Million Dollar Spaghetti recipe – tastes like a million bucks! Great freezer meal too! Spaghetti, Italian sausage, spaghetti sauce, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and mozzarella. EVERYONE cleaned their plates and asked for seconds. Even our picky eaters!! This is definitely going into the dinner rotation.
The Best Baked Spaghetti
This Million Dollar Spaghetti is our go-to recipe for spaghetti. It is super easy to make and tastes like a million bucks! Spaghetti, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, mozzarella, Italian sausage, and spaghetti sauce. It is a combination of baked spaghetti and lasagna. One bite and you will be blown away! We ate this for dinner and fought over the leftovers for lunch! SO good!
How to Make Million Dollar Spaghetti
This casserole is super simple to make. Start with cooking the spaghetti. While the spaghetti is cooking, cook Italian sausage in a large skillet until no longer pink. Add some spaghetti sauce and set aside. In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, softened cream cheese, sour cream, parsley, and garlic powder. Place half of the cooked pasta in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread cream cheese mixture over noodles. Top with remaining noodles. Pour meat sauce over noodles, top with mozzarella cheese, and bake.
- I like to use Italian sausage in this recipe. Feel free to substitute ground beef, ground turkey, or turkey sausage.
- My favorite store-bought jarred spaghetti sauces are Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara, Rao’s, and La Famiglia Del Grosso.
- Can Million Dollar Spaghetti be made in advance? Yes! You can assemble the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake. You may need to add a few minutes to the cooking time if baking straight from the refrigerator.
- Can Million Dollar Spaghetti be frozen? Yes! Assemble the casserole and cool completely. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. When ready to bake, thaw and bake as directed.
What to Serve with Spaghetti Casserole
This spaghetti is a favorite at our house. It is on the menu at least once a month. We usually serve this with a salad and some garlic bread. It is equally delicious with some green beans and rolls. Give this a try ASAP! It is sure to please the whole family!
Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this cheesy baked spaghetti casserole:
Creamy Greek Salad
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Secret Ingredient Cheesy Garlic Bread
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Italian Green Bean Salad
Italian Green Bean Salad – quick and delicious side dish! Green beans, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, prosciutto, and mozzarella tossed…
Italian Herb Skillet Bread
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Million Dollar Spaghetti
Ingredients:
- 1 lb Italian sausage, casings removed
- 1 (26-oz) jar spaghetti sauce
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, room temperature
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 2 Tbsp parsley
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 8- oz spaghetti
- 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9×13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
- Cook spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
- In a large skillet brown Italian sausage. Drain fat from skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce and set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine cottage cheese, softened cream cheese, sour cream, parsley, and garlic powder.
- Place half of the cooked pasta in the bottom of the baking dish. Spread cream cheese mixture over noodles. Top with remaining noodles. Pour meat sauce over noodles and top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.
Notes:
- I like to use Italian sausage in this recipe. Feel free to substitute ground beef, ground turkey, or turkey sausage.
- My favorite store-bought jarred spaghetti sauces are Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic Marinara, Rao’s, and La Famiglia Del Grosso.
- Can Million Dollar Spaghetti be made in advance? Yes! You can assemble the casserole ahead of time and refrigerate it until you are ready to bake.
- Can Million Dollar Spaghetti be frozen? Yes! Assemble the casserole and cool completely. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and aluminum foil and freeze. When ready to bake, thaw and bake as directed.
Steph
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This was so good. Loved it and so did hubby! Will keep this recipe and make for company as it is easy.
Thank you.
This was perfect for our little kids party. I used hamburger, turned out great. Lot's of compliments. Made it the night before and baked it 45 min before the party. I'll do this again.
I didn't see Italian Sausage at the store…..should i use regular pork sausage and add some fennel to it? or should i use ground beef?
either is fine
Is 8 oz. of spaghetti really all you use in this recipe? It doesn't seem like much, especially when you split it in half for the layers.
I used 8oz of pasta. You can add more if you prefer it with more pasta.
Will it still work out if I omit the cottage cheese. We do not like cottage cheese! LOL
I urge you to try it with the cottage cheese. I don't eat cottage cheese plain, but it is wonderful in casseroles. You can substitute ricotta if you would like. I really don't think this would be anything special without the cottage cheese or ricotta.
what can I use instead of the Italian sausage? we just don't care for it!
This was great and although it was a variation of the Baked Spasanga, etc. casserole, it was definitely well worth the try. I added some onions with the pork sausage and it turned out really well. I added the onions only after the pork was done and they cooked well in the oven.
You have great recipes and they're so tempting that I have to cook them! Keep up the great work!
Woah Million dollars!!!! I gotta try me some of this stuff!
cheribear1968 – thanks for the heads up! I corrected it!
Hi Steph,
First and foremost, I want to say I truly love your blog & the many excellent recipes you post Alot of times when I'm in a pinch for something to make for dinner, I look at your blog & voila problem solved! :-)I'm making the Million-dollar Spaghetti for dinner tonight as a matter of fact! Just to clear up any confusion others may have tho, I wanted to mention you said to add cottage cheese & "softened cottage cheese" in recipe directions & i'm quite sure it should have read "cottage cheese & softened cream cheese" lol Keep u p the great work with your blog & thanks for the fabulous dinner ideas!
I'm always looking for pot-luck dinner ideas. Thanks for sharing.
You're a life saver, just what I need to make for my inlaws this weekend (one is having surgery) and one for my 83 year old mom to have. Looks delicious-hope to have a little for us too :0).
Worthy to see it.
it look delicious in pics.