Cream Cheese Pasta Bake with French Fried Onions
Sometimes, you just need a big old pan of comfort food. Just ask my teenage boys, who just jointly devoured a serious chunk of today’s Cream Cheese Pasta Bake with French Fried Onions!
Servings 8
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 oz box dry shaped pasta I used farfalle
- 8 oz brick of cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 oz white mushrooms sliced
- 1 lb ground beef
- ½ cup diced yellow onion
- 2 teaspoon minced garlic about 4 cloves
- 24 oz jar marinara sauce
- ½ tablespoon Italian seasoning
- ¾ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1.5 cups French’s fried onions or store brand equivalent
Instructions
for the pasta:
- Take the cream cheese out to soften.
- Cook pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain the cooked pasta and return it to the pot.
- Cut softened cream cheese into chunks, and immediately add these to the pot with the drained pasta.
- Stir the cream cheese into the hot pasta until thoroughly melted and combined.
for the meat & mushrooms:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- While the pasta is cooking, clean and slice the mushrooms. Saute mushrooms in olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat until browned and softened, then remove them from the pan and set aside.
- While the mushrooms are cooking, dice the onion, and mince the garlic (if not using pre-minced).
- When the mushrooms are done, use the same skillet to brown ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until the beef is cooked through, breaking it up as you go.
- Drain the beef & onion mixture and return it to the skillet. Stir in the marinara sauce, Italian seasoning, and sauteed mushrooms.
for the casserole:
- Spread half of the ground beef & mushroom mixture across the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
- Layer all of the cream cheese noodles on top of that.
- Spread on the other half of the ground beef mixture, then top everything evenly with shredded Parmesan.
- Bake the cream cheese pasta casserole at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Top your baked pasta evenly with French fried onions, then return the dish to the oven for another 5 minutes to brown. Enjoy!
Notes
Make this pasta bake even more comfort food-ish by serving it with garlic bread, or balance things out by serving it with salad.