Winner's Spaghetti Casserole

Submitted by HeatherFeather

"This fast, easy recipe is a real family pleaser! I have used this recipe for many years as my good old stand-by for potlucks and tailgate parties. I have also baked this recipe in two smaller pans, keeping one for my family and bringing the other over to a new mother or neighbor as a welcome gift. This is my version of one I found in a community cookbook called "Enough to Feed an Army." (NOTE: Updated the amount of the spaghetti, I also now use a smaller box of pasta in this, even though the original called for a 1 pound box)"

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 8
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 1 (10 -16 ounce) package thin spaghetti, cooked and drained
• 1 (28 ounce) jar prepared spaghetti sauce
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, seeded, chopped
• 8 ounces cream cheese or 8 ounces neufchatel cheese
• 1 tablespoon butter or 1 tablespoon margarine
• parmesan cheese, grated

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
2. Place cooked spaghetti in a deep 1.5 quart oval baking dish or a glass 9x13" casserole.
3. In a skillet, brown the ground beef until cooked through;drain fat and stir in spaghetti sauce.
4. Heat over low heat, covered, until warmed through, stirring occasionally.
5. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat.
6. Add onions and peppers to the butter and saute until just lightly browned.
7. Cut up cream cheese into small chunks and add to the onion mixture; stir until melted and well combined.
8. Pour half of the meat sauce over the cooked spaghetti.
9. Pour all of the cream cheese sauce over the first layer of meat sauce, using a spatula to spread evenly.
10. Pour remaining meat sauce over the cream cheese layer, again using a spatula to spread evenly.
11. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese over the top to taste.
12. Cover with foil and bake for about 25 minutes or warm and bubbly.
13. Remove cover and bake 5 minutes more.
14. This can be prepared ahead, refrigerated, and not baked until the following day, if desired (if you do, allow extra baking time).

Reviews

[Jen1276]

I have made this dish twice now, and both times it has been a success. To save time, I didn't cut up the cream cheese, and that worked out fine. My family loved it. I really enjoyed it also. I am not a spaghetti fan, but this was a dish my family and I could agree on.

 

[Caryn]

This is a simple tasty recipe that is similiar to traditional spaghetti. The flavor was unique in that the creamy layer had the onion/green pepper (I also added two cloves of garlic) flavor rather than the meat sauce. I did find it a bit of a stretch to spread the meat sauce into two separate layers in a 9x13-inch pan, and would consider using more ground beef and spaghetti sauce the next time around. I recently made a similiar casserole in which the spaghetti noodles were mixed with egg and parmesan cheese to bind them together. My husband started to compare the two, but after a bit of thought, he decided that the other was more like lasagna and this like spaghetti so he took back his comment about using something to bind the spaghetti noodles together. Thanks for the recipe it is a keeper in my house! :)

 

[ltdsaloon16r]

This is similar to a spaghetti casserole that I make, I added some mushrooms to the sauce mixture and a little garlic. Served it with garlic bread and we all enjoyed, thanks for posting!

 

[Charlotte J]

Nice change from the regular spaghetti. I cut it into 12 pieces and still had leftovers. But no one left the table hungry, very filling! I wonder if you could mix 1 egg and some milk to add to the spaghetti before putting it into the pan? That way after it was baked it would help hold the spaghetti together when you tried to take it out of the pan.

 

[Joyce2]

My husband and I tried this at a potluck and I begged the lady for the recipe!!!