Baked spaghetti and meatballs is an easy casserole with layers of spaghetti coated in sauce, cheese, and meatballs! This tasty comfort food dinner can be loaded with cheesy goodness to please your entire family. Plus, it's the perfect use of leftovers from a spaghetti dinner!
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Instructions
Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and grease or coat your casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. *You can use the same baking dish that the meatballs are baked in, if making homemade meatballs (see below).
Cook the pasta in a large stock pot or Dutch oven according to the package instructions, minus 2 minutes for an al dente texture. Drain but do not rinse the pasta, then return to your pot.
Toss the cooked pasta with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Add the marinara (or spaghetti) sauce, fully cooked meatballs, and half of the grated mozzarella cheese. Toss to combine.
Transfer the combined casserole ingredients to your greased casserole or baking dish. Spread evenly. *To make your casserole look like the photo, I reserved several of my meatballs and used fresh baby mozzarella balls, cut in half and placed between the meatballs (instead of the remaining portion of grated mozzarella that is added after 30 minutes of cooking time). Bake for 35 minutes.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and add the remaining half cup portion of grated mozzarella cheese to the top of the pasta. Continue to cook for an additional 10 minutes, or until bubbly and the cheese is fully melted. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and basil, or chopped parsley or Italian seasoning, if desired.
Beef Meatballs
In a large mixing bowl, combine the beef, egg, Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Use your hands or a large mixing spoon to combine thoroughly. Roll out meatballs into 1 ¼ - 1 ½ inch meatballs, or roughly 18 meatballs.
Grease your casserole or baking dish with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and place the meatballs in the baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 20 minutes, or until no longer pink inside and they have reached an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (74 degrees C) as read by a digital meat thermometer. Remove from the oven and add to the pasta casserole.