Give pasta night a delicious twist with cottage cheese spaghetti bake. This hearty spaghetti casserole deserves a place beside your favorite garlic bread!

If baked spaghetti already has your attention, wait until cottage cheese gets involved!

This cottage cheese spaghetti bake has saucy strands of pasta, garlicky beef marinara, a creamy cottage cheese and Parmesan layer, and enough bubbling mozzarella across top to make cutting into that first hot corner piece feel like very serious dinner business!

What Does Cottage Cheese Spaghetti Bake Taste Like?

Think of really good baked spaghetti meeting lasagna somewhere in middle.

You have savory tomato sauce with browned beef, sweet onion, garlic, herbs, and just enough red pepper to keep tomato flavor lively, followed by a mild creamy layer made from cottage cheese, Parmesan, and egg. Mozzarella melts across top and around pasta strands, giving you long cheesy pulls when casserole is still warm, while Parmesan adds a salty, nutty edge that keeps all that dairy from tasting flat.

Ingredients

For Pasta and Meat Sauce

• 16 ounces dry spaghetti
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
• 1 pound lean ground beef, preferably 90% lean
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional but recommended
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for pasta water
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 jar, 24 ounces, good-quality marinara sauce
• 1 can, 15 ounces, tomato sauce

For Creamy Cottage Cheese Layer

• 2 cups full-fat cottage cheese
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, plus extra for serving
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

For Layering and Topping

• 2 cups shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Servings: 8 generous servings
Total time: About 1 hour 15 minutes

How to Make Cottage Cheese Spaghetti Bake

Heat oven to 375°F and lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil while you start sauce.

Having pasta and sauce ready around same time makes assembly much easier and prevents cooked spaghetti from sitting around becoming sticky.

Add spaghetti to boiling water and cook it for about 2 minutes less than package directions recommend for al dente. If package says 10 minutes, start checking around 8. Bite into one strand.

It should bend easily and taste mostly cooked, but center should still have a faint firmness.

That tiny bit of undercooking is intentional, so resist temptation to give it another couple of minutes just because you would normally serve spaghetti softer!

Before draining, scoop out about 1/2 cup pasta water and keep it nearby. You probably will not need all of it, but it is excellent insurance if sauce becomes thicker than expected. Drain spaghetti well but do not rinse it.

Rinsing washes away surface starch that helps sauce cling to noodles, and we want sauce hanging on for dear life here.

While pasta cooks, heat olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat. Add diced onion and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring every so often, until pieces soften and become translucent around edges.

You are not trying to brown onion aggressively, so if edges start darkening quickly, lower heat slightly.

Add ground beef, sprinkle over salt and black pepper, then cook for 5 to 7 minutes, breaking meat into small pieces with a wooden spoon or spatula.

I prefer fairly small crumbles for baked spaghetti because they distribute through noodles instead of leaving you with several giant beef chunks in one serving and none in another.

Cook until no pink remains, then spoon off excess grease if your pan has more than a tablespoon or so.

Add minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes, then stir constantly for 30 to 45 seconds. Watch garlic rather than clock alone.

As soon as it smells strongly fragrant, move on. Burnt garlic can make an entire pan taste bitter, and that is far too much emotional damage for something that took 40 seconds.

Pour in marinara and tomato sauce, scraping across bottom of skillet to release any browned bits left from beef.

Bring sauce to a gentle simmer and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should still look fairly loose when finished. If it becomes very thick, stir in a splash of reserved pasta water.

Remember, spaghetti is about to absorb more liquid in oven, so this is not a moment to chase an extra-thick sauce.

Add cottage cheese to a blender or food processor and blend for roughly 20 to 30 seconds, stopping once it looks creamy but not completely liquid.

Scrape it into a medium bowl, add egg, 3/4 cup Parmesan, parsley, and black pepper, then stir until evenly combined.

Taste cottage cheese mixture before adding raw egg if you want to check seasoning, rather than tasting afterward. Parmesan already brings plenty of salt, so I generally do not add extra.

Spoon about 1 cup meat sauce across bottom of prepared baking dish. Toss drained spaghetti with roughly 2 cups meat sauce until strands are lightly coated, then spread half of spaghetti across baking dish.

You do not need military-level precision here, but try to keep layer reasonably even so every serving gets pasta, creamy filling, and sauce.

Spoon cottage cheese mixture over pasta and gently spread it toward edges. Sprinkle 1 cup mozzarella over cottage cheese mixture.

Add remaining spaghetti, then spoon remaining meat sauce evenly across top, nudging some sauce into little gaps with back of your spoon rather than leaving dry nests of exposed noodles.

Finish with remaining 1 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Cover dish loosely with foil, making sure foil is not pressed firmly into cheese.

If casserole is filled close to rim, give underside of foil a quick coating of cooking spray so you do not lose half your mozzarella when foil comes off.

Bake covered at 375°F for 20 minutes, then carefully remove foil and continue baking for another 12 to 15 minutes, until sauce is bubbling around edges and cheese has completely melted with scattered golden spots across top.

If you want more color, switch broiler on for just 1 to 2 minutes at end, but stay beside oven. Mozzarella can go from pale to “well, dinner has a suntan now” very quickly under a broiler!

Remove casserole from oven and leave it alone for 10 minutes before slicing. I know waiting while bubbling cheese is sitting directly in front of you feels unreasonable, but resting lets sauce settle and creamy cottage cheese layer firm enough to hold together.

Cut immediately and you will still have delicious spaghetti, but it will slide across plate rather than coming out in neat cheesy portions.

Finish with fresh parsley, a little extra Parmesan, and freshly cracked black pepper if you like, then serve while center is still hot and mozzarella is wonderfully stretchy!

Serving Suggestions

This is a fairly complete dinner on its own, so I like pairing it with something crisp, green, or acidic rather than another rich side.

A simple Caesar salad works beautifully because crunchy romaine and sharp dressing cut through melted cheese, while a lemony arugula salad gives you an even lighter contrast.

For vegetables, try roasted broccoli, garlic green beans, roasted zucchini, or asparagus with lemon. If you have people at table who consider bread a mandatory pasta accessory, warm garlic bread is obviously not going to receive any complaints.

For serving, add Parmesan and chopped parsley after portions reach plates rather than covering entire casserole with a mountain of garnish. A few red pepper flakes are excellent for anyone who likes a little heat.

This cottage cheese spaghetti bake is exactly what I want from a pasta casserole: plenty of tomato sauce tucked into every strand, savory garlic and beef throughout, a creamy cottage cheese center that does not feel overly heavy, and a properly browned mozzarella top that practically demands someone steal a corner piece before dinner reaches table!

Hungry for more feel-good meals? Explore these 21 Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes for a nourishing start and 10 Anti-Inflammatory Dinner Recipes for delicious evenings that make healthy eating easy!