Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs made with turkey mince, mozzarella cheese and fresh parsley, a comforting dish fit for a king. It's very easy to make, and a great favourite with the whole family.
The best comfort food, this cheesy baked spaghetti and meatballs casserole is just perfect for this weather now. It's outrageously tasty, comforting, filling, cheesy, and all in all, sheer heaven.
Spaghetti with meatballs must be one of the most popular Italian dish all over the world, my Meatballs in Tomato Sauce are a great favourite with all of us. But add some cheesy goodness to them, and pop them in the oven until bubbling hot, and you get a dinner that will get everyone talking about.
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How to make baked spaghetti and meatballs
Now, you have two options:
- Buy ready-made meatballs, either refrigerated or frozen
- Buy (turkey) mince and make the meatballs yourself
I would wholeheartedly advise you to go for option number 2. Not only it's cheaper, but you can also season the meatballs to your own taste. And in my case, sneak in some veggies so that little ones can get even more goodness out of their meal.
Again, make the sauce yourself, you only need a tin of chopped tomatoes, which costs about £0.35 or something like that. Then, the own-brand spaghetti from any supermarket will be about £0.70, maybe less. You end up spending less that £5 to feed the whole family.
For the meatballs, all you need to do is mix the mince with spices, season them, then add them to the pan together with the chopped tomatoes and stock.
Cook for about 20 minutes until the meatballs are cooked through and the sauce is reduced to stick to the meatballs. Add the cooked spaghetti to an oven-proof dish, top with the meatballs and sauce, add the grated cheese, and bake until the cheese is melted.
Can I freeze the spaghetti and meatballs?
If you make a bigger portion, you can freeze some and enjoy on another occasion, perhaps when you don't have time to make it from scratch.
Either freeze the whole thing, or just the meatballs sauce, and cook the spaghetti when needed. I usually liked the freeze the meatballs and sauce only, and make fresh pasta whenever we need, it tastes a lot better.
More meatball recipes
Healthy Romanian Meatball Soup with Rice
Mozzarella-Stuffed Pork Meatballs
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Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs
Ingredients
For the meatballs
- 450 g ground turkey (1 lb)
- ¼ cup dried breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- ½ red onion, grated
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
For the tomato sauce
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes (400 g, 13 oz)
- 1 cup chicken stock (broth)
- a pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Other ingredients
- ½ cup grated mozzarella
- ¼ package of spaghetti
- a knob of butter for greasing the skillet
Instructions
- To make the meatballs, add the ingredients listed above to a bowl, mix well and shape meatballs, depending on the size, you should get about 20.
- In a large pan, add the chopped tomatoes, chicken stock, season with salt and pepper, and add the meatballs carefully.
- Cook on a medium heat for about 20 minutes or until the sauce is reduced and thick, and the meatballs are cooked through.
- You might want to stir gently half the way through to make sure the meatballs don't stick to the pan.
- Meanwhile, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions.
- When ready, drain the water and place the spaghetti in a skillet that had been greased with butter or oil.
- Top with the cooked meatball sauce and sprinkle grated mozzarella all over.
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit).
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
- Garnish with chopped parsley.
Notes
- Replace the ground turkey with beef, chicken, pork, lamb, or a mixture of any of these
- If you want to keep the meatballs simple, you can omit the grated onion and carrot.
- Click on the number of servings to see the adjusted quantity of ingredients depending on the number of servings you want.
- Click on the US Customary to see the quantities listed in cups and ounces.
Erick
1/4 package of spaghetti? How large a package?