Easy Meatball Pasta Bake

Elena Butuc

I do have a passion for cooking but I admit sometimes I get tired and I need a break and that's when I want to cook something basic - quick, simple, with minimal effort and few dishes to wash. This meatball pasta bake is brilliant, I didn't expect it to be this good with so little effort, it was a nice surprise not just for me, but for everybody.

For the best result I recommend choosing high quality pasta made from hard wheat, as for the meatballs, you can use any meat you have or you like. I shaped them with the help of my 5-year-old Maria and she was very excited to take part in the process.

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Ingredients

Metric US

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Pasta

500 g

a regular packet - here I used spaghetti, but I think you can use any other kind of pasta you prefer

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Minced meat

500 g

any kind you like

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Onions

0.5 pieces

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Tomato puree

500 ml

or dissolve tomato paste in water and you'll get something like tomato puree

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Water

500 ml

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Olive oil

100 ml

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Salt

2 tsp

optionally, you can add some dried Italian herbs, some cherry tomatoes etc.

Step by step

Place spaghetti in a deep casserole preferably the lenght and the size of the spaghetti - not too large and not too narrow.

Pour olive oil and shake a bit to the sides to spread it evenly over the spaghetti.

Add 1 tsp salt and, optionally, some dried Italian herbs and some cherry tomatoes (I grow them in my garden and keep in the freezer for when I need them).

Mix the minced meat with finely chopped onions and 1 tsp salt.

Form meatballs and place them over the spaghetti.

Pour tomato sauce on top.

And 500ml water.

Bake in the preheated oven to 200 degrees C for about 30 minutes.

After this time, remove from the oven and notice that all the meatballs are already cooked and pasta is starting to grow.

Now use a fork and carefully stir so that the sauce can reach everywhere. Stir gently, not too hard, just enough to help the ingredients blend together.

Bake for another 10-15 minutes.

This is what it looks like when it's ready, remove from the oven and let cool on the table for about 10 minutes - the necessary time to prepare a salad or whatever else you wish to combine it with.