pizza spaghetti bake

by tijuana, 06/30/2013

i have noticed that there has been a lot of baked spaghetti recipes trending lately. i have never tried baked spaghetti before but you know me. i wanted to find a way to make it more interesting. my favorite way to eat pizza it fully loaded, so i tried to incorporate that into my baked pizza recipe! instead of adding sausage, the hubby loves hamburger meat, so i went with that. i opted out for mushrooms strictly because of price. but this meal is so versatile, you can add anything you want. it makes A LOT of food! we are a 6 person family and there was tons of leftovers in the fridge. i actually made an extra casserole and put it on the freezer! i really love this one. we will make it often. 🙂

total Time: 45 minutes
prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 25 minutes
yield: 8 servings

ingredients:

1 lb thin spaghetti -
1 tablespoon vegetable oil -
1 lb hamburger meat -
4 cloves garlic - minced
1/2 onion - chopped
1/2 bell pepper - chopped
3.5 ounce package pepperoni - chopped, saving some for garnish
1 teaspoon italian seasoning -
2 tablespoons tomato paste -
1 (32 ounce can) crushed tomatoes -
2 cups mozzarella cheese -

instructions:

preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
bring a large pot of water to a boil. salt the water generously and add the pasta. cook according to the package instructions to al dente.
preheat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. carefully add the hamburger meat to the pan. break the hamburger meat into pieces with a wooden spoon as it cooks. season with salt/pepper to taste. once the meat is cooked through, drain the meat of the oil (if needed).