A tasty, quick and easy recipe for cooks on the go.
I thought it was good, as did my husband. My 18m old daughter loved it! I made a few subs based on what I had on hand (ie: 12oz tri-color rotini, 24oz jar spaghetti sauce) and I added some chopped onion and garlic powder to the meat, and it came out fine. Maybe a little dry, but still good. Perhaps next time I'll cover with foil for 15-20 minutes, then uncover for the last few minutes. I think I'll make it again! Oh - I also recommend spraying the baking dish with non-stick spray to ease clean up.
Read MoreThis recipe is OK, but not a favorite of anybody in my family.
Read MoreI thought it was good, as did my husband. My 18m old daughter loved it! I made a few subs based on what I had on hand (ie: 12oz tri-color rotini, 24oz jar spaghetti sauce) and I added some chopped onion and garlic powder to the meat, and it came out fine. Maybe a little dry, but still good. Perhaps next time I'll cover with foil for 15-20 minutes, then uncover for the last few minutes. I think I'll make it again! Oh - I also recommend spraying the baking dish with non-stick spray to ease clean up.
I made a few changes, I used ricotta cheese in the middle and spaghetti for the pasta. A new favorite for me and my husband. So good and so easy to do!
Very good as written. Quick, filling, and pleasing. Add a tossed salad and garlic toast for a great and easy meal. I've used ham, pepperoni, sausage as meat variations; used ricotta, cottage cheese, mild cheddar for cheese variations; and salsa for sauce variations. A handy go-to recipe. Thanks for the idea and inspiration LaDonna!
I thought this recipe was great. I always use some basic seasonings on my ground beef (cumin, oregano, chili powder, and garlic) and it added some extra good flavor. I also added some sliced olives that we had on hand, and it added a nice touch. It was also very quick and easy to prepare for a family of 6!
I ended up using a container of cottage cheese that I had decided I would never eat for the middle layer and a few handfuls of shredded cheddar on top since we didn't have mozzarella on hand. I also put a can of basil, garlic and oregano chunky tomatoes in with the beef after it was cooked through and let it simmer and reduce before adding the spaghetti sauce. It turned out amazing! My husband loved it and said it's better than regular lasagna! That's an excellent review from him!
Very easy and tasty. I used penne pasta instead (on hand) and added onions, fresh garlic and some other spices to the meat/sauce mixture. Served with garlic bread. My husband loved it.
This was easy, fast, and delicious. I had everything on hand already and wanted a quick meal that was "homemade" and not out of a box. I did add some garlic and onions to the meat for more flavor, but other than that followed the recipe. Thanks for the post...a definate keeper.
This was apretty good basic recipe. Somewhat bland, but I spiced it up a bit with garlic salt, oregeno, & Sweet Basil. My 7 yr. old loved it.
I make this all the time, we call it spagetti ghoulash. But never thought about baking it with with mozzarella cheese. I didnt have rotini, so I used small elbow noodles. It's a total please on those nights where you just don't want to make spagetti sauce from scratch and this is a quick fix.
Ok I would give this five stars but i changed it a ton: I used mexican cheese, i baked it for 15 minutes, I used half the beef and i added spinnach. YUMMY~!
I added minced garlic, chopped onion, and a variety of other spices to the meat. I used a combination of cheddar and mozzarella since I didn't have enough of the mozzarella. I think it would have turned out better with Italian sausage or pepperoni added to the meat. Another reviewer suggested adding ricotta cheese to the middle layer, which would definitely have improved this casserole.
I've been basically making this same casserole off and on for years. It's stick to your ribs satisfying, and something most everyone will enjoy. It's fairly easy, even for the beginner cook and affordable. Goes great with garlic bread and a salad.
HUGE portion! Slight additions for flavor: We browned ground beef with a bit of onions & added dried Italian spice mix. Our family of 4 will be eating this for 2-3 meals (with sides of salad & biscuits).
This turned out very well and tasted great. It was far better than I had expected. I seasoned the hamburger with some crushed red pepper, italian seasoning, garlic, and SeasonAll while it was browning. I ran out of Mozarella and used some shredded parmesan to make up the difference. Great easy recipe, thanks for sharing La Donna, this really doctored up jarred food and made it almost homemade.
This recipe is GREAT! My husband and I both loved it! It'll definitely remain on the menu! The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because it came out a little dry! I just realized that the jar of spaghetti sauce I used was actually only 24oz though! Next time I'll use the 28oz jar or maybe even a little more!
I was very skeptical of this recipe due to the lack of spices and its simplicity...but I like to try the recipes the way they are written before I make any changes so...I cant believe it didnt need any spices! My entire family loved this and requested we have it instead of spaghetti or lasagna! 5 stars! (The only thing I would add is some diced tomatoes) :)
Ummm...Yummm!!! My whole family LOVED this, and it can feed an army! With growing boys, that's a huge plus for us. I took someone else's advice and put a layer of ricotta cheese in the middle (that's why I gave 4 stars instead of 5)...that really sealed the deal for us. A lot like lasagna, but half the work.
We enjoyed this tasty, simple to prepare meal tonight. I served it with fresh steamed broccoli & whole grain bread rolls. Thank you for the recipe. I made it as written. Next time I will include fresh onions & garlic during cooking the meat to give it flavor though. I will also try another reviewers suggestion of adding a layer of ricotta cheese in the middle. My husband also requested lots more sauce next time, so I'll put two jars of emerils chunky marinara sauce, it was a bit dry with only one jar of sauce once it had baked & absorbed.
I never thought I'd like such a simple recipe, but this was great! It is also a good base recipe to start with and then customize. This time I halved the meat and added an onion, used Colby-Jack cheese (all I had), and reduced the amount of rotini a bit. Next time I would add olives and mushrooms. This has endless possibilities! Thanks!
Delicious recipe! Husband said it was like lasagna but better. I made a few additions by adding cottage cheese and feta to the middle layer. I also added a little of Worcestershire Sauce for a little more flavor.
Could use some more pizzazz, but still tasty. I think next time I'll add some garlic, onion, and bell pepper for a little extra flavor.
This was a good recipe, but I made a few changes to make it great. I added two jars of spaghetti sauce, as I could see it would have been too dry (as others have mentioned) with only one jar. I also added three cloves of garlic and a bunch of onion to the ground beef. I also added a few spices to the ground beef. I put in a layer of cottage cheese as well. Everyone raved about the end result. I only gave the recipe four stars because I had to tweak it quite a bit.
4 stars for ease of prep and cook time! One of those recipes that doesn't take that long, as you can brown the beef and shred the cheese as you're waiting for the pasta to boil. I didn't have rotini so I used penne. I would recommend chopping onions and fresh garlic to cook with the beef, as it was a little on the bland side, but I like my foods to be really bursting with flavor. However, my test subjects (husband and friend) both loved it as it was. It also comes out looking good, like restaurant quality. It took a little longer than 25 minutes for baking but I just waited until the cheese was golden brown on the top layer. I also used a smaller casserole dish and had leftover pasta and beef for the next day as I didn't reduce the recipe amount.
A very simple, satisfying weeknight dinner. I sauteed some chopped onion along with the ground beef.
this was great - much easier than regular lasagna but about the same taste to it since I added ricotta cheese too! Very easy and quick! Thanks!
Pretty tasty and really easy to make. I like some of the suggestions other people had for spicing it up a little bit.
I really enjoyed this! I did add some onion and garlic to my ground beef, and a little extra garlic powder and Italian seasoning to the spaghetti sauce (it was generic and I thought it needed something extra). My daughter thought it would be better with a little more sauce.
Yummy! Add a can of petite diced tomatoes to the pasta mixture. It was really good with "olive oil and garlic" pasta sauce. I used mini penne. A great way to change the look of regular old spaghetti! Don't forget the texas toast!!
This is a great recipe that's quick and easy to make! I only add some additional spices to my sauce to make it a bit more flavorful. It takes well to freezing and re-heating.
This was a little dry for me. I added another jar of sauce and then it was perfect.
I used penne pasta instead and added oregano and garlic powder to the beef. Like some other reviewers i also added some other cheeses under the mozza layer. it made a great meal, even my pickiest eaters enjoyed it!
The beef needs flavor. So we added half an onion in a skillet with 1tsp of garlic cooked til translucent, added the beef and 1 tblsp Adobe All Purpose seasoning. That really added to the flavor to include adding garlic salt to the noodles for a bit of noodle flavor. A little on the dry side, we just added half a 14oz jar of water (to get all the sauce) and to wet it up a bit. Based on current recipe, we give it a 3. After additions, we give it a 5. Even our 5 year old enjoyed. Thanks LaDonna for putting this in our hands, we will definitely make this again.
I topped with cheddar & pepperjack chz & added onion, grn pepper & garlic. A quick, easy dinner that everyone loved!
Yum! My family really liked this recipe. I did a bit of tweaking it, though. I used pepper-jack and mozzarella for the middle layers, and mozzarella and cheddar for the top. I am sure I used about 4 cups of cheese, as we love cheese in my house. I spruced up my spaghetti sauce with garlic, black pepper, and italian seasonings. Even my super picky almost 2 year old liked it.
I used penne pasta, used 1/2 tub of ricotta cheese and orginal amount of mozzarella. Took it to a church dinner and came back with an empty pan! Super easy and great tasting!!
Very good basic recipe, I followed the other reviewers advise and added onions, bell pepper, garlic & mushrooms. I used the colby/monteray jack blend cheese for more flavoring and to the sauce beef mixture I also added 1 teaspoon of mustard (you don't taste it and it helps minimize the jar taste)
I added diced onion, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, we like ours a little saucier so I used roughly 1.5 lbs ground *deer meat* and 1 26oz can of 4 cheese spaghetti sauce and 1/2 can of pizza sauce (all we had), cracked red pepper, salt, pepper, italian seasoning all to the meat sauce mixture and mixed in with the pasta. I used some mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese and parmasean cheese for the layers as well. This was delicious! I have 4 very picky kids and 3 out of the 4 actually ate this very well. My 2 year old had 3 plates!! Goes great with garlic bread and brocoli with cheese!! We will definitely have this again!!
My husband and daughter love this. I add the cheese on top only. Also I bake it for 45 min.
I added a layer of fresh baby spinach in the middle. So YUMMY. Then I got a little more creative and added smashed corn tortilla chips. Even better! Thanks for the easy recipe!
Easy and very kid friendly! I did add italian sausage and helped with the blandness.
I love this recipe, thank you for sharing! Quick, easy, I had everything on hand, husband and kids loved it, even better the next day.
Very good family dish. Both the kids and the hubby loved it. I made it as it's written and it's very easy to do. Has the potential for lots of variations as you could add just about anything that your family really likes.
Like most others, I sauteed fresh garlic and onions. Also, I used the very leanest beef but did not pour out the juices. Tastes awesome.
It's just ok! My husband loved it though! I sauteed onions and minced garlic then browned the ground beef. I then followed the rest of the recipes' directions except I covered the dish with foil before putting it in the oven. It still ended up being a little bland. I am excited to see what it will taste like tomorrow - I am hoping some spices might have set in with it being refrigerated over night! Either way, I will make it again because my husband really liked it!
Made it for my family since I don't eat meat but we have ground beef in abundance since my side of the family raises it (go figure LOL). It was super easy and cheap (which is a big huge plus in our house!) And the meat eaters gobbled it up. They said it was a huge change from the burgers and hamburger helper. :)
Quick and easy! This was so simple and a nice change from regular spagetti. We call it Spatini in our house since you use rotini noodles.
Fast, easy, and tastes good. I followed recipe as written, ant thought it was pretty good.
A good, simple, meal with ingredients one typically has on hand. Definitely adding this to my list of regular meals. I added some parmesan cheese and garlic salt for a little more flavor; substituting homemade tomato sauce would probably be an awesome addition if time is available.
This was fantastic! Our baby is only six weeks old, so it's just me and my husband eating this casserole, and we ate it til it was gone (usually we'll have a serving as leftovers and then be done with whatever casserole it is, not the case with this one.) A few things: I used a mix of mini-wagonwheels and bow ties, didn't have rotini, and I liked the effect it had on the casserole and would do it again, i made 16 oz of pasta total and did not need nearly half of it, but my casserole dish (corningware) was a little less than 3 quarts. Also didn't have enough mozzarella on hand, so i mixed in parmesan and some provolone, and on top melted a few slices of white american (basically because i didn't have enough cheese otherwise, but it was really good) This was a nice easy recipe that is easy to improvise with, and pleasantly different despite the somewhat common/few ingredients. Give it a try! Oh, i was also worried that one jar of sauce wouldn't be enough, but it was perfect, it didn't need to be very saucy.
With this one I added some chilli powder to the meat while cooking it and also a little to the sauce. Instead of just mozzarella I used a mix of mozzarella and cheddar cheese. My family really liked it, very filling.
Very Good.... I added another cp of cheese though but that family loved it! Thanks for the recipe
Very easy. Very tasty. I used small elbow macaroni, that's what I had in the pantry. I didn't use a full jar of spaghetti sauce, I had about 3/4 of jar in the fridge that I wanted to use up, flavor didn't suffer. VERY GOOD!
Very basic, a little dry. A good starting point for someone learning to cook or with little time or ingredients.
This is an excellent fast dish to prepare. Instead of hamburger I used 1lb hot pork sausage and approximately 1/2 cup bacon bits. My family likes sauce so I substituted two cans sauce and baked in a 13x9 cake pan..mui bueno..delish!
This Is Really Good. I Put A Lot Of Cheese In Mine Because I Like Cheese. :) Anyways, The Food Was Really Good.
loved it!! but my wife doubled it thinking it would better feed our large family better. we ended up with a weeks worth of left overs. eating it every night haha
Yum, that was about all we could say while eating! I added onion & garlic to the ground beef while browning! I didn't have any mozzarella cheese, so I used the bag of shredded Italian cheese I had. I made it early in the day and put it into the fridge - with a lid on it, all mixed together. Heated it up a little bit longer and we couldn't be happier! What a simple and delicious meal!!! Thank You LaDonna for sharing!
After reading lots of reviews I took the advice of others and added different spices so it wouldn't be so bland. I added onions and garlic in with the hamburger and sprinkled chili powder over it as well. It ended up being a meal my husband and young girls liked. It is a great replacement for spaghetti if you are looking to change up "pasta" night in your menu. But my standards are pretty high so without the spices I added this wasn't a "five star" meal in my opinion. The other issue I had with this recipe is that it says "4 servings." I should have looked at the dish it said to bake it in. Anything baked in a 3qt dish is not 4 servings! More like 8 servings. But on the up side, we like leftovers so there you go!
I made this following some of the other reviewer's recommendations- I cooked onion and garlic with the beef and added Italian seasoning and pepper to the meat. The only cheese I had was one of those shredded multi-cheese things so I used that. I didn't use all of the noodles because it seemed like it was too much. It turned out very tasty- much better than I thought it would be after scrounging for ingredients that I had on hand. GREAT idea to make with whatever you have available.
Really good and very easy to make. I have now added this to my dinner rotations.
I used egg noodles instead as is what had on hand & just used any cheese in the house. Turned out pretty darn good.
This was an easy and filling meal to make. I keep all these ingredients on hand so that made it convenient too. I added some garlic and onion powders to the ground meat for some extra flavor. My family really liked it.
This will certainly be a go-to recipe, thank you! I made some adjustments and it was delicious! Instead of using spaghetti sauce I used fire roasted diced tomatoes with chipotle peppers and tri-color rotini. I added garlic, onion, and green peppers while browning the meat and a spice mix of onion salt, cumin, chili powder, paprika, and garlic powder. I took another suggestion to cover for the first 15 minutes of baking. I also included parmesan cheese with the mozzarella. This was really filling and delicious with LOTS of room to adjust for what I have on hand and didn't flavors!
Absolutely delicious!!! Didnt change the recipe at all...my family loved it. Will be making this again and again
there could have been more cheese, it was a little "blah" but other than that it was very good. it taste a lot like goulash
This was the perfect, no fuss, easy to put together meal. Husband loved it and I loved not spending an hour in the kitchen preparing! Didn't have quite enough sauce so added some diced tomatoes and was great. Used tex mex shredded cheese as well cause that was all I had. Still great.
Made exactly as the recipe. I would make it again but would make some changes. I would half the pasta next time (or double the meat) and add some more flavours, perhaps a few dashes of chilli sauce, as we found it a little bland.
This was Delicious! My husband raved about it and told me to make it a regular. I think I may add a little italian sausage with the ground beef next for more of a kick. But it was great as is.
I wouldn't call this Mozechilli Casserole...a chilli needs to have chilli powder and chilli ingredients, other than the ground beef it does not have either of those. It would have been almost tasteless if we didn't add our own herbs and spices to it. It's pretty much just baked spaghetti with a different kind of pasta.
I add some mushrooms, onions, garlic salt and about 1 1/2 jar of spaghetti sauce. My kids loved it!! Definetly a keeper...Thanks for sharing :)
My entire family loved this and believe me that doesn't happen often. It was really easy to make and very tasty!!
It was good - a little dry for my taste. I used Boca ground meat substitute and added onion and garlic. Otherwise I kept the recipe the same. It was delicious served with fresh bread. Also, you could use any type of pasta but the rotini really holds the sauce well.
You pretty much know the taste you are going to come out with just by reading the recipe. It is a spagetti dinner taste that most Americans enjoy. It is pretty basic. So because it is a basic familair taste we all enjoy I rate it about a 3 and for ease and the ability to tweak it to make it your own I give it another star, making it a 4. I added a pasta /pizza spice that you grind on and a few mini pepperonis to mix through. Turn out very enjoyable. This was a tasty dinner and an even tastier leftover. Enjoy.
Had to add ricotta cheese and some Italian seasoning to the meat when browning it. Delicious!
Such an easy and cost effective recipe! My husband and daughter love this! There is complete silence during dinner!!! Great for anyone on a tight budget! May attempt to make this vegetarian or vegan!
First time trying and it came out just right! Didn't add or make any changes! Very quick and very DELICIOUS!!!! I definitely recommend this recipe, especially when you do not feel like cooking,lol. Easy and quick! Will do again!!
I made it one evening for a quick dinner, only thing I added was some garlic and some onion, black people and Italian seasoning to the meat mixture. Cover with foil and baked it along with some garlic bread and made a salad. Dinner on the table in no time.
My son and I have sensitivity to the acidics in tomato sauce. So i heated up the spaghetti sauce and mixed in 16oz of sour cream. I also used some Cheddar Mozerlla mix on top.
needs more seasonings to be delicious, but good as is. added a can of diced italian tomatoes (mostly drained) because noodle/sauce mixture seemed dry.
A good, basic recipe which leaves lots of room for improvisation. I just wanted to make something quick on a brain dead Friday night, using my ground beef up and this fit the bill! Next time I will definitely expand on ingredients, especially after reading others' input. The portion size, however, is outrageous! 1/4 of the recipe is one serving?!? That is a recipe for obesity. I follow Weight Watchers and according to that program, one portion would be worth 27 points, which is basically the total point allotment for one day! I would recommend having a much smaller portion! On the plus side, my 11-year-old son loved it and I will definitely add it to my repertoire, keeping in mind that additional ingredients will definitely improve on this solid basic recipe.
Only change i made was diced up some onion to add with the hamburger , my kids and husband loved it, definitely something I will make again
Instead of rotini pasta I used lasagna bake noodles. It was great except for the upper layer of noodles. It was something different and my family liked it.
This was a really quick and easy recipe and my family liked it a lot. I added some additional cheese.
This was pretty good with the addition of extra spices in the meat, as well as more spices and a teaspoon of Splenda in the sauce. My family of four ate the whole thing with garlic bread.
Very quick and easy. Tastes good, too!
