This Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole recipe is the best Spaghetti Casserole dish you have ever tasted. It’s creamy, tasty and delicious. There’s that perfect balance of spaghetti and all that creamy goodness, plus the ground beef.
Why do we love this dish?
The Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole is made with ingredients that you can easily assess from the nearest grocery store, if you don’t have them in your kitchen already. Apart from that, it’s really easy to put this dish together because of how uncomplicated and few the ingredients are (I mean, there’s only eight (8) of them). Then, there’s the fact that it’s a casserole, a normal homemade dish, but there’s just something exotic and absolutely decadent about it. Still, it’s entirely nutritious, rich and filling. So, this is one dish we’d like to recommend for families as well as individuals (except if you’re lactose intolerant, in which case, we’re going to have to ask you not to try this at home. There’s a lot of cheese in here.)
Weight watchers will be delighted to know that this Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole recipe contains an estimated617.5 calories, 28.4g of protein, 30.8g of carbohydrates, 136.4mg of cholesterol and 721mg of sodium.
INGREDIENTS:
The ingredients you’ll need in order to make this dish are:
- 1 lb of ground beef
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
- 8 oz of cream cheese
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ½ lb cottage cheese (equals 1 cup)
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- 1 pkg spaghetti 16 oz
- Grated cheddar cheese
One important thing to note before you start gathering the ingredients for this recipe is that the quantities stated above are only good for a Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole dish that serves 8-10 people. If you’re going to feed more than ten (10) people, you could follow this recipe twice or you could tweak the recipe a bit to allow for more servings at a time.
Now, tweaking recipes is easy but it’s not just a matter of adding an extra half (1/2) cup of butter or an extra pound (lb) of ground beef to the dish. Each and every single one of the above stated ingredients has to be increased (or decreased, if you’re planning on feeding less without any leftovers) proportionately.
Again, it’s easy to do but we’re aware of how tricky things can get in the kitchen, particularly when you’re working with a new recipe. So, if you need any help, feel free to consult us by leaving us a message in the comment section of this page (preferably before things get tricky. We’re not the recipe ER and it will take a little while before we get back to you.)
EQUIPMENTS:
What you’ll need for this recipe, equipment-wise are:
- An oven
(Preferably one that is temperature-regulated. This is a baked recipe, so there’s no escaping the use of an oven, at least according to this recipe.)
- A saucepan (for boiling your spaghetti)
- A skillet (for browning your hamburger)
- A strainer or food sieve (for draining the boiled spaghetti)
- A 9×13 baking pan/ casserole.
And just for the sake of being thorough, we’re going to mention all those bowls and spoons that are undoubtedly bound to end up in the dishwasher after this cooking/baking experience.
DIRECTIONS:
Before we step into any new recipe, we like to give a little recommendation. It’s something that’s going to help with your free range of movement, boost the hygiene level of what you’re doing and, quite possibly, assist in getting you into the zone. You know, the cooking/baking zone.
That simple recommendation is this: Clean up your counter top and clear out any clutter you have lying around (if you have any). It does wonders for your morale as you try out this amazing Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole recipe, possibly for the first time. When you’re done with that, you can bring out your ingredients and measure them out into small bowls (like the one they use in cooking shows on TV, if you’re into that kind of thing. The point is, your counter top is free so, you can do that if you like). Do NOT mix any of those ingredients together until the recipe tells you to, this is very important as there is ALWAYS a technique.
- Preheat your oven to 350°.
(Preheating is the sacred art of setting your oven to a particular aforementioned temperature before baking so as to create a heat-regulated space within the oven. This is done to avoid that unfortunate scenario that often occurs, where the inside of the baked recipe will not be done but the outer part will be ready.)
- Boil your spaghetti noodles until al dente (firm). Drain and set aside until ready to assemble.
- Combine the cream cheese, sour cream and cottage cheese until well blended (Now, you can mix!)
- Brown your hamburger and when done, drain well.
(Browning just means setting the food item on a skillet – preferably non-stick – on medium to low heat until the color changes to brown. And that’s what you’ll do with the hamburger here.)
- Combine the hamburger with your spaghetti sauce.
- Put a few slices of butter into a 9×13 pan then pour half of your spaghetti noodles on top.
(Adding the butter first is not negotiable. The butter is serving the function of a non-stick agent to prevent – or mitigate – bits of the Million Dollar Spaghetti Casserole from sticking to the pan when it’s done. Yep, the butter helps to prevent that nightmare that makes it hard to clean the pan after all the delicious food is long gone.)
- Take your cream cheese mixture and pour on top of the noodles. Spread well over noodles.
- Pour the rest of the noodles on top of the cream cheese mixture. Put a few more slices of butter on top of the noodles.
- Pour your spaghetti and meat sauce on top of your noodles.
- Now it is ready to put into the oven for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, pour the desired amount of gratedcheese on top and return to the oven for 15 minutes to allow cheese to melt.
- Serve, dig in and enjoy!
(Remember, serves 10 (10SP))
