Baked Spaghetti Pie
Baked spaghetti pie is one of those recipes that I always seem to forget about. Thankfully as I was cleaning out my recipe drawer and trying to think of something to make for dinner I stumbled upon this recipe.
I just couldn’t say no to noodles tossed in a creamy four-cheese mixture, pressed into a pie dish, topped with MORE cheese, baked, and then smothered in homemade, flavorful spaghetti sauce. Â Let me just say dinner was divine and I placed this recipe in the regular meal rotation folder.
This baked spaghetti pie recipe is one of my favs. It’s something a bit different than traditional spaghetti and my whole family loves it. I’ve tried a few other baked spaghetti pie recipes in the past, but I always come back to this one. I like that it doesn’t use eggs. Â Something about eggs in baked spaghetti pie I just can’t get down with. Â Although it is a bit drier in texture without the eggs, Â I think it tastes so much better and the sauce on top totally takes care of the dryness.
If you’ve never had a baked spaghetti pie then you must make this!
The noodle mixture tastes pretty plain by itself (although Isaac & my hubby will eat it plain without sauce all day) since it uses very mild cheeses (cottage, cream cheese, mozzarella & parmesan). You can add in salt, pepper, and spices if you want to but with that flavorful spaghetti sauce that’s spooned on top of it, I don’t even worry about it and I’ve never had complaints.
See how that sauce just ties everything together? So don’t skip it and don’t top your entire pie with it and then bake it. Spoon it on like a gravy AFTER it’s come out of the oven and you’re ready to serve it. Yes, I’m being bossy, but only because I want you to experience this dish in its fullness.
 Watch me make this Baked Spaghetti Pie from start to finish!
Get the Recipe: Baked Spaghetti Pie
Ingredients
- SPAGHETTI SAUCE
- 1 lb ground turkey, can also use ground beef or a combination of meat and sausage
- 1/2 small white onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 15 oz. can tomato sauce
- 14.5 oz. can oregano, basil, garlic diced tomatoes, undrained (I used unsalted)
- 14.5 oz. can oregano, basil, garlic diced tomatoes, drained and pureed ( I used unsalted)
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- Season generously with garlic powder, salt, red pepper flakes, black pepper, parsley and Italian seasoning.
- NOODLE MIXTURE
- 12 oz. thin spaghetti
- 5 oz. cream cheese, softened & broken into cubes
- 1/2 cup cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
- 2 cups spaghetti sauce mixture
- TOPPING
- Mozzarella cheese
- Parmesan cheese
- Parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degree F.
- In a large skillet over medium heat, brown the ground meat until almost done.
- Add in onions & cook for until tender and then add minced garlic and cook until fragrant.
- Drain meat mixture and return to heat.
- Add in tomato sauce, undrained dice tomatoes and the puree diced tomatoes.
- Stir in chicken broth and brown sugar.
- Let sauce simmer for 30-45 minutes or until liquid is reduced and sauce thickens.
- Season generously with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, parsley, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.
- Taste, taste, taste after each seasoning until the sauce tastes perfect!
- Set aside on a back burner over low heat to keep warm.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Break thin spaghetti noodles in half and cook until al dente about 6-7 minutes. Do not overcook.
- Drain pasta and return to pot.
- Immediately stir in cream cheese until noodles are coated.
- Stir in cottage cheese, parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese.
- Stir in 2 cups of the spaghetti sauce.
- Spray a deep dish pie plate with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place the spaghetti mixture into the pie plate and pack down firmly.
- Cover the top with a mixture of parmesan and mozzarella cheese.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.
- Let cool for 10 minutes before cutting.
- Serve topped with the homemade spaghetti sauce.
Notes
Keep the sauce warm on the stove while the pie is baking.
Can also add smoked sausage, peppers, mushrooms, wine, etc. to spaghetti sauce. YUMMERS!
Flavors will intensify the next day, but it's still so good the same day.
Use your taste buds when seasoning the spaghetti sauce.
This was a hit with my Trio (children). My tween begged me to leave out some of the cheesy noodles for her to eat while the pie baked. She never topped her baked serving with sauce. My teen daughter (who is not a big meat eater) loved it since she could control how much meat sauce was on her pie. My older teen likes anything I cook, but did comment that this should go in our dinner rotation.
Based on previous comments about the dryness I made some tweaks (more sauce, a little extra cheese) and it was peefect (not dry) even when reheated. Leftovers didn’t last long as my Trio came home from school and heated this up for an after school snack.
Great recipe and I love the fact it doesn’t use eggs.
Just made this last night and based on the other comments, I used 3 cups of the sauce mixture and mixed it in with the noodles instead of the recommended 2 cups. The noodles were still a tad dry so I just used the all of the leftover sauce mixture and glazed it all on top. It was DELISH!!! Paired it with a garden salad – I think it’s better the next day 🙂 Thanks Monique
Can’t wait 2 make it. I’m disabled Veteran who lives alone & am always looking 4 recipes easily reheatable in microwave & can b eaten 4 sev days! Thanx 4 recipes – looking 4 easiest. Can Ricotta b sub’d 4 cottage cheese? Thanx again:)
Yes it sure can!!
Do you have a cookbook out yet?
I just made this for dinner tonight and it was a hit. Everyone loved it, it was so rich and creamy. The only thing I would change, (like someone else mentioned), was to make more reserve spaghetti meat sauce to pour on the finished dish. Thanks so much for providing everyone this lovely recipe.
This tastes really good. I followed the recipe as given. This puts a nice twist on regular spaghetti- which can get boring sometimes. One small change that I recommend is to make more of the sauce if you like a lot of sauce on your spaghetti. Once the 2 cups was added into the noodle/ cheese mix it didn’t leave much sauce. So I had to make more for the half of the dish that was left. Overall… Delicious! Already added to the meal rotation. 🙂 Thanks!
This was so delicious! My whole family loved it. Thank you so much for sharing it with us!