The Best Baked Spaghetti (a.k.a Spasagna)
The Best Baked Spaghetti also known as Spasagna is inspired by the meal at Cheddar’s. Alfredo spaghetti topped with meat sauce and cheese!
A DELICIOUS SPAGHETTI CASSEROLE
Sometimes the meals I make are inspired by my favorite restaurant foods. If you’ve ever been to a Cheddar’s restaurant then this will be a familiar dish to you. They call it Spasagna* (spaghetti plus lasagna.) If you’ve never heard of it, well, it’s about time you do. Basically, it is cooked spaghetti noodles tossed with alfredo (cheese) sauce, topped with a meaty red sauce, cheese and then baked.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:
Yes. For most pasta casseroles/bakes, the pasta does need to be cooked before adding to the rest of the ingredients in the dish.
Most of the times it is because there is not enough liquid or sauce coating the pasta as it bakes. In this recipe the spaghetti is coated with Alfredo sauce which keeps the spaghetti from drying out.
Yes. This helps to keep the pasta from drying out as well as it keeps the steam contained within the casserole dish.
This can be made ahead of time and frozen. Then just pull it out of your freezer when ready to cook. Just be sure to add on a few minutes to the cooking time.
Place any leftovers in a lidded container. Place into the refrigerator and eat within 3 days. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.
INGREDIENTS FOR BAKED SPAGHETTI: (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- spaghetti noodles
- ground beef
- spaghetti sauce
- jar alfredo sauce (cheese sauce)
- Italian seasoning
- shredded mozzarella
HOW DO YOU MAKE BAKED SPAGHETTI:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9×13-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles very well.
While the spaghetti noodles are cooking, brown and crumble ground beef in a large sauce pan. Drain excess grease.
Put ground beef back in pan and add spaghetti sauce. Stir to combine well.
Meanwhile, once the cooked noodles are drained, put them back into the pot. Stir in alfredo (cheese) sauce and Italian seasoning. Stir well to thoroughly coat noodles.
Place spaghetti noodles into prepared baking dish.
Cover with spaghetti sauce mixture.
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.
Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly.)
Allow to cool for about 5-8 minutes. Then slice.
Serve with a salad and garlic bread!
CRAVING MORE RECIPES?
Originally published: June 2011
Updated and republished: March 2021
The Best Baked Spaghetti (a.k.a. Spasagna)
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles
- 1 pound ground beef
- 26 ounce jar spaghetti sauce
- 16 ounce jar alfredo sauce
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick spray.
- Cook spaghetti noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles very well.
- While the spaghetti noodles are cooking, brown and crumble ground beef in a large sauce pan. Drain excess grease.
- Put ground beef back in pan and add spaghetti sauce. Stir to combine well.
- Meanwhile, once the cooked noodles are drained, put them back into the pot. Stir in alfredo (cheese) sauce and Italian seasoning.
- Stir well to thoroughly coat noodles.
- Place spaghetti noodles into prepared baking dish.
- Cover with spaghetti sauce mixture.
- Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.
- Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly.)
Video
Notes
- Allow to cool for about 5-8 minutes then slice and serve with a salad and garlic bread.
- Baked Spaghetti can be frozen (see my tips above).
- Other pasta can be used: fettuccine, linguine, etc.
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.
*Spasagna is a registered trademark of Cheddar’s Restaurant
Do you think thin spaghetti will work ok? That’s all I’ve got and what my family prefers. Thanks!
I don’t see why not!
Made this with fresh fettuccine for a really quick dinner. We substituted Italian sausage for the ground beef. Pretty tasty.
This is so easy and delicious. Even my picky eaters loved it. Will definitely make it again and again.
Hi Judy! Makes my day when I hear the picky eaters enjoyed it – ha! Thanks so very much for taking the time to comment!
Well, these comments are now 9 years old, so I guess the recipe is also. Cant find Creamy Mozzarella sauce anywhere, not even on Ragu’s website. So what would be an alternative sauce? It really looks good and I would love to try it.
Hi Jan – just use any jarred Alfredo sauce that you enjoy!
I don’t normally comment on here but this was the best dish I’ve had in years! I followed recipe and made my own alfredo sauce (never found a jar of it I liked). It was truly restaurant quality and so damn good!! Thanks for sharing!!!
I am so happy you took the time to come back and comment! That is really so great to hear – thank you SO very much!
Excellent dinner! It’s turned into a family favorite.
I’ve made this so many times and it’s always a hit!!
Big hit in my house last night! It was wonderful!
This makes me so happy to hear. Thank you so very much Jenny!
I’ve been on the search lately for new recipes and this is one I just had to try. This was easy to make and it tasted just as good as it looks. I will never make spaghetti like I used to before. This is the way to go from now on!!!
I love hearing that Lory! Thank you so much!!
I made this tonight and it was yummy!! My hubby & I both loved it! So easy to put together… my kind of recipe for sure. 🙂 Thanks for a delicious recipe. 🙂
Woo hoo! Love hearing that Tess! Thank you so very much for taking the time to come back and comment!!
Love this recipe! I’m going to test freezing the leftovers.
Hi Joan! Thank you so much!!
I made this and it is very tasty. Next time I make it I’ll use only half a box of noodles to change the ratio of meat sauce to noodles.
Thanks so much for coming back to comment Esther!
This looks so Yummy!! Comfort food for sure & easy to make too! Will be trying this soon. thanks! 🙂
Hope you love it Tess!
I will definitely be making this! Sounds delicious.
I made this last weekend. I needed something that made a lot but that was easy and economical. This seemed to check all of the boxes. The hardest part was boiling the pasta so that says a lot right there. When I find ground beef on sale, I brown it and freeze it to use in recipes such as this one which made it even faster. It is almost too good to be so easy. I would encourage anyone to try it. I will definitely make again.