Description
This Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole is the ultimate comfort food, expertly balancing tender pasta with a savory ground beef marinara sauce and a decadent, velvety cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese filling. Topped with a gooey layer of melted mozzarella and parmesan, this restaurant-quality bake ensures perfectly moist textures and rich, robust flavors in every single bite. It represents the perfect solution for busy home cooks seeking a hearty, crowd-pleasing dinner that slices cleanly and impresses the whole family.
Ingredients
1 pound spaghetti (durum wheat)
1 pound ground beef (80/20 lean-to-fat ratio)
24 ounces premium marinara sauce
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup full-fat cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese, hand-shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a deep 9×13 inch casserole dish.
Boil a large pot of salted water and cook the spaghetti until al dente according to package directions; drain well.
Brown the ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat until fully cooked and no pink remains.
Stir the marinara sauce into the skillet with the beef and simmer for five minutes to combine flavors.
In a separate bowl, mix the softened cream cheese, sour cream, and cottage cheese until smooth.
Spread half of the spaghetti into the prepared casserole dish, followed by the cream cheese mixture, then the remaining spaghetti.
Pour the meat sauce evenly over the pasta layers.
Top with shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan cheese.
Bake for 40 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown.
Notes
Hand-shredding the mozzarella from a block ensures better melting compared to pre-shredded bags which contain anti-caking agents. Soften your cream cheese to room temperature to ensure a silky texture in the filling. The dish may be prepared ahead and refrigerated, but add an extra 10-15 minutes to the bake time if starting from cold.
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 40
- Category: Recipes
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian-American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 square (approx 1/8 of pan)
- Calories: 480
- Sugar: 8g
- Sodium: 850mg
- Fat: 22g
- Saturated Fat: 11g
- Carbohydrates: 42g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 28g
- Cholesterol: 85mg