The BEST Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole Recipe (Made In Just 45 Minutes)

This million dollar spaghetti casserole is out-of-this-world delicious. It combines spaghetti noodles, Italian seasoning, Italian sausage, and marinara sauce, all layered in a creamy three-cheese blend. Yeah, it's so tasty, tasty! And it's so easy to make too. In fact, just 20 minutes of prep work is all you'll need to invest to put this million dollar spaghetti casserole together, and the oven takes care of the rest! 

The Best Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

Dinner doesn't get any easier - or more delicious - than this million dollar spaghetti casserole. Honestly, it might be one of my favorite pasta dishes ever!

And, honestly, it's crazy easy to make too. Just 3 simple steps are all you'll need to follow to make it. Plus, the majority of the time it takes to cook is completely hands-off since the oven does the heavy lifting - or should I say cooking?

By the way, while your spaghetti casserole is baking, you'll have plenty of time to make this air fryer garlic bread to serve alongside it.

Ingredients

Another reason this is one of my favorite pasta recipes is that it's made with all simple ingredients. In fact, you probably have everything you need on hand to make it already!

Anyway, here's what you'll need to make this million dollar spaghetti casserole:

• 8 oz. spaghetti noodles
• ½ onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• ½ lb. Italian sausage (chopped or ground)
• 1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
• 2 cups tomato sauce (or any spaghetti sauce)
• 4 oz. ricotta cheese
• 4 oz. cottage cheese
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1-2 tbsp. olive oil
• Fresh parsley to serve

Pretty simple stuff, eh?

Oh, and you can use almost all of these same ingredients to make this fried spaghetti recipe as well. It's another easy and delicious spaghetti recipe, so I highly recommend giving that a shot sometime too!

Ingredient Substitutions and Suggestions

Now, I think this million dollar spaghetti recipe is perfect when it's made with everything listed above. However, you can always make some substitutions to make this casserole better suit your tastes.

For instance, you can substitute ground Italian sausage with ground beef, ground turkey, or ground chicken. Honestly, any ground meat will work! In fact, if you want to make this a vegetarian dish, you can leave the meat out entirely.

As for the cheese mixture, if you don't have ricotta cheese, you can use cream cheese instead, and it will give this million dollar spaghetti an incredibly creamy texture. I've done this a few times, and the results have been great each time.

Lastly, if you want to make an even cheesier topping for the casserole, you can add some grated parmesan to go along with the mozzarella.

How to Make Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

Now, just so you know, this million dollar spaghetti casserole recipe will take about 45 minutes to make from start to finish, but the majority of that is letting it do its thing in the oven.

Really the only work you're responsible for is cooking the spaghetti and sausage, and layering the casserole - that's all there is to it.

Anyway, let's not waste any more time and get cooking!

Step 1: Cook The Spaghetti

First, you'll want to preheat your oven to 350°F (180ºC).

Next, you can cook the spaghetti noodles according to the pasta package instructions. I like to cook my spaghetti al dente to avoid it getting mushy while baking, but you can cook it however you want.

Anyway, once the spaghetti is cooked, you'll want to return it to the pot and add half of the tomato sauce to it.

Step 2: Cook The Sausage

Now, you're going to cook the sausage. So, in a non-stick large skillet, you'll want to heat a little olive oil and add the chopped onion and garlic. Then, you'll want to cook the onion and garlic for a few minutes - moving them around the pan often - until the onions are tender and translucent.

Then, you can add the chopped - or ground - sausage and Italian seasoning to the pan and cook the sausage until it browns on all sides. Once the sausage has browned you can add the remaining tomato sauce to the pan and give everything a quick mix.

Step 3: Build The Casserole & Bake

Now that the pasta and sausage are good to go, you can take out a medium-sized bowl and add the ricotta cheese, cottage cheese, and half of the mozzarella cheese to it. Then, you can give the cheeses a good mix until they fully combine.

Once the cheeses are all mixed and ready to go, it's time to assemble the casserole. So, to do that you'll want to place half of the cooked spaghetti noodles in a medium-sized casserole dish followed by half of the cheese mixture, and then half of the sausage. Then, you'll want to repeat this same layering process with the left over spaghetting, cheese mixture, and sausage.

Finally, you can sprinkling the mozzarella cheese that you set aside from before on top of the casserole, and then you can pop it in the oven and bake it for about 25 minutes - or until the cheese is nice and bubbly. 

Then, when it's done cooking you can garnish your baked million dollar spaghetti casserole with some fresh parsley. Enjoy!

How to Store Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

This recipe for million dollar spaghetti casserole makes 6 large servings, so it's perfect for a big family dinner. If you're lucky, you might even find yourself with some leftovers.

Speaking of leftovers, if you end up with some, just transfer them to an airtight container and store 'em in the fridge. Stored this way the casserole will last for about 3 days.

Also, for what it's worth, if you want to store the casserole for even longer, you can put it in a freezer-safe bag - or airtight container - and freeze it for up to 2 months.

How to Reheat Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole

Whenever you're ready to enjoy your leftover baked spaghetti, you have a couple of options to reheat it.

My favorite way to reheat it is to put it back in a casserole dish and heat it back up in the oven at 350°F for about 10 minutes - or until the cheese melts, and it's warmed through. 

Alternatively, to reheat your spaghetti casserole even quicker you can use the microwave. Just cook it in there - preferably covered - in 30-second increments until the cheese has melted and the spaghetti reaches your desired temperature.  

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make million dollar spaghetti casserole!

I swear this million dollar spaghetti casserole recipe beats anything you'd get at an Italian restaurant. From the tender noodles to the flavorful meat sauce and layers of creamy cheese, it's just an irresistible dinner everyone is sure to love! Honestly, it's one of the best spaghetti casseroles I've ever made.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this spaghetti casserole recipe as much as I/we do.

As always, if you give this baked spaghetti recipe a try, let me know how it goes in the comments below.

More Casserole Recipes

If you're looking for some more easy casserole recipes, we have a ton on the blog you can try next!

Here are some reader favorites:

• Million dollar chicken casserole
• Crack chicken casserole
• Chicken mushroom casserole
• John Wayne casserole
• Pork chop casserole

Oh, and as always, make sure to check us out on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram! We post new recipes on them every day.

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