Baked spaghetti and meatballs is an easy casserole, baked in the oven and full of Italian flavor. Our traditional spaghetti dish combines noodles and homemade meatballs and smothered in sauce and coated with gooey, melted cheese.
Easy Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
You can’t go wrong with an Italian dish in our house! We absolutely love pasta, so of course, we all go crazy for spaghetti night. However, it can be a bit boring to make plain old spaghetti every time. So, lately, I’ve been switching things up with this amazing baked spaghetti and meatballs recipe.
It’s like spaghetti in casserole form! It’s so easy to make and it has the same delicious flavors that we all love in classic spaghetti and meatballs. It’s much easier to clean up and overall it makes less of a mess than traditional spaghetti. But, it calls for similar ingredients and has similar flavors.
If your family loves pasta dishes as much as mine, then you are all going to love this baked spaghetti and meatballs dish! Pair it with some garlic bread and a salad and you have the perfect homemade Italian meal.
Why We Love Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Easy to make meatballs that are oven baked
- Make ahead meal for busy weeknights
- The whole family will love it
- Typically makes more than enough for leftovers
Ingredients
For the Meatballs
- Lean ground beef
- Italian ground pork
- Italian breadcrumbs
- Whole milk
- Minced garlic
- Italian seasoning
- Onion powder
- Dried parsley
- Parmesan cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
- Eggs
For the Pasta
- Spaghetti noodles
- Olive oil
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Parsley
- Black pepper
- Your favorite red pasta sauce
For the Casserole Toppings
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Fresh parsley
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How to Make Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
In a large mixing bowl, combine ground beef, ground pork, Italian breadcrumbs, whole milk, minced garlic, Italian seasonings, onion powder, dried parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and lightly beaten eggs.
Use a small scoop to form small meatballs, or a large scoop to form large meatballs. A small scoop will make about 34 meatballs, and a larger ice cream scoop will form about 17 meatballs.
Place the meatballs on the foil-lined baking sheet (or we love to use our silicone baking sheets) and place in the oven. Cook at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes if making small meatballs, 25 minutes if making large meatballs.
They should be cooked through at this point and browned on the top. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Cook spaghetti per package directions. Drain water and add noodles back to the pot. Drizzle olive oil over noodles and toss to coat. Add ¾ cup mozzarella, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp fresh parsley, and ⅛ tsp ground black pepper. Toss pasta to coat with cheese and seasonings.
Turn the heat down on your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add noodle mixture to the bottom of the baking dish.
Remove meatballs from the baking sheet and place them on top of the noodle mixture. Nestle each meatball down in the noodles so that only the top half is sticking out.
Add 1 24-oz jar of your favorite pasta sauce to the top of the casserole. Use a fork to kind of spread out the noodles in-between the meatballs so the sauce can fall down in the noodles.
Cover the casserole and place in the oven at 375 degrees. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and sprinkle remaining cheeses over the top of the casserole.
Place back in the oven at 375 degrees and continue to cook for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and sides are bubbling.
Substitutions and Additions
Meatballs: If you prefer not to make your own homemade meatballs you can use store-bought frozen meatballs in this recipe. Just make sure to completely thaw them before using them in your casserole. Likewise, you can freeze your homemade meatballs and thaw them out to use them on a later date.
Pasta: Any type of noodles would work for this recipe. If you prefer to use smaller, bite sized noodles in place of the long spaghetti noodles, I would recommend penne or rotini. If you don’t have spaghetti noodles but would like to stick with a long noodle, you could use angel hair, fetticini, or linguini.
Sauce: Any red sauce will work to make baked spaghetti and meatballs. For a fun twist on this recipe, you could also use a pink sauce that combines a white and red sauce. You could also opt to use a white sauce, if you prefer!
How to Store Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
Store leftover baked spaghetti and meatballs in an airtight container in the fridge, if you plan to eat it within a few days. This casserole also makes for a great freezer meal. Place the airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months and allow it to thaw out completely before reheating it in the oven.
You can also store any leftover meatballs in the freezer. They are easy to thaw out and reheat in a casserole or put on top of spaghetti when you are ready to use them at a later date. Simply store them sealed tight in a Ziploc freezer bag.
Baked spaghetti and meatballs is an easy casserole, with classic flavors that you love in a pasta dish. Spaghetti noodles and homemade meatballs are swimming in pasta sauce and coated with a delicious cheese blend. This is a simple oven baked dish for your next family dinner night.
More Great Casserole Recipes
Chili Cornbread Casserole | Chicken Fajita Casserole | Dorito Casserole | Chicken Pot Pie Casserole | Cowboy Casserole | Ritz Chicken Casserole | Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole | Crack Chicken Casserole | Chicken Pot Pie Bake | Chicken Enchilada Biscuit Bake | Pork Chop Casserole
Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs
- 1 lb lean ground beef
- 1 lb Italian ground pork
- ½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
Pasta
- 8 ounces spaghetti noodles cooked per package directions
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ¾ cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
- ⅛ tsp black pepper
- 32 ounces your favorite red pasta sauce
Casserole Toppings
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese shredded
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley finely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl combine ground beef, ground pork, Italian breadcrumbs, whole milk, minced garlic, Italian seasonings, onion powder, dried parsley, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and lightly beaten eggs. Using your hands mix all ingredients in the bowl until just combined, being careful not to overmix the meat.
- Use a small scoop to form small meatballs, or a large scoop to form large meatballs. A small scoop will make about 34 meatballs, a larger ice cream scoop will form about 17 meatballs.
- Place the meatballs on the foil lined baking sheet and place in the oven. Cook at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes if making small meatballs, 25 minutes if making large meatballs. They should be cooked through at this point and browned on the top. Remove from the oven and set aside.
- Cook spaghetti per package directions. Drain water and add noodles back to the pot. Drizzle olive oil over noodles and toss to coat. Add ¾ cup mozzarella, ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp fresh parsley, and ⅛ tsp ground black pepper. Toss pasta to coat with cheese and seasonings.
- Turn the heat down on your oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. Add noodle mixture to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Remove meatballs from the baking sheet and place them on top of the noodle mixture. Nestle each meatball down in the noodles so that only the top half is sticking out.
- Add 32 ounces of your favorite pasta sauce to the top of the casserole. Use a fork to kind of spread out the noodles in-between the meatballs so the sauce can fall down in the noodles.
- Cover the casserole and place in the oven at 375 degrees. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove foil and sprinkle remaining cheeses over the top of the casserole.
- Place back in the oven at 375 degrees and continue to cook for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and the sides are bubbling.
This makes way too many meatballs for only 8 oz of noodles. I made 18 large and had over half of the meat left. They were also very salty, but the cheese might have been the cause. It wasn’t enough noodles to fill a 13 x 9 pan.