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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.

close up photo of a slice of baked spaghetti on a white plate

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Do you cook pasta before making pasta bake?

Yes. For most pasta casseroles/bakes, the pasta does need to be cooked before adding to the rest of the ingredients in the dish.

Why is baked pasta dry?

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.

Should baked pasta be covered?

Yes. This helps to keep the pasta from drying out as well as it keeps the steam contained within the casserole dish.

Can you freeze baked spaghetti?

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.

How do you store leftover baked spaghetti?

Place any leftovers in a lidded container. Place into the refrigerator and eat within 3 days. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

The Best Baked Spaghetti recipe (also known as Spasagna) slice of baked spaghetti shown being pulled out of the casserole dish with a spatula

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
baked spaghetti ingredients: spaghetti noodles, ground beef, spaghetti sauce, 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.

browned and crumbled cooked ground beef in a large skillet.

Put ground beef back in pan and add spaghetti sauce. Stir to combine well.

spaghetti sauce added to the ground beef in the large skillet.

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.

Alfredo sauce and Italian seasoning stirred together with cooked spaghetti noodles in a large stock pot.

Place spaghetti noodles into prepared baking dish.

Alfredo covered spaghetti noodles in a prepared 9x13 baking dish.

Cover with spaghetti sauce mixture.

meat sauce spread on top of Alfredo noodles in baking dish.

Top with shredded mozzarella cheese.

shredded mozzarella cheese on top of layers of spaghetti sauce and Alfredo noodles.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes (until cheese is melted and bubbly.)

baking dish shown covered in aluminum foil.

Allow to cool for about 5-8 minutes. Then slice.

fully cooked baked spaghetti shown in a white baking dish

Serve with a salad and garlic bread!

(last image) close up photo of fork pulling up a bite of Baked Spaghetti.

CRAVING MORE RECIPES?

Originally published: June 2011
Updated and republished: March 2021

The Best Baked Spaghetti (Spasagna) recipe from The Country Cook

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!
4.74 from 107 votes
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Servings: 8

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

YouTube 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. 
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Calories: 563kcal | Carbohydrates: 50g | Protein: 26g | Fat: 27g | Sodium: 1080mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g

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.

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*Spasagna is a registered trademark of Cheddar’s Restaurant

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Recipe Rating




136 Comments

  1. Well, I think I may just have found my new most favorite dish!! I love and eat pasta all the time. This one looks soooo good and like I want it right now. I like that not only does it look good but appears to be easy to make…which makes it all that much better!!! The combination of the meat, cheese sauce, spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese…I think I may have died and gone to pasta heaven. Thanks for this share…can't wait to try it!!! Roy In Texas

  2. Excellent and easy. Made only one change. I'm making this for two people, so I cut the spaghetti ingredients in half. Used all of the meat sauce ingredients.

  3. Okay, YUM! This was really yummy tonight and a GREAT hit. I am going to try this in a number of variations including with cheddar and alfredo in the bottom and maybe manwich with hamburger on top? That sounds good! Thanks for sharing yummy, family-friendly recipes.

  4. Try topping it with chicken and more Alfredo sauce. You can actually order it with Alfredo at cheddar's and it's meatless but oh so good.

  5. I have a confession! We love this recipe. I know we make it at least once a month if not twice sometimes three times! I like to switch up the meat. I leave everything else the same. I love using Turkey sausage. I have shared this with about a million people! In fact it's in my oven right now!

  6. This sound so god Can't wait to try it. I cook for my 90 year old mother and 65 year old brother every night for dinner and I use a lot of your recipes. I love the recipe box feature so I can keep them all together and get them fast.

  7. 5 stars
    I made this last night and it was really good! I'm always looking to cook different things and you have plenty of recipes I want to try, I'm like a kid in a candy store. Thank you for this fabulous blog!

  8. I made this for dinner today and it was absolutely DELICIOUS! My husband and two young sons were also fans. 🙂

  9. 5 stars
    YES! I made it the other day and it was absolutely fabulous!! I used 1% milk(that's what we drink)Light Alfredo sauce, Jimmy Dean turkey sausage crumbles. While the alfredo spaghetti mixture was cooking, I just warmed the turkey crumbles up in the marinara sauce. When the spaghetti was done, I poured the marinara meat mixture on top, sprinkled on Reduced Fat grated Parmesan Cheese and popped it back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Best of both worlds. I love spaghetti and hubby loves alfredo. We were all happy!!!

  10. Has anyone acutally Made this yet? I haven't seen any reviews and just curious since it looks Awesome! Cannot wait to make it 🙂

  11. 5 stars
    This was a HUGE hit at my house and very easy to make. I have to do gluten free so I used Quinoa Fettucine noodles and they held up really well if I cooked them al dente. This recipe adapted to gluten free really nicely. Thank you so much.

  12. Yay! That is so wonderful!! I am so happy you like this one. thank you so very much for taking the time to let me know how much you like it!!

  13. Fantastic! Paired with a nice salad it was a feast. My kids said it was "a keeper." Next time I will try reduced fat alfredo to see if it works.

  14. This is FABULOUS!!!! I made homemade Alfredo and it rocked our socks off. Yummo! I'm going to be making this for company!

  15. That looks delicious! I would try it with mild italian sausage in the red sauce. Thanks for the idea. I love lasagna, but won't take the time to make it. This sounds much simpler.

  16. 5 stars
    This was wonderful! It was so easy to make and we just loved it!

    After I took the spaghetti/alfredo out of the oven and let it cool, I just put the red sauce on top and we spoon dipped it out…held up just fine!

    Thanks!

  17. I would have loved to have made this with Alfredo sauce, but the rest of my family isn't too fond of it. So instead I mixed the spaghetti noodles with my usual lasagna ingredients (ricotta, egg, grated parmesan, mozzarella, garlic, salt and pepper), poured the meat sauce on with some more mozzarella sprinkled on top and baked. It was so yummy! My family commented that they liked it better than traditional lasagna!

  18. 5 stars
    Hi! Just commenting to tell you I found your blog yesterday while looking for a bacon-wrapped brats recipe (which turned out great) and tonight I made this spasagna which was also delicious. And next I'm gonna make Coca Cola cake! Your blog is ideal for someone like me who is not totally inept in the kitchen but not into being very fancy either (I can't be cooking elaborate meals cause I have picky eaters in the house). So thanks for doing what you do here!