Johnny Marzetti is a baked comfort noodle dish prepared with tomato sauce, ground beef, and topped with cheese.
It's a 100% delicious, foolproof recipe and a family favorite!
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What is Johnny Marzetti?
Johnny Marzetti is a baked pasta casserole dish prepared with ground beef and tomato sauce. It's an Italian-American dish from the Midwest, Columbus, Ohio.
Teresa Marzetti immigrated from Florence Italy to the US in the 19th century. She came up with this dish in their family-owned Italian restaurant called Marzetti in Columbus.
She called the pasta casserole after a family member, and it was a major hit at the time.
The restaurant is long gone, but the T. Marzetti Company is still a major food brand in the US, and many grew up eating Johnny Marzetti in school canteens.
Some claim that Johnny Marzetti is an American goulash (not to be confused with the Hungarian beef goulash stew) or an American chop suey.
I think this dish deserves its own name, and I don't think it can be called an American goulash. What do you think?
Ingredient Notes
These are the basic ingredients to make this dish the old fashioned way at home from scratch.
- pasta - pick egg noodles that easily coat with the sauce in the baking dish. Elbow macaroni, penne, spaghetti, or fusilli pasta are all good choices.
- onion and garlic - white, yellow, or purple onion and fresh garlic
- mushrooms - fresh sliced. Can be button mushrooms, cremini, or portobello. If you don't like mushrooms, you can skip that.
- oil - olive oil preferably, but regular cooking oil is ok too
- ground beef - lean or 20% fat ground beef. I like the one with fats better because it's more flavorful.
- seasoning - salt, black pepper, Italian seasoning (or substitute with oregano), and dried basil
- peeled canned tomatoes and plain tomato sauce
- cheese - I used cheddar and parmesan. You can use mozzarella too.
You can also add black or green olives, sweet corn, bell pepper, and/or cooked kidney beans.
The ground beef can be substituted with ground pork sausage or venison. You can mix meat varieties too.
Process Overview
A part of the dish needs to be prepared over the stovetop and then comes together at the end in your baking dish before it's baked.
Step 1
Cook pasta as per packet instructions.
Prep and cut onion, garlic and mushrooms.
Step 2
Saute onion garlic and mushrooms.
Stir in ground beef and seasoning.
Step 3
Spread canned peeled tomatoes, tomato sauce, and seasoning in the baking dish
Mix in cooked noodles and ground beef from earlier.
Top with cheese and bake.
📖 Recipe
Johnny Marzetti Recipe
Ingredients
Cook the Pasta
- 2½ Cups Pasta ~½ pack
- Water
- Salt
Cook the Ground Meat
- 2 Tablespoon Olive Oil or normal cooking oil
- 1 Medium Onion
- 3 Pieces Garlic Cloves
- 2½ Cup Mushrooms sliced, optional
- 1 Pound Ground Beef
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground
- 2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning ore oregano
Assembling in the baking dish
- 1 Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- 1 Cup Tomato Sauce
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
- 1½ Tablespoon Basil dried or fresh
- 1 Cup Cheese I used cheddar and parmesan
Instructions
Cook the Pasta
- Bring water to a boil with salt and cook pasta as per package instructions. Strain and keep aside.2½ Cups Pasta, Water, Salt
Cook the Ground Meat
- Prepare the fresh ingredients. Slice the onion, chop the garlic, and slice the mushrooms.
- Heat up a skillet with olive oil and sauté onions until soft over a medium heat setting.2 Tablespoon Olive Oil, 1 Medium Onion
- Stir in chopped garlic and sauté for a minute or two over a lower heat setting.3 Pieces Garlic Cloves
- Add in the sliced mushrooms. Keep over a medium to high heat setting and try to stir and mix when they start to reduce in size.2½ Cup Mushrooms
- Turn the heat down to medium and continue to saute mushrooms until they have reduced considerably.
- Make some space in the center and stir in ground beef. Keep over the same medium heat setting and stir-cook for a minute so that it all gets mixed up.1 Pound Ground Beef
- Season with salt, black pepper, and Italian seasoning. Use oregano if you can't get Italian seasoning.½ Teaspoon Salt, ¼ Teaspoon Black Pepper Ground, 2 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
- Mix it all up and cook over a medium flame for a few more minutes until the beef isn't red anymore.
- Take the pan from the heat.
Assembling in the baking dish
- Preheat your oven to 320 Fahrenheit/160 Celsius.
- Spread whole peeled canned tomatoes in your rectangular baking dish. I like to just smash and break the tomato pieces with my spatula.1 Can Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- Pour in tomato sauce and season with salt and basil. Mix it up.1 Cup Tomato Sauce, ½ Teaspoon Salt, 1½ Tablespoon Basil
- Place cooked pasta into the casserole dish with the tomato. Also, add the ground-cooked beef mixture to the baking dish.
- Stir and mix the contents of the Johnny Marzetti so that the pasta is evenly coated with tomato and beef sauce.
- Top evenly with cheese.1 Cup Cheese
- Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake covered first for 20 minutes at 320 degrees Fahrenheit/160 degrees Celsius.
- Take out and uncover the dish, take it back to the oven, and finish baking uncovered at 320 Fahrenheit/160 Celsius for another 10 minutes. I like to use the broiler function so that the cheese gets crunchy and the dish gets some color on top.
- Serve it up hot and enjoy.
Equipment
- 8" Chef Knife
- 9 x 13" Rectangular Baking Dish
Nutrition
Serving
I love this baked ground beef with pasta dish when served with a simple green salad and vinaigrette dressing.
Other side dish salads complement the salad well too such as a green bean salad, carrot salad, or even a beet salad.
Storing
Keep leftovers in an airtight container in your fridge for up to 4-5 days. Warm up in the microwave in a microwave save dish.
It can be prepared and baked to meal prep for the week too. That way you need to warm it up again.
To freeze your marzetti pasta bake, I recommend to prepare and to fill your casserole dish as per my instructions. The baking dish with its contents can simply be frozen hard for up to 2 months.
When you are ready to eat and enjoy it, take it out from the freezer and place the ice-cold dish into the oven. Bake it 20-30 minutes extra to the regular baking time.
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