Baked Spaghetti and Tiny Meatballs

The kids and entire family will love my baked spaghetti and tiny meatballs and stuffed cheesy bread recipe. It’s the perfect time-saving recipe for those after-school dinners during the busy back-to-school rush.

You guys really enjoyed my back-to-school recipe series last month so I decided to add one more recipe since a lot of kids are back-to-school this month as well. I partnered with my friends over at Hatfield Meats for this recipe and let me tell you right now, this is one you want to add to your list to make. Spaghetti is a fan favorite with kids already but these tiny pork meatballs take the recipe to the next level. First of all, the meatballs are so darn cute that you’ll have the kid’s attention from the second you take this meal out of the oven. Also adding the baked cheesy bread to the same dish that you bake the spaghetti in just makes for a beautiful presentation. Forget that boring frozen garlic bread and make these cheesy rolls. You can make them semi-homemade by just using the Pillsbury rolls or by making your yeast dough days ahead of time so that you can just pop them right in the baking dish when you’re ready. Look, we know life gets busy, so make dinner time as easy as possible by doing whatever works best for you.

Ingredients for my baked tiny meatballs and stuffed cheesy bread recipe:

For the baked spaghetti:

Hatfield meats ground pork
Thin spaghetti noodles
Store-bought marinara sauce
Mozzarella cheese
Breadcrumbs
Egg
Fresh parsley
Olive oil
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning
AP flour
Parmesan cheese

For the rolls (Recipe inspired by Sallys Baking Addiction):
Whole milk
Quick active yeast
Sugar
Egg
Butter
Salt
AP Flour
Mozzarella Cheese
Melted Butter + Parsley

Tools you’ll need:
Cast Iron Skillet
Stock Pot
Bowl

Can I freeze this meal?

Yes, you can. Be sure to use an air-tight container ziplock bag to lock in freshness.

What can I use to substitute for the mozzarella cheese?

You can use white cheddar in this recipe if you prefer over mozzarella cheese but the mozzarella will provide that epic cheese pull that kids really like.

Print Pin

Baked Spaghetti and Tiny Meatballs

The kids and entire family will love my baked tiny meatballs and stuffed cheesy bread recipe. It's the perfect time-saving recipe for those after-school dinners during the busy back-to-school rush.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

For baked tiny meatballs and spaghetti

• 1 lb Hatfield meats ground pork
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup freshly chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning about 1 tsp each or according to taste
• 1/2 lb spahgetti noodles
• 1 cup mozarella cheese, shredded
• 1 jar store bought spaghetti sauce
• 1/2 cup All purpose flour

Instructions

• Heat oven to 400 degrees
• Cook noodles according to package in structions and set aside
• In a bowl, combine the ground meat with an egg, breadcrumbs, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning and parmesean cheese
• Use your hands to mix everthing together until fully incorporated
• Pinch off about 1 tbsp worth of the meat mixture at a time and roll into individual tiny meatballs, you can go smaller if you want to make them really small
• Once meatballs are formed, gently dust them in some all purpse flour being sure to remove any excess
• To a cast iron skillet on medium heat, add some olive oil and pan sear the meatballs until golden brown all around being sure not to crowd the pan
• Remove meatballs from pan and add pasta sauce to warm through, combine meatballs with sauce and add cooked noodles
• Add a handful of moarella cheese and mix well
• To a baking dish, add about 5 yeast rolls and then add spaghetti and meatballs to the side
• Top with cheese and bake at 400 degrees until the top of the spahgetti is golden brown and yeast rolls are full cooked, about 12-14 minutes

Notes

Cheese stuffed yeast rolls were made with this recipe. I added shredded mozzarella cheese to the center to make it a cheesy bread, that’s optional. 

If you don’t want to make the yeast rolls from scratch, hack it by using the Pillsbury biscuits and adding cheese to the center, and then baking! You can also buy frozen yeast dinner rolls and do the same thing. 

Optional but you can reserve a bit of the ground meat to use crumbled in your pasta sauce, I prefer this method. Just cook it up and then add your pasta sauce to the pan, then combine with meatballs and cheese. 

More recipes to try:
Cheese and Pork Stuffed Shells

If you make this recipe be sure to tag me @asiliglamcooks so I can repost!

This post is sponsored by Hatfield Meats. Thanks for supporting brands that I love that keep this blog going!