Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison
Perfectly cooked noodles are layered with cream cheese, parmesan, mozzarella, and a delicious ground venison meat sauce. Then it is baked until hot and bubbly. This Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison is going to be your new family favorite comfort food! And hopefully good enough to put on the table for Sunday Supper at your house!
I know this is going to sound weird… but just hear me out.
My hubby and kiddos are not crazy about traditional spaghetti. (or any Italian recipes to be honest) They just don’t like it. I don’t really crave it that often either but I knew that it was something that I wanted on our family menu at some point and so I needed to make some tweaks. I’m going to show you how to make a Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison that is anything BUT TRADITIONAL and it is OH SO GOOD!
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Let me just set the record straight. I am telling you up front that this recipe is not a traditional Italian dish. I don’t want Italians coming for me. LOL. This is an Italian staple that has a somewhat Southern twist. I don’t even know that it’s necessarily a Southern variation of spaghetti, except for the venison. I just know that with these few additions, my crew likes it. And that’s good enough for me.
I’m also not going to profess that it’s the healthiest meal around. It has cream cheese. You can do the math. BUT IT IS creamy and delicious for that reason. The addition of the cream cheese keeps the noodles from sticking together and drying out. I have made baked spaghetti before, and they just seemed to soak up every ounce of moisture that was in the dish and would come out dry and brittle.
And nobody likes dry spaghetti!
The cream cheese almost acts like a shield to keep that from happening. Plus, loaded with garlic and parmesan, the cream cheese just adds another layer of flavor!
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This next topic of conversation might sound a little strange, but I want to address the word venison. We don’t use this word in our house. We simply say “deer meat”. Of course I’ve heard the word, but it just sounds so strange to hear it out loud when that’s not how we talk in the South. (At least not where I live.) So, in this post and most certainly in this recipe I’m going to swap out the word “venison” for “deer” quite frequently. I just want to make sure that you are aware and not confused. (They mean the same thing.)
Do you like Venison (deer meat)?
I hear from people quite often that they don’t like deer meat. I am always full convinced, in my humble opinion, that it’s because they haven’t had it cooked properly. (This can be the case for a lot of wild game.) And the comment is always the same, “it’s too gamey.”
And I get it. I don’t want to eat something that has a strong “wild” flavor either.
But that’s why I make sure to prepare it properly and let the beauty of the meat shine through without that awful “wang” that is sure to turn away even the best “eaters” among us. (Just so you know, I have a picky eater in my life, actually 4, and they ALL love the way I prepare deer meat.)
But if you are trying to ease into eating deer meat, I think this recipe is a great way to do that. (Just because there are other strong flavors in this dish that can help take the attention off of the meat.) You can also add beef broth or beef bouillon to your deer dishes in order to bring in a more familiar flavor. I do that with my deer chili because it just adds a great depth of flavor that I can’t get from anywhere else.
Let’s Learn Something Here!
Where did Spaghetti originate and how is it served there?
Tips for Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison:
- You can drizzle a little bit of olive oil to cooked and drained spaghetti to keep the noodles from drying out or sticking.
- This tip is something I would do differently than what I did. I used foil in my baking dish for easy cleanup, but my son tried to make this dish for the family while I was out of town and struggled quite a bit with getting servings out of the foil wrapped baking dish. So, I would not line my dish with foil.
- If you wanted to make this a one-pot dish, you could certainly use a Dutch oven and just work in batches. It would take a little more time, but it would be less dishes in the end.
Make a Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison with me on my YouTube Channel!
Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. ground deer burger (or ground beef)
- 10 oz. can Rotel
- 24 oz. jar of Newman’s Own Marinara (or your favorite pasta sauce)
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (more for sprinkling on top)
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder and onion powder (for the meat)
- Salt (for the boiling pasta water)
- 1 teaspoon Tony’s Seasoning (or your favorite seasoning salt)
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and onion powder (for cream cheese mixture)
- 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves (more for sprinkling on top) You could also use Italian Seasoning.
Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison Instructions:
- First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees fill up a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Second, once the water is boiling, add a generous amount of salt and the spaghetti noodles. (I like to break the noodles in half to make them fit into the pot and to make the dish easier to serve and eat.)
- Third, let the noodles cook according to the package directions while you go to the next step. (When the noodles are done cooking, drain them.)
- In a large skillet, brown the ground deer meat over medium heat.
- Then, add onion and garlic powder, dried basil leaves, and Tony’s seasoning to the browned ground meat.
- Next, let the seasonings, spices, and meat heat up, but just be careful to not let the garlic powder burn because it doesn’t take a long time for that to happen.
- Add the Rotel and the marinara sauce to the browned meat and spices and bring to a simmer over low heat.
- Once the hearty meat sauce has been heated thoroughly, turn off the heat and move to the next step.
- Place cream cheese and milk into a microwaveable bowl and melt.
- Then, stir the parmesan cheese, garlic, and onion powder into the cream cheese mixture and set aside.
- Place just enough meat sauce on the bottom of the baking dish to keep the noodles from sticking.
- Pour drained spaghetti noodles into the baking dish.
- Next, spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the pasta and mix.
- Then, pour meat sauce on top of pasta and mix.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
- Cover the top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees until the cheese is melted and the spaghetti bake is heated thoroughly. About 30 minutes.
- Serve with a side of garlic bread and a salad and enjoy!
Variations for Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison:
- Do half ground venison and half Italian sausauge for even more flavor! The combination of the two different meats would be delicious in this dish!
- Make meatballs out of the ground deer. For this Spaghetti Bake I would make the meatballs small so that each bite would have one or two.
Storage for Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison:
- Leftover baked spaghetti can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Leftover baked spaghetti can also be stored in an airtight container covered in foil in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Check out some of my other Venison/deer recipes!
What would go great with Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison?
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Spectacular Baked Spaghetti Recipe with Venison
Equipment
- Large pot for boiling spaghetti
- Cast iron skillet for browning meat and heating sauce
- Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground deer burger or beef
- 10 oz. can Rotel24 oz. jar of Newman’s Own Marinara
- 8 oz. cream cheese1/2 cup milk1 cup mozzarella cheese1/4 cup parmesan cheese more for sprinkling on top
- 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder and onion powder for the meat
- Salt for the boiling pasta water
- 1 teaspoon Tony’s Seasoning or your favorite seasoning salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and onion powder for cream cheese mixture
- 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves more for sprinkling on top
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- First, fill up the pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Second, once the water is boiling, add a generous amount of salt and the spaghetti noodles. (I like to break the noodles in half to make them fit into the pot and to make the dish easier to serve and eat.)
- Third, let the noodles cook according to the directions while you go to the next step. (When the noodles are done cooking, drain them.)
- Now, brown the ground deer meat.
- Then, add onion and garlic powder, dried basil leaves, and Tony’s seasoning to the browned meat.
- Next, let the seasonings, spices, and meat heat up, but just be careful to not let the garlic powder burn.
- Add the Rotel and the marinara sauce to the browned meat and spices and bring to a simmer.
- Once the sauce and meat have been heated thoroughly, turn off the heat and move to the next step.
- Place cream cheese and milk into a microwaveable bowl and melt.
- Then, stir the parmesan cheese, garlic, and onion powder into the cream cheese mixture and set aside.
- Place just enough meat sauce on the bottom of the baking dish to keep the noodles from sticking.
- Pour drained spaghetti noodles into the baking dish.
- Next, spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the spaghetti noodles and mix.
- Then, pour meat sauce on top of the spaghetti noodles and mix.
- Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
- Cover the top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and spaghetti bake is heated thoroughly. (About 30 minutes)
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