Million Greenback Spaghetti

There’s wealthy, after which there’s Million Greenback Spaghetti—an unapologetically indulgent church-social basic that is been holding potlucks collectively throughout the Midwest and South for many years. Historically, it is constructed on layers of spaghetti, a fast meat sauce, and a combination of cream cheese and cottage or ricotta cheese. However as we examined our manner by the dish, we stored coming again to at least one huge query: What if we traded the grainy dairy layer for one thing silkier, smoother, and just a bit extra luxurious?

This recipe, developed by Nicole Hopper in our Birmingham, Alabama, check kitchen, does simply that. As an alternative of utilizing a ricotta or cottage cheese layer, she makes a béchamel enriched with mozzarella and Parmesan. It turns into a velvety, pourable cheese sauce that glides between the noodles and meat as it might in a creamy lasagna—minus the fuss of stacking noodles and hoping all the things stays upright.

The meat sauce leans Italian American–fashion and deeply savory, due to a combination of beef and Italian sausage simmered with onion, tomato paste, and a splash of fish sauce that fades into the background, lending the entire pan a quiet however plain depth. The result’s a casserole that eats like the perfect elements of lasagna, baked ziti, and mac and cheese all tangled collectively.

As soon as assembled, the dish bakes right into a hefty, effervescent slab with golden edges and a high layer of cheese-enriched béchamel that browns fantastically and oozes into the pasta when sliced. Contemporary from the oven is when it is best, however leftovers do hold and reheat properly.

This dish can be splendidly make-ahead pleasant. Each the meat sauce and the béchamel could be ready as much as a day prematurely and saved individually within the fridge; a mild rewarm makes them simpler to layer. You may even assemble all the dish by Step 4 as much as three days forward—simply cowl it tightly and refrigerate. When baking from chilled, tack on an additional 5 to 10 minutes to make sure the middle heats by.

It additionally tolerates the freezer surprisingly properly. For the perfect outcomes, freeze the assembled casserole (earlier than baking), thaw it in a single day, then bake as directed. If it’s essential to go straight from freezer to oven, it really works in a pinch—simply plan on a for much longer bake time and anticipate a barely softer, much less saucy end result, because the prolonged time within the oven provides the pasta extra alternative to soak up the sauce and encourages the béchamel to thicken additional because it cooks.

Whether or not you are feeding a crowd, stocking your freezer, or simply leaning into the comfort-food maximalism the title guarantees, this casserole delivers each little bit of its million-dollar swagger.