In a large bowl, stir together the cooked spaghetti, 1 cup jarred alfredo sauce and the remaining ½ teaspoon of Italian seasoning.
- Add the alfredo covered spaghetti to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Smooth out the meat sauce on top of the spaghetti.
- Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese on top.
- Cover with nonstick foil, or spray a piece of foil with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted and it is bubbly along the edges.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes to set up and serve.
Notes
- Please refer to my FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) and ingredient list above for other substitutions or for the answers to the most common questions.
- This can serve 2-4 servings depending on your serving size.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
“The Country Cook” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Very good dish! and wonderful for left over alfredo / pasta sauce!
Will make again!!
This is pretty good. It makes a lot! I added a whole package of chopped spinach and a few red pepper flakes.
This is one of the best pasta dishes I have ever had! I did add a few chili flakes.
That is so wonderful to hear Bonnie! Thank you so very much for taking the time to come back and comment!
This recipe was delicious. Recipes for two are perfect for my husband and me. I doubled the recipe and froze the other casserole for another meal when I’m too tired to cook.
This recipe was delicious. Recipes for two are perfect for my husband and me. Not too much, not too little.
Great recipe for not too much spaghetti turns out perfect
I tried this recipe the other night. it was so easy to make We loved it. The leftovers were even tastier
Thank you so much Brandie!!!
Love hearing that Sandy – yay! Thanks so much!
This is so simple. I think I’ll try a vegan version.
Thank you so much. We’ve really been enjoying all your recipes for two. Every single one we’ve tried has been excellent