Easy Spaghetti Casserole Recipe with Ground Beef and Sausage
Growing up, my mom always made a spaghetti casserole recipe that I loved. It was one of the first meals I learned to cook by myself. She taught me a trick of mixed ground beef and sausage together in spaghetti casseroles. It makes it so flavorful and delicious. I was inspired by her recipe to create another spaghetti casserole using minimal ingredients but with maximized flavors.
This is a very filling casserole loaded with two types of meat, homemade marinara sauce, basil infused creamy cheese sauce mixed together with two heaping cups of delicious mozzarella cheese.
Saving Money with Easy Baked Spaghetti Casserole
This baked spaghetti casserole recipe is huge! It makes between 8-12 servings. You can easily make this ahead of time when the meat goes on sale and freeze it. More on that later!
Rather than purchasing store bought marinara sauce, we are making our own. It saves a little bit of money and it’s super easy to put together.
In addition, we’re not wasting any ingredients. I did my best to make the measurements for the sour cream, cream cheese and mozzarella cheese all consistent with the container sizes you can purchase at the store.
We are also going to use our dried basil (part of the kitchen stock) and not fresh basil. Dried basil tastes amazing and is easy to incorporate into the other ingredients of this dish.
Speaking of kitchen stock, this recipe is going to use a lot of those items! EVOO, dried basil, red pepper, sea salt, black pepper, garlic powder and even the spaghetti noodles are all on my kitchen stock list. If you’re using the kitchen stock system, this means you would already have these ingredients on hand.
If you haven’t already, be sure to grab a copy of my kitchen stock list. All of my recipes on this blog are created with the kitchen stock in mind. This approach saves both time and money!
How to Make Spaghetti Casserole
Prep your ingredients and equipment
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Dice the onion, and finely grate the carrot and mozzarella cheese. Do not buy the shredded cheese. It does not melt as well. Open tomato sauce and crushed tomato cans. Spray a large deep lasagna dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Start by preparing the marinara sauce.
In a large pot on medium heat, add 1 tbsp evoo. Once the olive oil is hot, add 1 yellow onion diced. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until onion is translucent and add 1 finely grated carrot and quickly stir only for about 20 seconds. The carrot is a trick I learned to reduce the acidity in the tomato sauce. Some people use sugar, but I prefer the carrot trick. The carrot is healthier and I believe tastes even better. Add the sausage and meat and cook thoroughly until no longer pink. Add 1-28 oz can of crushed tomatoes, 1-15oz can of tomato sauce, 1.5 tbsp dried basil, 1 tsp sea salt and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Bring pot to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Let simmer while you prepare the remaining ingredients.
Prepare the noodles and cheese mixture
In a medium pot, cook noodles al dente and drain. The noodles will cook more in the casserole dish in the oven. If you cook them all the way first, they will be way overcooked by the time the casserole is finished. Drizzle the noodles with 1 tbsp of olive oil and set aside. In a medium bowl, soften 8 oz cream cheese for 20 seconds in the microwave. Stir in 8 oz sour cream, 1 tbsp dried basil, 1 egg, 1 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Set bowl aside.
Assemble and Bake
In the large baking dish, spoon out 1 cup of the marinara sauce with the meat and spread across the bottom of the pan. Then layer 1/2 the noodles, 1/2 the cheese mixture, 1/2 the remaining marinara sauce and 1/2 the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers once more.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until nice and crisp around the edges.
Serving Baked Spaghetti Casserole
This casserole is perfect with a simple light salad on the side, roasted vegetables and some homemade garlic bread.
Making Baked Spaghetti Casserole Ahead of Time and Freezing
Making Ahead: You can cook this meal ahead of time. Once the baked spaghetti is cooked it can stay in the fridge for up to three days. I usually wait for it to cool off from the oven and cover the casserole dish with tin foil. If the casserole dish is still warm (not hot!), I’ll place an oven mitt under it in the fridge.
Reheat: Reheat the baked spaghetti in the oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes or in the microwave for 30-60 seconds.
Freezing Baked spaghetti makes a great freezer meal. If you plan to make this recipe as a freezer meal you can go ahead and cook it in a large foil pan or use 4-8in foil pans to share with others. Simply bake the spaghetti according to the directions, let it come to room temperature and cool in the fridge. Once it is cool, you can cover the entire pan tightly with plastic wrap and again with foil. You can also portion out servings, wrapping each in plastic wrap and then foil and placing them in a freezer bag. Either way, the baked spaghetti casserole will stay good in the freezer for up to 3 months. Be sure to write the date on it!
Thawing Remove the desired amount of spaghetti casserole from the freezer. Unwrap the foil and plastic wrap but add back the foil and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes, it will depend on the size of the portion. You can also thaw it in the fridge overnight before reheating to reduce the reheating time.
I hope you’ll enjoy this recipe and share it with your friends. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Spaghetti Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Ground Beef
- 1 lb. Sausage
- 2 tbsp EVOO, Divided
- 1 Yellow Onion, Diced
- 1 Carrot, Finely Grated
- 28 oz Crushed Tomatoes
- 15 oz Tomato Sauce
- 2 tsp Sea Salt, Divided
- ¾ tsp Garlic Powder, Divided
- 2½ tbsp Dried Basil, Divided
- Pinch Red Pepper Flakes
- 16 oz Dried Spaghetti Noodles
- 8 oz Cream Cheese
- 8 oz Sour Cream
- 1 Egg
- ½ tsp Black Pepper
- 3 cups Whole Milk Mozzerella
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease a large casserole dish. The one I use is a 14.5″ x 8.75″ x 3″.
- In a large pot, heat 1 tbsp of oil over medium heat.
- Dice the onions and sauté them in oil until soft.
- Grate the carrot finely and add to onion. Sauté for only around 30 seconds.
- Add the ground beef and sausage to the pan and cook until no longer pink.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, ½ tsp sea salt, ¼ tsp garlic powder, 1½ tbsp dried basil and pinch of red pepper flakes.
- Stir ingredients together and let simmer for 15 minutes.
- While the tomato sauce is simmering, mix together cream cheese, sour cream, 1 tbsp basil, 1 egg, 1 tsp sea salt, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ tsp garlic powder and 1 cup of the mozzarella shredded. Set aside.
- Cook spaghetti al dente, drain and set aside.
- Once spaghetti is cooked and the sauce has simmered for 15 minutes, use a large ladle to spread about 1 cup of the sauce mixture to the bottom of the dish. On top of that you’ll add ½ the noodles, spread ½ the cream cheese mixture and top with ½ the remaining sauce and 1/2 the mozzarella cheese. Repeat with the other ½ of the noodles, remaining ½ of the cream cheese mixture and top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on the very top.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes. You can set the oven to broil for the last 3 minutes to toast the cheese on top. Just be sure to watch it closely so it doesn’t burn.
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Hi, Friends! Welcome! I’m Julia, the creator of Sweet Tea Meals. I’m a stay-at-home mom of two and a self-taught home cook. I’m on a mission to bring joy back to your kitchen with simple, low-cost and well-organized recipes. I’m so glad you’re here.
