Taco Spaghetti Bake — Tender spaghetti noodles are tossed in a creamy cheese sauce along with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes, green chiles, black beans, and cilantro! The PERFECT family-friendly weeknight dinner recipe that’s super EASY and ready in 30 minutes!
Easy Taco Spaghetti Recipe
There are a couple time-honored family dinner recipes that almost everyone can agree upon. Spaghetti being one, and tacos being the other.
In this super easy dinner recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes, I combined everyone’s love for spaghetti with Mexican-inspired taco ingredients and married the two!
Tender spaghetti noodles are tossed in a creamy cheese sauce with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes, green chiles, black beans, and garnished with cilantro.
Trust me when I say that everyone is going to be asking for seconds!
Ingredients in Baked Taco Spaghetti
To make this fast and easy taco spaghetti dinner recipe, you only need a handful of very common and easy-to-find ingredients including the following:
- Spaghetti noodles
- Lean ground beef
- Olive oil, optional
- Taco seasoning packet (or homemade taco seasoning)
- Canned black beans
- Rotel
- Sour cream
- American cheese (or Velveeta cheese)
- Mexican shredded cheese blend
- Salt
- Pepper
- Fresh cilantro
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Taco Spaghetti Casserole
Follow my easy and straightforward steps for this quick taco spaghetti dinner recipe that the whole family will love!
Step 1: Boil the pasta according to package directions, drain, and set aside. Keep moving with the rest of the recipe to save time!
Step 2: Preheat the oven to 350F.
Step 3: To a oven-safe sauté pan, large skillet, or Dutch oven, add the ground beef, optional olive oil, and cook over medium-high heat to brown it.
Step 4: Turn down the heat to low, and add the packet of taco seasoning, black beans, Rotel tomatoes, sour cream, American cheese, half the shredded cheese, and stir to combine the ingredients and melt the cheese.
Step 5: Add the cooked spaghetti pasta noodles and stir to combine.
Step 6: Sprinkle with the remaining shredded cheese.
Step 7: Taste, and as desired, season with salt and pepper.
Step 8: Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Step 8: Garnish with the cilantro and serve immediately!
What Type of Cheese Should I Use?
For this Mexican-inspired taco spaghetti casserole recipe, there are a few options to consider when it comes to what kind of cheese to use.
My recommendations are as follows:
- American Cheese OR Velveeta – You can use either one of these cheeses for the 1 cup of cubed cheese that’s stirred into the warm ground beef mixture. Make sure to cube it fairly small so it melts quickly. The benefit to Velveeta is that it will give you an ultra creamy cheese sauce compared to American or other cheeses. Another option here is Colby Jack cheese instead of American or Velveeta.
- Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend – I call for 1 cup of this cheese as well, but it’s divided. I like to stir in 1/2 cup into the warm ground beef mixture. And then sprinkle 1/2 cup on top before baking to get that nice look and mouthfeel from a layer of melted cheese on top.
- Alternatively, for the shredded cheese you can use pure shredded cheddar cheese and not a blend. It doesn’t melt quite as creamy though which is why I like using a shredded Mexican blend of other shredded cheese blend.
Cheese Lover?
If you’re a cheese lover like I am, rather than using 1 cup total of the shredded cheese, bump that up to a generous 1 1/2 cups and divide it accordingly.
What to Serve with Baked Taco Spaghetti
This easy beef taco spaghetti casserole recipe is a meal all on its own! You really don’t need to worry too much about sides since it’s filling and hearty.
However, if you’d like to pair it with some other side dishes, here are a few of my Mexican-inspired and also kid-friendly recommendations:
- Grilled Avocado Corn Salad — An EASY and HEALTHY salad that’s ready in 10 minutes and you won’t be able to stop eating it!
- Skinny Mexican Bean and Corn Salad — Two kinds of beans, juicy corn and tomatoes, crisp peppers, and green onions are tossed in a lime-chili-cumin vinaigrette that’s perfectly light.
- Creamy Corn and Zucchini Salad — Corn, zucchini, cilantro, queso fresco and more are tossed in a DELISH creamy lime sauce!!
- Mexican Wedge Salad — A Mexican-inspired twist on the classic side salad!
- A great green salad of your choice! One of my favorites is Healthy 12 Superfoods Salad.
And if you’re of legal drinking age, don’t forget to pair your baked taco spaghetti with homemade margaritas or beer margaritas!
Storage Instructions
This recipe is great for families because it makes a pretty good amount. It’s also great for those of you looking for planned leftovers.
Simply portion it out into airtight containers where you can store leftovers airtight in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Reheat gently in the microwave.
Recipe Tips
One of the reasons I like to use olive oil when browning the ground beef is that extra bit of oil will help keep the spaghetti noodles from sticking as much when they cool if you have leftovers.
This is also why I don’t drain the fat from the ground beef. There really shouldn’t be too much anyway if you’re using lean ground beef.
Tips for the Best Taco Spaghetti
This is really such a fast, easy, and simple recipe but I have a couple final parting tips to make sure yours turns out amazingly well and becomes a family favorite!
Cooking the Spaghetti Noodles
Make sure when you’re boiling the spaghetti noodles, that you only cook them to al dente.
Do not overcook them because they’re going to be stirred into the hot cheesy ground beef mixture which will cook them a bit more. And then baked for 10 minutes in the oven to melt the cheese, further cooking them.
Other Pasta Shapes
If you don’t have spaghetti noodles on hand, you can use another shape of pasta such as wheels like I use in this One-Pot Taco Pasta. Or try penne, ziti, rotini, or whatever pasta you have on hand, making sure to cook it to al dente based on the package directions.
Substitutions with other Proteins
Instead of ground beef, you can use ground turkey or ground chicken. These leaner sources of protein will work just fine in this fiber filled meal.
Full Fat Sour Cream and Cheese
Any time you are baking or cooking, and want cheese to melt and your final dish to taste its best, you need to use full fat products. Therefore no lite sour cream because it’s got too high of a water content and you’ll have a watery, runny sauce. And no reduced fat cheese – it simply doesn’t melt well.
To Bake or Not?
It is not really technically necessary to bake this pasta casserole. That’s because the cheese will likely melt from just stirring it in.
So you may wonder then why do I suggest baking it? Because I like the extra bit of baked cheese layer on top but it’s not technically necessary. If you want to save the 10 minutes of baking, simply stir all the cheese into the beef and noodles.
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Taco Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 12 ounces uncooked dry spaghetti noodles, or the pasta of your choice
- 1 pound lean ground beef, about 90% lean
- 1 to 2 tablespoon olive oil, optional (but helps with noodle sticking in leftovers)
- one 1-ounce packet taco seasoning
- 15 ounces no-salt added canned black beans, drained and rinsed (or pinto beans)
- 10- ounce can Rotel
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup American cheese, or Velveeta, cubed into 1-inch pieces*
- 1 cup Mexican shredded cheese blend*, divided
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- ⅓ cup fresh cilantro, finely minced; optional but recommended for garnishing
Instructions
- Cook the spaghetti (or other pasta) according to package directions. Tip – Make sure to only cook until al dente at this point because the pasta ends up cooking additionally as it's both stirred into the ground beef and cheese mixture and then baked. So don't overcook it now. After pasta has cooked, drain it, and set aside. But keep moving with the rest of the recipe while the pasta is boiling.
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- To a large oven-safe, high-sided skillet, saute pan, or Dutch oven, add the ground beef, optional olive oil, and cook over medium-high heat to brown the ground beef. Stir and crumble as the beef cooks to ensure even cooking. Do not drain any liquid/grease/natural cooking liquids.
- After it has browned, reduce the heat to low or medium-low, and evenly sprinkle the taco seasoning, add the black beans, Rotel, sour cream, cubed cheese, half the shredded cheese, and stir to combine the ingredients and to encourage the cheese to melt.
- After the cheeses have melted, taste the dish, and add salt and pepper, to taste. Tip – If you want to make the dish spicier, add about 1 tablespoon chili powder or a pinch of cayenne pepper now. As written, the dish is not spicy.
- Add the cooked pasta into the cheese mixture and stir to combine and coat evenly.
- Evenly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese over the top, and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the top layer of cheese fully melts. Tip – If you want to save time, it's not necessary to bake it. I like a notable cheese layer on top, but if you don't care or are in a hurry, just stir the whole 1 cup of shredded cheese in with everything else and skip baking it.
- Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately. Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently in the microwave.
Notes
- American Cheese OR Velveeta – You can use either one of these cheeses for the 1 cup of cubed cheese that’s stirred into the warm ground beef mixture. Make sure to cube it fairly small so it melts quickly. The benefit to Velveeta is that it will give you an ultra creamy cheese sauce compared to American or other cheeses. Another option here is Colby Jack cheese instead of American or Velveeta.
- Shredded Mexican Cheese Blend – I call for 1 cup of this cheese as well, but it’s divided. I like to stir in 1/2 cup into the warm ground beef mixture. And then sprinkle 1/2 cup on top before baking to get that nice look and mouthfeel from a layer of melted cheese on top.
- Alternatively, for the shredded cheese you can use pure shredded cheddar and not a blend. It doesn’t melt quite as creamy though which is why I like using a shredded Mexican blend of other shredded cheese blend.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This recipe is amazing! It came together quickly, and easily! It is delicious! I can’t stay out of it. I did add a little chili powder and cayenne pepper as suggested to make it a little more spicy.
Thanks for the 5 star review, Anna, and I am glad it came together quickly and easily!
I am with you – fan of chili powder and cayenne in dishes like this. I don’t typically write it because many people are very conservative with spicy food. I am not and doesn’t sound like you are either :)
Love the sound & looks of the sauce, but definitely wouldn’t use spaghetti. Every good Italian knows you need to use a pasta shape that can pickup & hold heavier type ingredients, such as meat and beans – like rotini, fusilli, shells, etc.
And I’m also really disappointed in your side dish recommendations. 2 out of 3 of them contained rice & beans – both of which are starches. You’ve already got 2 starches in the pasta recipe, & you’re suggesting the addition of 2 more? 😱🤔☹️😖 But that sauce…👍🥰
I provide recipes and suggestions for inspiration. You are welcome to make a right or left hand turn and make the dish your own of course and create it and serve it exactly like you wish. I personally would eat this with a salad but I suggest things in the same family, i.e. beans if you already have beans in the dish. Always do you what you enjoy when it comes to how you like to serve/make things!