Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole is an easy hearty casserole that is both budget-friendly and easy to make. This casserole is simple and a delicious way to feed a family or a crowd!
©SpendWithPennies.com
When I have a hungry family to feed, I break out an old fashioned casserole. Hearty casseroles are designed for that kind of work! Potlucks, large family gatherings… whatever your need, a casserole will be there for you. This recipe for Million Dollar Spaghetti is one of my all time favorite casseroles. It’s basically an easy combination of baked spaghetti and lasagna. (I know, it sounds delicious doesn’t it?)
As only the best family recipes are, this million dollar spaghetti is budget-friendly. It yields a ton of food, and the ingredients aren’t complicated or expensive. In that way, this casserole is a fantastic part of your weeknight meal routine.
I like using Italian sausage for the extra flavor, but in a pinch you can substitute regular ground beef.
The leftovers for this dish are tremendous. The pasta softens up a little bit when reheating, but the flavor is just as good as when it was fresh out of the oven.
Million dollar spaghetti casserole is an ooey-gooey, hearty, rich comfort food. You’ll enjoy every bite, and—if you’re like me—you’ll start looking for the next time you can make it. Enjoy.
Recipe Notes:
Cheese: You can use either cottage cheese or ricotta cheese for this recipe. Whichever sounds better to you! I’m partial to the cottage cheese because I think it lends the final recipe a great creaminess.
Pasta: Spaghetti noodles are just one of the many different kinds of pasta that will work in this dish. I love using ziti or rigatoni noodles on occasion.
Serving: My advice is to serve this recipe with garlic bread and salad. They make an awesome first course while the casserole is cooling.
Baking: Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time. Ensure you cover & refrigerate the pan. Once baked, allow the casserole sit out and cool for a good 10-15 minutes before serving.
Freezing: To freeze the casserole, wrap it in plastic wrap first, and then aluminum foil. Let it thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.
Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole
Equipment
Ingredients
- 16 ounces dried spaghetti noodles
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 4-6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 ½ pounds sweet Italian sausage casing removed
- 3 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning divided
- 48 ounces spaghetti sauce 2 jars, divided
- 8 ounces cottage cheese or ricotta cheese
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 3 cups mozzarella shredded, divided
- ½ cup butter cut into slices, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package, drain well and return pasta to original pot. Add 1 jar of prepared spaghetti sauce and combine. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add sausage and 2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning to skillet, and cook until no pink remains. Drain well. Add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce to skillet. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine Cottage cheese or ricotta cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, 1 cup mozzarella, and 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning. Set aside.
- Place half the slices of butter in a 9x13 baking dish. Spread half the spaghetti in dish, then spread cheese mixture evenly over spaghetti. Spread remaining spaghetti over cheese mixture. Top with the remaining butter slices.Pour tomato meat sauce evenly over top layer of spaghetti.
- Top with remaining mozzarella and bake in preheated oven until casserole is heated through, about 35-45 minutes.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
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Delicious! I made this twice over the last few months and it is always enjoyed no matter who is at my dinner table. This time I did a double batch because we had several friends over for the evening. It took a bit longer in the oven but we’ll worth the wait.
Holly, this is a delicious casserole! I made it according to directions this first time. I do love butter, but I’m not sure a cube is necessary. Next time I’ll use half, and then maybe leave it out all together. But other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing. This would be great for a crowd, or perfect for leftovers. The pieces hold together well. I used a 13″x9″ Pyrex pan and ended up with a bit extra of the sauce. But that’s OK! I just froze it and will use it later. Love your home-cookin’, Holly! That how I like to cook, too.
I am so glad you are enjoying the recipes Lori!
I believe I found your content on MSN food. I made this casserole and added veggies — peppers & zucchini. It was wonderful! Thank you so much! I’m filling out my shopping list so that I can make this on repeat!
Has anyone made it using only mozzarella cheese/cheddar cheese?
Followed and made according to recipe and directions. OMG we loved it. I’ve never been a spaghetti fan but this casserole was amazing.
Made it for dinner tonight and wow it is so yummy!!!
This was really delicious and made a TON of food. I opted for ricotta, since I’m on a low sodium diet, and ricotta is much lower in sodium than cottage cheese. Also, I used ground beef, since that’s what I had on hand. There’s just two of us, so I shared some with several of our elderly neighbors who live off of social security. They were so thankful and raved about how great it was! There’s still plenty leftover for us to eat for another two meals!!
I took this to a Bible study and everybody loved it! One comment I received was how clever it was to serve spaghetti this way for a crowd. Served it with bread sticks and butter and a vegetable platter to round things out. Nothing left to bring home….
love baked speg. Just a question, Would leaving out cream cheese make a huge difference. Not a fan of it in anything but desserts and on a bagel.
Hi Sharon, you could replace it with additional cottage or ricotta cheese. It will change the flavor but I think it will still taste delicious!
Great Easy & Tasty Recipe! My family has spaghetti every Sunday for dinner, Spaghetti Sunday! I wanted to change things up a little so tried this. I definitely agree with the preference of cottage cheese, that’s what I use in my lasagna as well. I wasn’t able to fit all of the sauce on top. I may use a little less spaghetti next time as it was definitely overflowing my 9×13 dish (standard clear pyrex), or maybe I should’ve squished everything down a little more. So happy to have this new go-to in my recipes!
This looked pretty but it is too rich- every single person who ate it got terrible heart burn- followed exactly- I don’t think it needed the extra butter and the cream cheese didn’t work for us either. If I did it again I’d just use cottage cheese or ricotta and herbs but hubby said don’t make it again so- Sorry- I usually love your recipes but this was a def miss
I doubled the recipe and gave one pan to a friend who wasn’t feeling well for her family. They liked it and she asked for the recipe. We liked it and I especially enjoyed the leftovers. I followed the recipe fairly closely. The only adjustments I made were I used angel hair pasta, cottage cheese, and for the meat I used half sausage and half ground beef (because that’s what I had on hand). I liked these changes so much I’ll continue to make it this way.
Absolutely fantastic! only change I made was I used even amounts of sweet and hot sausage. Definitely will be making this again!
I made this dish with leftover spaghetti sauce from the night before and chose to freeze it for later. It is delicious! Thank you for another great recipe for my family!
My husband loves it. I had tried to get him to try it before. This time I just made and told him “dinner is ready ”
Just eat no questions! Boom it’s a keeper recipe.
Cooked this last night. It was very good. I used mild and spicy Italian sausage and Ricotta instead of Cottage cheese. It was so good, there were NO leftovers.