Spaghetti and Meatballs Muffin Bites

These little bites are great for football fare. After reading Shirley's dilemma about getting the nests out of the cupcake pan in one piece, I added one slightly beaten egg to the spaghetti and instead of using non-stick spray, I opted to use coconut oil to grease the pan. No problem with the nests popping out of the pan.

I helped some grandchildren make these. It was a blast! We made our own meatballs and spaghetti sauce, so the taste wasn't blah. It was delicious and we will make these again. Next time we're going to try it Asian with rice noodles and other Asian flavors. As for the sticking problem, we used paper liners thoroughly sprayed with cooking spray. That added a festive spirit which the entire family enjoyed. Oh, and we made 36 meatballs which was sufficient for 12. Extra unbaked spaghetti and meatballs were available. Add a salad and some garlic toast. Nummy.

I really think this recipe is just "okay"; however, it is so unique of an idea that you get kudos for presentation. I saw that shirley had trouble getting the nest to come out whole...so I was careful to spray each cup well with cooking spray and then I spun the noodles as I prepared the nest to get them all kinda going the same direction. They came out like a dream and intact. Flavor is average...needs more "umph"!

LOVED IT! As a child my sister and I loved fried spaghetti for breakfast. This morning I decided to try this recipe as it seemed it would have the same texture, a little dry. You can always serve with more sauce if you want it wet but it needs to be dry to hold together. I made them in the larger muffin tins as I wanted more spaghetti per serving. The size was perfect. I crumbled a little american cheese on the top and garnished with fresh cut chives. This was the "bomb"! Now to share this recipe with my sister! Thank you Anna Berman for sharing.

I threw my meatballs, (from a precooked frozen package) in the oven while cooking the spaghetti, so they were warmed before adding to the muffin. Put the meatballs and more sauce on the top , then baked for about 15 minutes to melt the parmesan. After baking, I let them cool and stuck the whole muffin pan in the freezer. After frozen, I popped them out and put in bag back in the freezer, to use as we needed them!! Very handy!!

I made these in the mini muffin cups which made it SO much easier to eat. I just broke up the meatballs into pieces for each cup. I've also experimented with using mini pepperoni instead of the meatballs. They make a great appetizer for a party and they were so cute!

My family loved it. I used chicken nuggets for the kids. It was winner, they ate it up.

Try adding an egg or two to the spaghetti to hold the nests to hold together.

Great idea & Very tasty! Though I did make my own Spaghetti Sauce. I could not get my spaghetti nests to come out of the muffin cups looking like the pic. (all in one piece)It would be great to serve on a platter if they did. Any ideas on how to make the noodles stick together so they do come out in one piece? I'd give it 5 stars if they could do that! It is definitely not finger food as is. :)

So I followed the recipe to a T but I must have gone somewhere. My nests of noodles didn't stay together and I ended up with spaghetti and meatballs but with twice the cook time vs if I had just boiled a pot of noodles and cooked my meatballs in my sauce. Neat in theory but at least in my experience, not so much in practice other than I had toddler sized portions that DW could dole out.

My family voted this a 3 because, the spaghetti was VERY hard when the cooking process was complete. It is unique and it is very simple to make. Thanks!

These are amazing. I made them tonight and my family loved them. I did take the advice of some of the reviewers and added an egg to a double recipe.

So good! Next time I'm doubling it. I added an egg like I saw a few people suggest, and they popped right out of the pan. I put 2 store bought meatballs in each and baked them according to the instructions on the bag.

This is a GOOD recipe and fun to do. I bought a SQUARE muffin tin. I cut baking paper into 1" x 6" pieces and placed in the baking dish after a good spray with cooking oil. This trick enabled removing the "Nests " quite easily. Make extra sauce and set the nests on the sauce base for serving. I had extra pasta for the big eaters. YUM

I made this for my 3 year olds Halloween Party and they were great. I followed the recipe exactly and they popped right out of the pan. Make sure the pasta is nested down in the pan to help avoid a bunch of crispy noodles. The ones that were sticking up became hard. When I tossed the pages I added onion powder and garlic powder to give more flavor. Next time I'll garnish with fresh basil.

I used a bit more olive oil on the noodles because they seemed dry. I used pre-made meatballs and a jar of sauce. After baking, the cups would not come cleanly out of the pan. I had to toss most of the "nests" because they were hard and crunchy on the outside and just unappealing. In fact, these ruined my muffin pan. Even after soaking overnight, there were bits of pasta stuck in each muffin cup. I had to toss the muffin pan.

waw it looks delicious

It was amazing when I made homemade tofu meatballs. But we were out of eggs so I used breadcrumbs and milk.

Used fettuccine Noodles (that's what I had on hand) Took the advice of using one egg to keep everything together. Used flexible/silicone cupcake pan. Family love them which means add this to the rotation

My kids do not eat pasta sauce of any kind. I subbed in a bit more cheese and some Italian seasoning. It turned out pretty well. I was worried about burning so it didn't take quite as long to bake.

This will be perfect for little ones at family gatherings!

My kids LOVE this recipe. I used mini meatballs I found at Whole Foods. My daughter requested it again as her birthday dinner.

We enjoyed the this dish except for one thing. The noodles were crispy on the top. I think next time I wouldn't cook it as long. 23 minutes seemed too long. They also fell a part. But I noticed if left to cool, they stuck together quite nicely. The only thing I changed about this recipe was I added cheddar cheese to the cheese mixture that went into the noodles. Added a bit of extra flavor. I would make this again.

Served at room temperature. Not too bad but better warm. Easy and fast to make

I only liked them, but my daughter loved them. They were too oily for me either that or the olive oil I used was headed toward the expired status. They are super cute and fun to make. We made them for dinner instead of an appetizer, and I would say a serving is at least two, three for growing teenagers. We will make these again since they are so easy and I will replace that olive oil.

Followed the advice of other reviewers, added an egg to the spaghetti and used parchment muffin liners. They came out beautifully. Only baked for 15 minutes and they held together and weren't too crispy. Best of all - Kids loved them.

Grandchildren & their parents are coming for a "spring break" visit. Everyone loves spaghetti & meatballs, but I wanted to find something a little different. These Muffin Bites were the ticket! I used a regular cupcake tin muffin - bites were a bit smaller, but worked just as well. Cooked spaghetti until Al Dente and followed the recipe as written. I read the reviews and decided to use the suggestion of twirling the spaghetti with a fork on a spoon . . . that worked well & made it easy to place the "nests" in the tin. Had left overs and followed the reheating suggestions as per the recipe - they turned out just as tasty as the first evening. LOVE THEM!

The spaghetti, meatball, and ricotta, birds nests turned out beautifully. Picture attached of the masterpiece! 👍

1. Spaghetti nests came out crunchy. I used the mini-pans so the nests could be picked up and eaten and that worked but the crunchy part was still not desirable. 2. Second time I put some foil around the whole muffin pan in the hopes that it would not be crunchy. It did not work. Nests were too soft to pick up. It look great but we all agreed (6 adults), not worth the effort of making the small meatballs, gathering sauce, and cooking spaghetti and then forming the nests. Once I am into 3 pans, it better be worth it and it was not. I really wish it had worked out.

I love the new ideas

You definitely have to do something to make it easier to get the little brutes out of the cooking tray as they all stick very badly no matter how much cooking oil you grease the pan with! Cutting up bits of baking paper is too tedious to line the muffin tins but the suggestion of the egg and coconut fix works pretty well!

I made pretty much as the recipe was written except for my cheese sprinkle on top. Spaghetti didn’t really stick together In a nest. Greasy on the bottom from something. Maybe the prepackaged meatball. Too large in a regular muffin pan to eat as a bite sized appetizer. Purchased a spicy tomato basil sauce but still seemed to be missing something. Also used a larger shredded parm for the top. Sprinkled with chopped fresh basil. I doubled the recipe as I thought it would go over well. NOT. I had 14 left. 12 oz. spaghetti made way more than 24 apps. 1 jar of sauce was adequate.

Once I out pasta in the muffin tin I just used my fingers and kinda twisted it. I think it helped keep the pasta muffins together after baking it.

Unique treat that went over well. Used plenty of vegetable shortening and spun the noodles when nesting and had no problem getting them out of the pan. Will definitely do this again

Did the egg trick and that helped with the nests...made them first time using large meatballs and large muffin tins...were quite a mouthful for finger food. Remade them today with mini tins and smaller meatballs. Found that twirling the spaghetti on a three tine fork made for very nice "nests"....no problem getting them out of pans....used actual Crisco to grease the pans...lightly grease the pans.

I did not use olive oil, but I did mix an egg with my cooked spaghetti and sprayed my muffin tin with cooking spray. I tried to twist the pasta when I put it in the tin, but wasn’t sure what I was doing. They came out of the tin really well. It was good and a great way to use frozen meatballs.

Spaghetti could be crispier for an appetizer.

My guests loved it and I will definitely make it again!

If you wanted an easy serving for a group, this may work for you, but personally I'd rather just serve the meatballs over the spaghetti.

Loved them. I made 6 in large muffin tins, using 2 cooked Ikea Swedish meatballs in each. So easy and so tasty!

We did like these. The spaghetti turned out very dry and brittle. It's like leaving cooked noodles in a pot on the kitchen counter and leaving it there for about 5 hours then putting it in the oven to reheat it. This recipe sounds like a fun idea but it just doesn't work out.