This is the easiest and best baked spaghetti recipe you will ever make. It’s got all the goodness of being homemade, while being super easy to prepare. With fresh vegetables and gooey melted cheddar cheese, it’s absolutely delicious.
For this baked spaghetti recipe, we’re going to use a can or jar of you favorite spaghetti sauce as the base. I don’t like to go too crazy with expensive or fancy spaghetti sauce, in fact, my favorite sauce for this recipe is Hunt’s Traditional. The 24oz can is usually under $2.00 (often it’s less than that), and really is perfect. The sauce will cook for 20 minutes on the stovetop with fresh ground beef, onions, green peppers and some garlic.
One of the great things about this recipe is how easy everything is to cook. You can put the ground beef, onions and green peppers all in the same fry pan. They all cook up together before having the sauce added, and then it all simmers for 20 minutes. This really allows all the flavors to come together nicely. After the sauce is all cooked up it’s off to a 13 x 9 dish to be mixed with the cooked spaghetti and topped with cheddar cheese and into the oven for about 15 minutes.
If you like garlic, go ahead and add some right along with the onions, ground beef and green pepper.
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6 servings
- 1 24oz can or jar of spaghetti sauce
- 1 1lb package of spaghetti, cooked al dante
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- In a 12" fry pan, add ground beef, onion, green pepper and salt over medium heat. Use a spatula and mix and cook until ground beef is browned and onions and peppers are tender. Takes about 10 minutes.
- Add spaghetti sauce to beef mixture and stir well. Cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- While sauce is simmering, cook spaghetti in a large pot according to package directions, usually about 7-8 minutes for "al dante"
- In a 13"x9" glass baking dish, add the cooked spaghetti and sauce mixture and mix well so all the pasta is coated. Add cheese to top and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is golden brown and bubbly.
