Well, let me tell ya, this totally lived up to all my expectations. It has become the family’s favorite spaghetti recipe! It’s a wonderful comfort food meal that makes the whole house smell incredible while it’s being prepared. My family absolutely devoured it. We had a tiny bit left over, and my son called dibs on the leftovers at breakfast the next morning. I had to literally beg to have a measly bite!
Since you use a jarred spaghetti sauce, this comes together pretty quickly. You can make this ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze without the French Fried onions. Don’t forget to add them 5 minutes before casserole is finished cooking.
Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti
Ingredients:
- 8 Ounces - Dried Spaghetti, Uncooked
- 1 Pound - Ground Beef
- 1/2 Tablespoon - Dried Oregano
- 1/2 Teaspoon - Salt
- 1/4 Teaspoon - Pepper
- 1- 24 Ounce - Jar of Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon (as needed) - Olive Oil
- 1/2 Cup - Sweet Red Pepper, Diced
- 1/2 Cup - Yellow Onion, Diced
- 8 Ounces - Cream Cheese, at Room Temperature, Cubed
- 2 Tablespoons - Milk
- 1-1 1/2 Cups - Parmesan Cheese Grated
- 1 Cup - French Fried Onions
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook Spaghetti according to package directions, just until al dente. Drain well and set aside.
- In a large skillet, brown beef adding the oregano, salt and pepper, and cook until there is no longer any pink. Remove cooked beef to a paper towel lined plate. Set aside. Drain all but 1 tablespoon of fat from skillet. If you don't have 1 tablespoon of oil, add enough olive oil to compensate. (Just eyeball this. You only need enough oil to saute the veggies.)
- Add peppers and onions to skillet and saute until they are soft. Add cream cheese and milk to skillet and stir until well combined. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl mix the cooked beef and spaghetti sauce.
- In a 9x13 inch baking dish, add about 1/3 of a cup of sauce-meat mixture, and spread to cover bottom of dish.
- Add all the spaghetti to baking dish and spread out evenly.
- Add the cream cheese-veggie mixture to baking dish and spread out evenly.
- Add the sauce-meat mixture to baking dish and spread out evenly.
- Top casserole with Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in preheat oven until casserole is baked through the center, about 25 minutes.
- Top casserole with the french fried onions and bake another 5 minutes, watching carefully so onions do not burn. SERVE :)
Hey, I'm Kathleen. Thanks for stopping by my site, hope you find something you like and come back for seconds!
It does sound perfect for every pot luck, a must try ..
omg! it’s after midnight here and now all i can think about is getting a plate of that spaghetti…lol
So you would bake this first, then freeze? Any idea how long to bake once thawed to reheat?
No where could I find what you did with the parmesan cheese?
Did I miss something?
Hey Nancy, it was me that missed something! I’ve update the recipe. Thanks so much
That looks ridiculously good, wow!
I use a large can of the fried onions and in another (almost identical recipe I have) to save a bit of time you can put the butter and your veggies in a glass bowl and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Unbelievably, this “sautes” them! Then add in the cream cheese (I also use Cream Cheese with Chives for this recipe) and stir. The heated veggies melt down the cream cheese
Where I’d you get that beautiful dish?
My favorite place Home Goods and they had a few other fun shapes!!!
I make something similar, but with potatoes and an alfredo type sauce. This sounds even better!