If you’re anything like me, when it comes to weeknight dinners, you need something super simple! This dish is spaghetti casserole meets lasagna. It’s super creamy, full of flavor, and it’s DELICIOUS! The cream cheese mixture prevents this casserole from drying out in the oven, and ensures it tastes just as good on the reheat as it did fresh! It’s sure to become one of your family’s fave go-to weeknight dinners!
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Bonus: You can make this ahead and either refrigerate or freeze for later! This is one of my staple recipes when I freezer prep meals!
Okay, so before we get to the recipe, I’ve got just a couple of tips for you!
Tips and tricks
- When combining your cottage cheese, cream cheese and sour cream, I heat the cream cheese block in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds. This makes it easier to mix in with the cottage cheese and sour cream, and prevents chucks of cream cheese from showing up in your finished casserole.
- The recipe calls for cheddar cheese, but you can use any cheese you like! I like to use half a cup of cheddar and 1 cup mozzarella cheese.
- You can also throw in anything else your heart desires!… think pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, extra garlic, onions, green peppers!
- Don’t skip combining the noodles and butter! This ensures your casserole won’t stick to the pan, and helps to ensure the noodles don’t dry out and get crunchy during the baking process.
- My family prefers the casserole be a little more saucy! So I will usually only use a half pound of spaghetti instead of a full pound!
- When freezer prepping, you can easily divide the casserole into two smaller dishes before freezing.
- I always cook my hamburger in my InstaPot from frozen. 1 lb frozen ground hamburger takes approximately 45 min on high pressure!
That’s it! Like I said, super simple! Enjoy!
With Love, Amanda
Million Dollar Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 lb spaghetti
- 1 jar spaghetti sauce
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup cottage cheese
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 stick butter cut into pads
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Boil a large pot of water. Once water is boiling, cook spaghetti to al dente, according to package instructions. Drain. Toss spaghetti noodles with butter. Set aside.
- While spaghetti is cooking, brown hamburger. Drain, and set aside.
- Combine cooked hamburger and spaghetti sauce.
- Combine cream cheese, cottage cheese and sour cream.
- Assemble casserole in 9X13 pan. Layer half of the spaghetti noodles, cottage cheese mixture, remaining noodles, and spaghetti sauce with meat.
- Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
- Top with shredded cheese and bake another 15 minutes or until cheese on top is bubbly.
- Enjoy!
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