Recipe Background
Let's be honest with ourselves; we never grew out of loving spaghetti and meatballs. Why would we? Little spheres of savory, beefy goodness atop a bed of tender spaghetti. Oh, and plenty of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Now, with the Meatball Spaghetti Bake, we can bring a childhood love into adulthood! The cheesy, melty, sliceable bake contains homemade meatballs and an abundance of fragrant garlic for a true nostalgic trip! Meatball Spaghetti Bake is like childhood wrapped up in casserole form!
Let's be honest with ourselves; we never grew out of loving spaghetti and meatballs. Why would we? Little spheres of savory, beefy goodness atop a bed of tender spaghetti. Oh, and plenty of mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Now, with the Meatball Spaghetti Bake, we can bring a childhood love into adulthood! The cheesy, melty, sliceable bake contains homemade meatballs and an abundance of fragrant garlic for a true nostalgic trip! Meatball Spaghetti Bake is like childhood wrapped up in casserole form!
Ingredients
- olive oil to taste
- 1/2 pound thin spaghetti
- 1 slice white bread lightly toasted and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk divided
- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 6 large eggs divided
- 1 cup parmesan cheese grated, divided
- 3 cloves garlic 1 minced and 2 thinly sliced, divided
- kosher salt to taste
- freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 8 ounces part-skim mozzarella cut into 1/2-inch chunks
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes finely chopped
- 1 cup prepared marinara sauce
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves chopped
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
- Brush a 9x13-inch baking dish with the olive oil.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the spaghetti to al dente, according to the package directions.
- Strain the pasta.
- Add the pasta back to the pot and toss it with some of the olive oil.
- Soak the toasted white bread with 2 tablespoons of the milk in a medium bowl, tossing occasionally, until the bread is completely soft, about 5 minutes.
- Combine the beef, the pork, 1 of the eggs, 1/3 cup of the parmesan, 1 clove of the minced garlic, the salt, and the pepper in a separate medium bowl.
- Add the soaked bread to the meat mixture and gently incorporate all of the ingredients together with your clean hands until well-combined.
- Brush a baking sheet with the olive oil.
- Drop teaspoonfuls of the meatball mixture onto the prepared baking sheet and roll the drops into balls, spacing them out evenly. Make sure you brush a little of the olive oil on your hands before shaping the meatballs.
- Bake until the meatballs are golden-brown and almost cooked through, about 10 minutes.
- Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- Add the meatballs, the mozzarella, and the sun-dried tomatoes to the cooked pasta, tossing to combine.
- Transfer the pasta mixture to the prepared baking dish.
- Whisk together the marinara sauce, the remaining eggs, the remaining parmesan cheese, the remaining milk, the remaining 2 cloves of the sliced garlic, and the salt in an empty bowl.
- Pour the sauce mixture over the spaghetti mixture and press the spaghetti mixture into a flat, even layer.
- Sprinkle the parsley over the top.
- Cover the baking dish with foil and bake until the casserole is hot and almost completely set, about 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and continue to bake until the top is set, about 10 minutes.
- Let the casserole cool for about 5 minutes.
- Cut the bake into serving-size squares and serve.
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