Cheese Lover’s Spaghetti Casserole
You have never had a spaghetti casserole better this this one! It’s layered with an easy mozzarella cheese sauce that takes it over the top. DELICIOUS!
I have this obsession with all things cheesy. Cheesy food, cheesy movies, cheesy shirts…. My late husband even picked me up with a cheesy pick-up line when we were teenagers – ‘Drop the zero, go with the hero’. Yup, he totally used that one on me! Swoon, right? 😉
I don’t even want to admit to you all how much of my grocery budget goes to cheese. Most other people go to Whole Foods to purchase organic produce & such… but me? I go there for the awesome cheese selection. I look so out of place when I’m checking out. Everyone else has their buggies filled with produce, vitamins, & other healthy options – and then there’s me…. buggy loaded up with lots of cheese & a few freshly made pizzas. When pizza is from Whole Foods, that makes it good for you – right? That Bacon Cheeseburger pizza with extra cheese sure did taste good for me.
Almost everything is better with cheese. Am I right? Of course I am. I’m a woman…. 😉
I created this recipe for those card-carrying cheese addicts like me & it’s ah-mazing. There are no words in my vocabulary to express to y’all how fabulous & delicious this dish is! This is no typical spaghetti casserole – far from it! I had the idea to pair my homemade 4-ingredient cheese sauce with my favorite spaghetti casserole recipe, & I must say it’s one of the best ideas I’ve ever had. I’m so helplessly hooked on it. It’s impossible not to be hooked on it though – it’s such a perfect dish!
Any doubts you have about how utterly mouthwatering delicious this spaghetti casserole is should be cleared up instantaneously just by looking at these pictures.
Tastebud tantalizing perfection, that’s what this is.
I could barely even get pictures of this dish – it was gone so fast. My entire family raved & continue to rave. Amazing doesn’t even begin to describe how good this one is!
Here’s what you need…. the cat looking on is optional.
Brown up 1 pound of ground chuck with 1 medium diced onion. You can throw in a couple cloves of minced garlic too if you’d like.
Once the beef is browned, drain off any grease. Stir in a 28oz jar of spaghetti sauce, 1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning, & 1 tablespoon of garlic powder. Cook on low for 10 minutes.
Cook 12oz of spaghetti noodles until al dente; drain. Mix in 8oz of softened cream cheese while the spaghetti noodles are still hot.
Add the spaghetti noodles to the pan with the spaghetti sauce. Any cream cheese that’s not yet mixed in yet will melt in this step. Mix it all up to combine.
Meanwhile, make the Mozzarella cheese sauce. This is the easiest cheese sauce ever! In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Once melted, whisk in 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. Cook on medium heat for about 60-90 seconds, stirring occasionally. Whisk in 1 cup of milk. It should get thick pretty fast. Once thickened, add in your other cup of milk. Cook, whisking often, on medium heat until it’s thickened enough to lightly coat your whisk – about the thickness of heavy whipping cream. Add in 8oz of shredded Mozzarella cheese. Whisk it until the cheese is completely melted & throughly combined – the cheese sauce should be beautiful now! I have photos of the cheese sauce making process here.
Spray a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Layer half of the spaghetti in the bottom of the dish.
Pour half of the cheese sauce on top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.
Layer on the other half of the spaghetti & meat sauce mixture. Then top it off with the rest of the cheese sauce & another 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. My mouth is already watering, y’all 😉
Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Cheese Lover's Spaghetti Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chuck
- 1 medium onion diced
- 2-3 cloves of garlic optional
- 28 oz jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 12 oz spaghetti noodles cooked al dente
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large skillet, brown the ground chuck with the diced onion & garlic (if using). Drain off any grease that forms. Mix in the spaghetti sauce, Italian seasoning, & garlic powder. Cook on low for 10 minutes.
- Cook the spaghetti noodles until al dente. Drain off the water, & then stir in 8oz of softened cream cheese. Stir the noodles into the sauce - the heat will melt any un-mixed cream cheese.
- Meanwhile, make the Mozzarella cheese sauce. In a saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Whisk in 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. Cook on medium heat for about 60-90 seconds, stirring occasionally. Whisk in 2 cups of milk. Cook, whisking often, on medium heat until it’s thickened enough to lightly coat your whisk – about the thickness of heavy whipping cream. Add in 8oz of shredded Mozzarella cheese. Whisk until the cheese is completely melted & throughly combined.
- Spray a 9x13 casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray. Spread half of the spaghetti mixture into the bottom of the dish. Top with half of the cheese sauce & half of the shredded parmesan cheese. Top the cheese with the other half of the spaghetti - and then finish up with the rest of the cheese sauce & parmesan cheese.
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.
I am also a cheese addict, and proud of it!!!! My husband said I would put cheese on my cereal in the morning if I could LOL. Will be making this very soon, the kids will also love it:)
I love melted cheese. I will even melt it on a plate and eat it without anything else!
This recipe sounds tasty, easy and it made my mouth water too! I will sub quinoa noodles for the pasta and potato starch for the flour, to make it gluten free. So excited! Thanks for sharing.
I am a card-carrying cheese addict as well! Looks good!
This is really good, the kids ate it great too! Does it freeze well, do you think? I would like to make it for a friend who is getting ready to have a baby.
def. freezes nice. made a bunch and froze it, pretty good.
That’s great!
I go there for the cheese and the chocolate. I can’t think of a single other reason to go into Whole Foods. 🤣
I’m so glad y’all liked it! We love it here! I’ve never frozen it, but I see another commenter said that they did and it worked great.
If there is no cheese, it isn’t food!
Cooked this today for dinner. Normally, we haven’t enjoyed baked spaghetti because it really didn’t taste any different than regular spaghetti. This stuff was amazing! I ate some for an early lunch. I cannot wait for the rest of the family to enjoy it tonight. Thanks for a great recipe.
This is so stinkin’ good! My family inhaled it!
There’ a problem with this recipe >>>>It’s Too Good and I’m afraid I will eat too much of it….sigh :o(