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And just like that, it’s the day after Christmas!
I can’t believe it has come and gone, but I’m excited to have a laid back week ahead of us! I hope you guys all had an amazing Christmas. I want to hear all about it, and tell you all about what the Gerard family has been up to the last few days, but first, I need to tell you all about this incredible pasta dish. So much to share!!
This Million Dollar Spaghetti, is one of my favorite meals to make when feeding a lot of people. Especially when a lot of those people are hungry brothers and friends. For everyone who loves, cheesy, meaty, pasta, this is your dish. It’s SO easy to prepare, full of spaghetti, spicy Italian sausage and cheese. Better known as a major winner food combo!
I actually served this dish up last week, but I am posting it today in hopes that it will be a great easy dinner for you guys to make for your family and friends this week.
We had a great week, but sadly some of my family members are headed out today (Abby is headed all the way to India!). But with some leaving, more will be coming, so large amounts of food will still be in high demand. To quickly recap the last few days around here, we started the Christmas fun a little early on Thursday and did a family snowmobile trip up on Vail Pass over to the little town of Red Cliff. It was pretty spur of the moment, but I am so glad that we ALL got to go. Every single immediate Gerard family member was in tow (meaning all nine of us including mom and dad) plus my two cousins, Maggie and Abby, Brendan and Malachi’s girlfriends, Lyndsie and Caitlin, and Kai’s friend Kyle who, one made the trip happen thanks to his four snowmobiles, and two, is basically just another family member at this point. So a grand total of fourteen people…on five snowmobiles. Don’t even ask how we made that happen (think snowboarders literally in tow), but we did… and it was awesome!
We finished the night off with family bowling. Yeah, family bowling, because that’s what you do at night in a ski town…
Friday was pretty mellow, Christmas Eve had a few last minute shopping trips in the morning with gingerbread house making in the afternoon. Christmas Day was spent opening gifts, lounging around, a family hike, making a few Bloody Marys and of course, cooking! Nothing fancy, but pretty perfect in my mind. So how was everyone else’s Christmas?
Now that my cousins have left, the next group is headed our way, which should be interesting, as some of them have never seen snow before. Bren’s girlfriend Lyndsie has her entire family coming in tomorrow and staying through New Years until the third, so my parents are going to have a very full house.
I have no idea what I am cooking up this week, still trying to recover from the weekend of mad cooking and cocktail making, but I’m sure there will be lots. Since Lyn’s family has yet to try this million dollar spaghetti casserole, odds are that I will be making it sometime this week.
I like to think of this dish as a very easy, deconstructed lasagna. It has all the same flavors of a classic lasagna, but minus all the cooking steps, layers, and time, YES! I guess that’s why we call it million dollar spaghetti, huh? Tastes like a million bucks, but it really is easy, and also pretty cheap to make…but don’t tell your guest that, DUH. 🙂
The one major way this dish varies from lasagna however, is that the spaghetti noodles on the bottom of this dish is treated like spaghetti carbonara. Before you bake it, you toss it with eggs to create a rich and creamy sauce. It’s fantastic and sets the dish apart from just another spaghetti recipe.
Trust me, this is not your grandma’s spaghetti bake!
Million Dollar Spaghetti.
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup whole milk cottage cheese
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 pound ground spicy Italian sausage
- 3 cups marinara sauce, homemade or store-bought
- 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat and boil the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the eggs, parsley and Parmesan. Drain the spaghetti, and add it right back to the hot pot. Add the butter and the egg mixture to the spaghetti, and quickly toss until evenly coated and the eggs have formed a sauce. Add the cottage cheese and cream cheese and toss until combined. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish.
- Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown all over, about 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, and stir in the marinara sauce. Spread mixture over the spaghetti. Add the mozzarella cheese in an even layer over top.
- Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake 30 to 45 minutes or until the cheese has melted and is lightly browned on top. Cool 5 minutes before serving. Serve with parmesan and basil, if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate & comment below.
Everyone’s gonna eat it all up.
Can I substitute ground beef for the Italian sausage? What seasonings should I put in it? This looks so mouthwatering! Who cares if it’s not “traditional” spaghetti? Food is for deliciousness (like this) not for rules (though some rules make it more delicious). I’m referring to Fabio, the comment above . Your meals always taste great and the pictures are incredible. Thank you for recipes like this!
Hey Kayla!! Yes, you can use ground beef, that will be great. I would add some crushed red peppers, basil and maybe fennel seeds, but you don’t need to add anything if you’d rather not. The ground beef will be just fine. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love this!
This sounds delish! I’m going to squirrel this recipe away for a nasty, cold, January or February night.
This dish sounds awesome for a cold night! Thank you Pat, I hope you love it!
I made this for New Year’s day! We had some friends over and they loved it as much as we did. My spaghetti went sort of dry, do you think I just overcooked it? I will be making this again. Thank you!!
Hey Kelly! It’s possible you over cooked the spaghetti, but it’s shouldn’t have been dry. Did you use 2 or 3 cups of sauce? So glad you loved this. Happy New Year!
Kelly, I make more than enough sauce since I like mine a little bit saucier and juicy. So, I mean, I make extra.
I know it’s supposed to be a detox week, but this spaghetti looks too good to miss… Monday = all the pasta cravings!
I completely agree. You cannot miss out on the spaghetti! Thank you Laura!
Do you have to add the eggs? Is there a substitute? I really want to try this recipe but I have a child with an egg allergy.
Hi Emily! I think omitting the eggs should be just fine. If the pasta seems a little dry, add a splash of water or olive oil. Let me know if you have questions. Hope you love this!
Looks like a good meal…but how come so many “home Cooks” can’t describe a dish they made proper?
Million dollar spaghetti, come on…seriously, you don’t have the words to describe it accurately.
Chef…?
Are you serious?
Eye roll.
T.
Hello! I personally choose to name my recipes in a fun style, if that does not appeal to you, just ignore the name. (:
Wow… These photos are just drool worthy! Pregnancy hormones are telling me I need these carbs and cheese in my life asap – thanks for the foodie inspo!!
Thank you, I am so glad you are loving my recipes and photos Becky! I hope everything is going awesome with the baby!! That is so exciting!
I made this tonight. It was good, but not quite what I was expecting from the photos. Reviewing the post again, and reading through the comments, I have a couple of clarification questions.
1. You call for a pound of regular spaghetti, but it looks like you used broken noodles (or broke the noodles) when you made it. I found tossing the ingredients with the full length noodles was a little difficult.
2. Mine came out a little dry for the noodles. The recipe calls for 2 cups of sauce, but you made a comment about having used 3 cups instead. I’d like to know which is correct because I think more sauce would help to combat the slight dryness of the dish.
Other than that, we really enjoyed the flavors.
HI KACIE! So my noodles broke as I was tossing them. I undercooked my noodles, so they snapped as I tossed it with the eggs. I dud use 3 cups of sauce. I am SO SORRY I will fix the recipe now. Very happy you enjoyed this. Thank you! 🙂
Totally in love with all of this! Cheese and noodles and more cheese… how could you go wrong!? Gotta try this soon!
Yes! So happy you like them!! Happy new year Karly!
Great recipes to try in 2017. Thanks for sharing. I love pasta.
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Thanks Shevy! Hope you love love them!
I made this last night and it was wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
So happy you liked it Jessica! Thank you!
Making my grocery list now. This looks amazing. Wish we could have it on the table tonight.
Thanks so much Emily! Hope you have an amazing New Year!
How delicious, I’ll try. Thanks.
Awesome! I hope you love this recipe Danielle! Thanks!!
I mean. I literally have no words, because I’m too busy drooling over all that cheesy pasta!!!
Ah yes!! Thanks so much Jennifer!!
I’ve been reading your blog and its recipes with drool running down my chin all year. Thank you for your wonderful creations and warm homey writings. I don’t always cook’em but they are always inspiring.
So happy to hear from you Michael! Thanks so much! So happy you like everything! Hope you have a great new year!