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Baked Spaghetti

Saucy baked spaghetti layered with tomato meat sauce and cheese, with noodles cooked slightly short so they stay tender through the oven bake.

Prep20 minCook35 minTotal55 minYield8 servingsLevelEasy

Source-reviewed. No original CookClue test is claimed unless it is actually recorded.

Golden cheesy baked spaghetti casserole with tomato meat sauce and a lifted square portion

Before you start

What this method is trying to achieve

Keep the pasta coated, use enough sauce to protect the noodles from oven drying and stop once the casserole is bubbling and the cheese is melted.

Success looks like

Know the target before you cook

Slices should hold together while the noodles remain moist and sauced, with no leathery edges.

Ingredients

What you need

Pasta

  • 340 g spaghetti

Sauce

  • 450 g ground beef
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 700 g crushed tomatoes
  • 400 g diced tomatoes

Seasoning

  • 1 tsp dried oregano

Cheese

  • 220 g mozzarella, grated
  • 60 g Parmesan, grated

Finish

  • 2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method

Cook by the cues, not just the clock

Make sauce

  1. Brown the beef and onion, then simmer with tomatoes and oregano until cohesive.

Undercook pasta

  1. Boil spaghetti about 2 minutes short of package timing and drain.

Layer

  1. Coat the dish with sauce and layer pasta, sauce and cheese.

Bake

  1. Bake until the sauce bubbles and cheese melts.

Rest

  1. Rest about 10 minutes before cutting.

Critical checkpoints

Stop here and check

other

Before baking: noodles well coated?

Sauce is visible throughout the pasta.

Add more sauce before baking if strands look dry.

other

At finish: bubbling and melted?

Sauce bubbles at edges and cheese is melted.

Remove from oven rather than continuing to dry it.

other

Baked spaghetti dry?

Edges are leathery or noodles lack sauce.

Use baked-spaghetti-dry.

If yours looks different

Route the failure before changing the recipe

The baked spaghetti loses moisture and becomes firm or leathery.Baked spaghetti dry? Diagnose sauce amount, precooking and bake time.

Why Is My Baked Spaghetti Dry?

After cooking

Storage, reheating & substitutions

Storage

Refrigerate leftovers covered.

Reheating

Reheat covered with a spoonful of sauce.

Substitutions

Use ground turkey instead of beef if preferred.

Evidence

Sources & methodology

Technical claims and method decisions are tied to sources. Recipe-specific advice is not presented as a universal food-science law.

  1. 3-Sauce Baked SpaghettiFood Network / Ree Drummond

    This version surrounds pasta with sauces and bakes just until hot and melted.

    publisherPassage verified
  2. Baked Spaghetti RecipeFood Network Kitchen

    Food Network cooks the spaghetti short of package time and layers it with sauce.

    publisherPassage verified