Million Dollar Spaghetti

Dinner Idea!

Looking for a delicious dinner idea? Give this Million Dollar Spaghetti recipe from Southern Living a try! There are plenty of variations of this recipe out there, each with its own little twist, but I imagine they’re all pretty amazing. Think of it as lasagna—but with spaghetti noodles instead. I’ll list the ingredients for you below and link directly to the Southern Living page for the step-by-step instructions. It’s a must-try for pasta lovers!

Million Dollar Spaghetti (Southern Living)

Putting it all Together

My Take on the Recipe

Amount

We loved the Million Dollar Spaghetti recipe, no doubt it))) It does make a LOT! It filled a 9″ x 13″ pan completely, along with a small tin foil loaf pan for later. Our grandchildren ate with us and we still have an abundance of leftovers to go in the frig or freezer. Next time I’ll be better prepared and have pans on hand to go in the freezer.

Ingredients

Meats

The ingredients are simple enough, but I found that the smallest packages of ground sirloin and bulk Italian sausage that I could buy were pound packages. So I used the whole two pounds.

Marinara Sauce

Southern Living recommended Rao’s marinara sauce, 32 oz. The only jar available at our grocer was a 24 oz jar for $6.88; as compared to Barilla 24 oz for $2.52. Ordering a 32 oz jar of Rao on Walmart’s site would have been $18.99!

So I bought one 24 oz jar of each, and now I have leftover marinara sauce.🥺 Looks like I’ll need to make some cheese sticks or something.😀

The sauces smelled the same and I really couldn’t tell any significant difference in the taste, but the carb count is lower on the Rao. Interestingly, however, the calorie count was higher on the Rao than on the Barilla. So I guess you just have to choose your poison))

Also, the recipe called for adding butter and 1/2 cup marinara sauce to the noodles, to help keep them moist during the baking. In hindsight, next time I’ll add a whole cup of marinara instead of just 1/2 cup. There was plenty on hand and it wouldn’t have hurt for the noodles to have been a little more moist after baking.

Salt, Pepper, & Garlic

I didn’t have fresh garlic, so I used a little garlic salt. We’re not huge fans of garlic anyway. Note that the recipe does not call for salt and pepper. I thought that was strange, so I added a little salt and pepper to the meat sauce and salt to the noodles.

In hindsight, the Million Dollar Spaghetti didn’t turn out too salty, but do go lightly with the salt. I could have easily over-salted it with my normal habits. The Italian sausage has seasonings in it….so that could be the reason for no extra salt and pepper.

Cheese

We love freshly grated Parmesan on almost anything))) The recipe called for about 1/2 cup, but it wouldn’t have hurt to use more. The recipe also called for 1 cup of shredded mozzarella on top. I didn’t think that was enough and used the whole 2-cup package.

Next time I’ll probably use the whole 15 oz container of ricotta cheese also. I hate having little bits of leftovers! It wouldn’t have hurt to have had more of the cheese mixture to spread over the meat sauce.

Remember to soften the cream cheese before you mix it with the ricotta and Parmesan.

Parsley

I didn’t add the fresh parsley, although it would have made an even more appetizing dish. And even though my grandchildren are grown, I knew it would provoke the question “What’s that green stuff?” So I left it off)))

Try million-dollar spaghetti

I think you’ll like it! All you have to do is add a fresh salad, crispy buttered bread, and ice tea….a standard Southern supper!