Baked Spaghetti is everything you know and love about Bolognese in the form of an epic, juicy pasta bake with a bonus layer of molten cheese in the middle!
This is one of those rare foods that is a truly fabulous freezer meal and keeps for days in the fridge!
Baked Spaghetti
I call it a casserole, I call it a pie, I call it a pasta bake.
I actually don’t really know if there’s a proper name for this, but what I do know is this:
You are going to love it.
Because it’s everybody’s favourite Spaghetti Bolognese – PLUS CHEESE. Need I say more?? 🤷🏻♀️
So now, even if you’ve never made anything like this before, you know full well it’s going to be a home run right??
How to make it
On the face of it, you’re really just making a big batch of Bolognese Sauce then mixing it through pasta and baking it with a generous slug of cheese.
The Bolognese Sauce can be made in 30 minutes (minimum) or if you want to go all out, simmer it for a couple of hours and you’ll be rewarded with deeper flavours, a richer sauce and melt-in-your-mouth beef.
And to make the Spaghetti Pie ultra juicy, what I like to do is mix some of the sauce through the pasta and reserve some to spread on the layers.
Adding a layer of cheese slices in the middle also helps. You can use shredded if you prefer, but you get better cheese coverage using less cheese if you use slices. <– Pro cheese tip right there!
What you need
No surprises here – basically, you just need everything you use for Bolognese – plus cheese!
Carrot and celery is optional – ups the veg quota a bit but more importantly, adds to the flavour base of the sauce.
Sugar??
Only if needed. Many of the mainstream canned tomato brands here in Australia tend to be on the sour side rather than sweet and full of flavour as Italian ones are.
So if you’re dead set on Aussie-grown, add a touch of sugar to counteract the sourness. This can make all the difference especially if you’re doing a quick simmer rather than slow cooking!
BEST freezer meal!!
There are many recipes where I say “freezes fine”, but few where I say “freezes 100% perfectly!”
This is one of those freezer beauties. It is one of those dishes that comes out perfectly even after keeping it for months in the freezer.
And though it’s best cooked after thawing, it can even be cooked from frozen (though it does take over an hour, being a formidable block of ice that it is straight out of the freezer).
But the clincher is how smug you’ll feel, knowing you’ve got this in your freezer.
Open freezer door, plonk in oven.
Dinner.
Done.
– Nagi x
More Cosy Casseroles and Bakes
Lasagna (and Vegetarian Lasagna is a must try!)
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Baked Spaghetti
Ingredients
Bolognese Sauce:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 carrot , finely diced (optional)
- 1 stick celery , finely diced (optional)
- 750g / 1.5lb ground beef (mince)
- 3/4 cup (185ml) dry red wine (or sub with water or beef broth/stock)
- 3 beef bouillon cubes , crumbled (Note 1)
- 1.2kg / 2.4 lb crushed tomato , canned
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 1 – 3 tsp white sugar , if needed (Note 2)
- 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
- 3 dried bay leaves
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme or oregano)
- Salt and pepper
Spaghetti Bake:
- 500g/ 1lb spaghetti
- 8 – 10 slices Swiss cheese (or other type), enough for a layer
- 2 cups (200g) mozzarella cheese, shredded
Instructions
Sauce:
- Heat oil in a large, heavy based pot over medium high heat.
- Add garlic and onion, cook 2 minutes.
- Add celery and carrot, cook 3 minutes.
- Turn heat up to high, add beef and cook, breaking it up as you go.
- Once beef is brown, add wine. Simmer rapidly for 2 minutes.
- Add remaining Sauce ingredients, stir.
- Bring to simmer, lower heat, cover with lid. Simmer for 45 minutes (minimum) or 1.5 – 2 hours (best!).
- If liquid evaporates too much, add water – should be saucy (see video/pics). Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
Assemble & Bake:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
- Cook pasta per packet directions, minus 1 minute.
- Drain, then return into pot.
- Add just over half the Sauce, toss.
- Spread half the pasta in a casserole pan, spread with half remaining Sauce.
- Top with cheese slices, then remaining pasta, remaining Sauce, finish with mozzarella.
- Cover loosely with foil (so cheese doesn’t stick), bake 25 minutes.
- Remove foil (reserve), bake further 10 minutes than remove.
- Cover loosely with foil, stand 10 – 15 minutes. Then cut slices with a knife and use a spatula to serve pieces like lasagna!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
This is what happens at dinners: wiping away a disgraceful amount of drool ALL down his front – literally!🤤
can this be made and assembled the night before and left in the fridge instead of freezing and baked the next day for dinner
Loved it. Amazing
I made this tonight, using tomatoes from our garden. FABULOUS.
Made this for dinner, followed the recipe and simmered the bolognese for 2 hours. It is delicious!
Why have I not thought of using pastas instead of lasagna noodles before? This is a genius idea, and my kids would like this more than traditional lasagna. Thanks for sharing your recipe, it will definitely be a hit with my kids.
I usually love your recipes however this was not for me. Just felt like overdone chef boyardee. The swiss trivialized me but I used it anyway against my better judgement. Others at the table liked it but I wouldn’t ever make this again. Rather just do fresh made bolognese & pasta with a quick broil for melted cheese
I made this for a family dinner and it disappeared much faster than I expected. The layer of cheese in the middle was such a great idea, it made every slice extra gooey without being over the top. I also let the sauce simmer a bit longer, and it was definitely worth the extra time. This is proper comfort food and I’ll absolutely be making it again.
I think you forgot to mention to remove the bay leaves and thyme sticks. LOL. I thought something looked weird when I was assembling it.
Dear Nagi,
I’ve just made this and my 14yo asked what it was… She has named it Spaghonya (spelled how its said) aka spaghetti-lasagna
this was a hit last night with my family. Each having several plated. Instead of crushed tomatoes i used passata and it worked well too.
I made this yesterday for last night’s meal. Its definitely a keeper. Easy to follow recipe (which you probably only need the once,) and makes enough to have again for lunch the next day. Only 2 of us here so that’s handy.
Hi Nagi I want to make this recipe for New Years Dinner. Our largest can of tomatoes is 28 oz or 796ml. I would like to make one and half the amount of sauce. Would I use two cans of tomatoes? I received your new cook book for Christmas. Lots of recipes to try for my husband.
Happy New Year.
Juanita Dymond
Fantastic,does anybody know the reheating times and temps for this and,can it be reheated in a microwave ? Thank you.
This was amazing. Will be on high rotation.
I used 500g ground beef and 250g diced bacon.
Instead of celery I replaced with a tin of sliced mushrooms.
Also replaced the sliced cheese with thickish whitesauce in the middle and on the top, then topped with grated chedder mixed 50/50 with mozzarella. Just loved it!👌🏻😋
I made this last night and it was super delicious. I didn’t have mozzarella or swiss cheese slices, or any garlic or celery, but even using just tasty cheese, it was awesome. I added half a zucchini, diced up really small, too. My housemate had two big pieces, and I’m just waiting to get hungry again so I can have some more. I’ll definitely make it again.
Wow! This truly is epic!
I’m not a keen fan of pasta but LOVED this – & so did my family.
Using quality Italian tomatoes & quality beef stock base lifts this to another level – oh & did I mention Swiss cheese? – my absolute favourite 😉
I don’t know how you do it Nagi but please keep it up 😃
Hello! Do you have some guidance on the size of dish to use for this, please?
Delicioius! My family loved it!
I’ve made this multiple times and added chilli flakes, rosemary and Italian herbs to the onion/garlic cooking in oil. It’s absolutely delicious. Slow cooking the sauce for 2 hours makes the mince absolutely beautiful and fall apart. A real winner.