Layered spaghetti casserole topped with french fried onions. A family favorite!
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 8 ounces uncooked spaghetti
- 1 large can spaghetti sauce (26.5 ounces)
- 1/2 cup green peppers chopped (i usually omit or substitue red peppers)
- 1/3 cup onions chopped
- fresh grated parmesan cheese
- small can french-fried onions
- Carbohydrate 30.0847942472564 g
- Cholesterol 86.5714972073081 mg
- Fat 40.0493245329856 g
- Fiber 2.89634040340651 g
- Protein 17.3449112432666 g
- Saturated Fat 21.3434239010025 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (217g)
- Sodium 806.64333750751 mg
- Sugar 27.1884538438499 g
- Trans Fat 9.88025663304949 g
- Calories 612 calories
Step-by-step
- Cook spaghetti according to directions on the package. Cook to al dente, drain and set aside.
- Brown ground beef. Drain excess grease. Add spaghetti sauce to skillet and heat.
- Combine onions, peppers and butter in small glass bowl. Cover and microwave 4 minutes on HIGH until soft.
- Add cream cheese and milk to vegetables and stir well. (If cream cheese is not soft, nuke it for 20-30 seconds to make it easy to spread.)
- Using a 12 x 8-inch baking dish (or something close), assemble in the following order: thin layer of spaghetti sauce, cooked spaghetti, cream cheese/vegetable mixture, remaining spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese (amount subject to your own taste)
- Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Top with french-fried onions and continue baking 5 more minutes. (This is the secret ingredient–don’t let them burn.)
Why does layering cream cheese directly against starchy noodles completely change the texture of a standard pasta bake? Boiling eight ounces of pasta until it reaches an exact al dente prevents the noodles from turning to mush once the residual heat of a 350-degree oven penetrates the layers. When ground beef browns in the skillet, draining the excess grease stops the entire dish from separating into an oily pool before the final five minutes under the broiler. Microwaving the onions, peppers, and butter inside a small glass bowl for precisely four minutes softens the cellular walls of the produce without scorching the dairy fats that follow.
Chemical Mechanics of the Layered Casserole
Proteins from the parmesan and cream cheese interact with the acidity of the 26.5-ounce can of spaghetti sauce to create a stable emulsion rather than a curdled mess. Spreading the cheese mixture evenly acts as a thermal buffer, insulating the pasta so the starches gelatinize slowly instead of drying out. French-fried onions contain high amounts of surface sugars that caramelize rapidly, which explains why adding them during the final five minutes of the twenty-five-minute bake prevents bitter acrolein compounds from forming.
- Bake the assembled dish uncovered at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for twenty-five minutes before topping.
- Add the french-fried onions strictly during the last five minutes to prevent scorching.
- Soften chilled cream cheese in the microwave for twenty to thirty seconds if it resists spreading.
- Assemble the components inside a twelve by eight-inch baking vessel to ensure proper thermal penetration.
