Spaghetti Pie – Easy, Delicious & Less Than $5 (And A Few Mishaps)

Have you ever tried a new recipe and it just didn’t come out right? Well, this recipe was one of those. But, I was able to salvage the first “mess-up,” and then make it work by adding a simple ingredient. I will say, the first pie that didn’t work, still tasted fabulous and my husband gobbled it down; so just because it doesn’t look pretty, it can still taste good. (I’ve made more than my share of not so pretty meals!)

A FEW MISHAPS…

I had clipped this “crispy spaghetti pie” recipe from a magazine last year (not for sure which magazine it came from,) and then forgot about it. After cleaning out a drawer, I found it, saw the ingredients, which I had all of, and thought, “This is what’s for dinner!” Looked wonderful and super easy.

The original recipe called for whipping the pie together and cooking it in a non-stick skillet. After cooking it for about 10 minutes, you’d invert the pie on a cookie sheet and then put it back in the skillet so that both sides were browned and crispy.

After my first attempt, where when I inverted the pie on the cookie sheet, and it just poured out, I realized I had used a cast-iron skillet so perhaps that was what went wrong. (Plus the very bottom layer of the pasta was stuck to the skillet.)

So I changed skillets, this time using a non-stick, and made a new pie, or attempted to.

Well, once again, when I inverted the pie, it hadn’t formed, the bottom was scorched and it did not even remotely look like it could ever become a “pie.” But, it really tasted great! In fact, it tasted so good, I will cook it this way again, but not try to make it in a pie shape, just serve it like this. My husband especially liked the contrast of flavor with the addition of the crispy, charred bits of noodles.

I also attempted to make spaghetti muffins for quick and easy snacks…

They looked good when they came out of the oven but when I popped them out of the pan…

Since I still had plenty of the ingredients, I decided to change the original recipe up a bit, adding eggs as a binding agent, and baking it in a pie plate instead of a skillet on the stove…and it worked!

MY VERSION…

Not only is this spaghetti pie easy to make, it’s delicious, and chances are, you have most of these ingredients already on hand. It’s also filling even though it’s meatless. If you have an abundance of zucchini growing in your garden, this is a great recipe to help use them up. A small salad helps round out your meal. This is perfect for an easy weeknight meal, brunch, lunch or if you cut the “pie” into smaller wedges or even squares, as an easy appetizer for a crowd.

You can substitute whole-wheat spaghetti or gluten-free spaghetti to meet your family’s preferences or diet needs instead of the regular spaghetti I use, but it will increase the total price a bit. I used the store-brand Parmesan from where I shopped which was a couple of dollars less than the other name-brands. Feel free to experiment with other ingredients you might have in the fridge or pantry such as bell pepper, jalapeno, bacon, chopped tomatoes, etc.

SPAGHETTI & ZUCCHINI PIE –

Prep Time: 10 minutes     

Cook Time: 30 minutes    

Serves: 4 for approx. $4.20

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (you can use whatever color you want, I used red)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
• 4 cups cold cooked spaghetti (8 ounces dry)
• 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, shredded
• 3/4 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped (I saved a few sprigs for garnish)
• 2 ounces fresh Parmesan cheese, grated and divided
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a pie pan with cooking spray and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onion, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally until tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 1 more minute, stirring. Remove from heat.

In a large bowl, add spaghetti, zucchini, parsley, 1 ounce grated Parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes. Add onion mix.

Add beaten eggs and stir. (I used my hands to get it really mixed up.)

Pour mixture in prepared pie pan and bake 20-25 minutes. Sprinkle the remaining Parmesan cheese over the pie and bake about 5 more minutes, until the cheese is melted.

Let sit about 5 minutes before slicing.

* When I made the first batch, that failed, and we ate as spaghetti (instead of in the pie shape,) I added about 8 ounces of sautéed sliced mushrooms I cooked in 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, with a bit of salt and pepper. It was a really nice addition and added about $1.25 to the price. But I didn’t use the mushrooms in this recipe.

And the spaghetti muffins turned out too. I put in muffin tins and baked at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.