This One Pot Spaghetti recipe has a flavorful meat sauce that you can make with a jar of sauce or my homemade marinara recipe! This recipe uses simple seasonings and a dab of cream cheese for a finishing touch!
Be sure to serve this with a side of Garlic Bread with Cheese!
One Pot Spaghetti
My favorite part about this recipe, other than the fact that there is just one pot to clean at the end, is that the spaghetti noodles cook in chicken or beef broth, which makes them so much more flavorful.
Onions and peppers add a classic homemade touch that reminds me of my grandmother’s spaghetti. The seasonings are simple and a dab of cream cheese at the end adds an amazing touch that sets this apart from the rest!
It also makes a great freezer meal, I love reheating this for easy lunches and dinners.
How to Make It
See recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
Cook and crumble the ground beef and onions over medium-high heat. Add the diced peppers, garlic, and seasonings during the last 2-3 minutes. Set aside on a separate plate and drain any grease.
Add chicken broth to the pot and bring to a boil. Add the uncooked noodles and allow them to soften, then use kitchen tongs to twist them into the pot.
Add the undrained diced tomatoes, then the marinara sauce and cream cheese.
Submerge the pasta underneath. Cover partially and simmer until cooked through, the pasta will take about 15-20 minutes total. Periodically run a silicone spatula along the bottom of the pot to ensure the pasta doesn’t stick.
Add the meat mixture back to the sauce and heat through. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Pro Tips
- Ground sausage or a combination of beef and sausage may be used.
- Rao’s marinara sauce is my preferred store bought brand, or make my homemade marinara sauce.
- This recipe is also Instant Pot friendly.
- Mushrooms make a great addition to this meal as well.
- If you plan on having leftovers, consider adding slightly more marinara sauce as the noodles will absorb more liquid during storage.
- If it feels as though you need more liquid for the pasta to finish cooking, add a little more broth. Conversely, if your sauce feels too thin, let it simmer, uncovered, until the additional liquid has evaporated.
Storage
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Tools For This Recipe
(Amazon affiliate links)- Check out all of my kitchen essentials here.
- A 14-inch skillet is perfect for this recipe. (And it’s oven safe!)
- Kitchen Tongs– Makes it easy to handle the noodles when cooking.
- Garlic Twister– Makes it quick & easy to mince garlic and it takes very little storage space.
- Rao’s Marinara Sauce– My preferred store bought brand.
Try These Next
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
- Tuscan Chicken Pasta
- Taco Spaghetti
- Copycat Longhorn Parmesan Crusted Chicken
- Broccoli Pasta
- Creamy Lemon Chicken
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Tried This Recipe?
Leave a review, I love hearing your feedback! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

One Pot Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef, I use 85% lean
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 small bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon Italian Seasonings
- Salt/pepper, to taste
- 2 ½ cups chicken broth, or beef broth
- 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes, undrained
- ½ pound spaghetti, uncooked
- 24 oz. marinara sauce
- 2 Tablespoons cream cheese, softened (optional, but recommended!)
Instructions
- Cook and crumble the ground beef and onions over medium-high heat until nearly cooked through. Add the diced peppers, garlic, and seasonings during the last 2-3 minutes. Set aside on a separate plate and drain any grease.
- Add chicken broth to the pot and use a silicone spatula to “clean” the brown spots on the bottom. Bring the broth to a boil. Add the uncooked spaghetti noodles and use kitchen tongs to twist the noodles into the pot as they soften. Once softened, add the undrained diced tomatoes.
- Add the marinara sauce and softened cream cheese. Submerge the pasta underneath. Cover partially and simmer until cooked through, the pasta will take about 15-20 minutes total. Periodically run a silicone spatula along the bottom of the pot to ensure the pasta doesn’t stick.
- Add the meat back to the sauce and heat through. Serve with garlic bread with cheese.
Notes
- Ground sausage or a combination of beef and sausage may be used.
- Rao’s marinara sauce is my preferred store bought brand, or make my homemade marinara sauce.
- This recipe is also Instant Pot friendly.
- Mushrooms make a great addition to this meal as well.
- If you plan on having leftovers, consider adding slightly more marinara sauce as the noodles will absorb more liquid during storage.
- If it feels as though you need more liquid for the pasta to finish cooking, add a little more broth. Conversely, if your sauce feels too thin, let it simmer, uncovered, until the additional liquid has evaporated.
Storage
- Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutritional information is an estimate and is per serving. There are 6 servings in this recipe.
Easy, delicious and comes together quickly. Will definitely cook this again.
That’s so great to hear! I love how easy it is, and it also makes a great freezer food for an easy weeknight meal. Thanks so much for the great review!💗
Amazing! I am not a spaghetti fan (read: hate it) but pregnancy cravings got me wanting red meat 24/7 and oh my goodness: this was the best spaghetti I’ve ever had! Thank you so much for this recipe!!!
Bonus that my very picky 1yr old devoured this🤯
WOW I am so happy to hear that you loved this recipe, and that your picky eater did too!! WIN!! Thank you so much for the review and congratulations on your pregnancy! -Stephanie
This One Pot Spaghetti was Delicious!! I just made it today with some good crusty garlic bread & boy the flavors were so good! Thank you for a quick easy One Pot Meal.
I’m so happy that you loved it Julie!!! This is such a favorite of mine! Thank you for taking the time to leave a review!!! 😍🥳
Wow, this sauce was insanely good. We devoured it. Not sure what tips it over the taste edge, cooking pasta in broth or the addition of cream cheese. I will make this again and often, so easy!😊🍝
I’m so happy to hear such great comments Pamela, nice work! Thanks for the great review!💖
…absolutely amazing!! I also added some chopped baby spinach!! I loved the Rao’s Marinara Sauce too! I’ll definitely cook this again. Thanks for sharing it!
My pleasure Tameka, I’m so happy you enjoyed it with baby spinach! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review!💖
So good!
Yayyy, thanks Michelle!💖
I really enjoy this recipe (all of your recipes!). Ive recently purchased a pasta maker for my Kitchenaid and wondered if you know how to alter this recipe for handmade pasta? I think part of the yumminess about this recipe is cooking the noodles in the sauce and broth but I cant do that with fresh noodles. Any input would be appreciated. Thank you
Hey Vinci! Congrats on the new pasta maker, that is going to be SUPER fun, I want to get into pasta making sometime. You are right, this recipe isn’t a good candidate for fresh pasta as the liquid quantities were designed to cook dry pasta, but the closest thing would be to make my Meat Sauce recipe and to serve it with fresh pasta. (It makes a lot so you likely want to halve it or freeze leftover sauce.) You would also love my Spaghetti Bolognese and Spaghetti and Meatballs!