Million Dollar Spaghetti Is The Posh Pasta Dish TikTok Swears By

By Charlie Colville

3 months ago

Elevate your mid-week spag bol


Growing bored of your weekly dinner routine? Here’s you chance to put a fun spin on the nation’s favourite weeknight supper (with minimum effort, and maximum wow); introducing TikTok’s new favourite pasta dish, Million Dollar Spaghetti.

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What Is Million Dollar Spaghetti?

Million Dollar Spaghetti is an elevated take on your typical spaghetti bolognese, served up as a casserole with extra layers of ricotta and cream cheese. Similar to a lasagne, the dish is created using layers of meat sauce, cheese and pasta (in this case, spaghetti).

@camirraskitchen Baked spaghetti aka million dollar spaghetti is so easy to make! Follow my recipe and ill ahow you what to do! #milliondollarspaghetti #bakedspaghetti #soulfood #southerncooking #blackpeoplecooking #easydinner #familyrecipestitok #tiktokfoodie ♬ original sound – CamirrasKitchen

So, where does the name come from? The dish has been fondly dubbed ‘Million Dollar Spaghetti’ not (as some people might think) because of the price of ingredients, but rather due to the richness of the dish itself. ‘These ingredients are indeed affordable,’ says TikTok creator @camirraskitchen. ‘But it’s called a million dollars because the flavour is so rich. Baby, you’re going to feel like a million bucks.’

This posh nosh recipe has taken TikTok by storm, with the searches for the dish reaching over 23 million views on the platform. After all, you can’t really go wrong with spaghetti.

@alyssatherecipecritic This spaghetti casserole is the best thing you’ll eat! Easy, delicious, and super cheesy 🧀#milliondollarspaghetti #spaghetticasserole #spaghettirecipes #spaghettirecipe🍝 #easyspaghetticasserole ♬ original sound – The Recipe Critic

Recipe: Million Dollar Spaghetti

We’ve scoured TikTok for some of the platform’s best Million Dollar Spaghetti recipes and have collated them into the ultimate C&TH edition. Enjoy!

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 500g pack of spaghetti

For the meat sauce

  • 500g of beef mince (alternatively, use 25og of beef mince and 250g of pork mince)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1/2 red pepper, chopped
  • 1 stick of celery, chopped
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
  • Italian herbs – 1/2 tsp dried oregano, 1 fresh bay leaf, a handful of fresh basil
  • 1 stock cube

For the cheese sauce

  • 250g of cream cheese, softened
  • 50g of sour cream
  • 250g of ricotta cheese
  • 250g shredded mozzarella cheese

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 175°C.
  2. Make the meat sauce: Over a lit hob, coat a large pan with a light layer of oil and add chopped onions, peppers, celery and carrots. Cook until softened and then add the minced garlic cloves. Crumble in the mince and separate into bit-sized chunks. Cook until browned and then add the Italian herbs, chopped tomatoes (set aside a little sauce for later) and a stock cube. Cook for five to 10 minutes. If the mixture is looking too thick or is catching on the bottom of the pan, you can add 100 to 200 ml of water to the mixture. Drain the pasta and, in a bowl, combine with a small amount of the set aside sauce until coated. Set aside.
  3. Prepare the pasta: Cook your spaghetti to packet instructions. Set aside.
  4. Make the cheese sauce: Combine cream cheese, sour cream, ricotta cheese in a bowl and mix well.
  5. Assemble the casserole: Line a baking dish with a layer of meat sauce, then top with half of the pasta and a layer of cheese sauce. Repeat this order until you’ve run out of ingredients, then top the dish with mozzarella and any other cheeses you want to include.
  6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the mixture is hot all the way through and lightly bubbling. It’s worth checking about halfway through this time to make sure the cheese topping isn’t browning too quickly – if it is, you can pop a sheet of tin foil over the top so it can continue to cook without burning on the top.
  7. Remove from the oven and let it sit for five minutes. Serve with your choice of salads and breads. Enjoy!

Featured image: Kristine Tumanyan, Unsplash