Whenever I serve tacos on any other day of the week, my daughter invariably says “But it’s not Tuesday.” (As if we should limit our taco consumption to one day a week. Why limit your joy like that?) When I reply, “Because everyday is Taco Tuesday,” she’s quick to give in because like most people, she really loves tacos. She also really loves spaghetti. And when we really love two dishes, sometimes it’s worth trying them as a mashup and I am very much of the opinion that this was one of those times. Baked Taco Spaghetti is everything you love about a baked spaghetti — the chewy comfort of the pasta and the ooey-gooey cheese — but it has that taco seasoning kick you love just as much.

I’m always looking for more ways to use ground beef as it’s a protein we rely on a lot, and luckily that’s the base of this bake. You also need a half pound of spaghetti, some cream cheese, some taco seasoning, a can of Rotel, and some cheddar cheese. It’s a pretty short ingredient list for the amount of flavor you get!

It also comes together very quickly. While you’re boiling the pasta, you work on the meat sauce, and the oven does the rest of the work. It’s not a ton of stovetop time, only ten minutes or so. Just brown your ground beef and add the taco seasoning and then stir in sour cream, diced tomatoes and green chilies (otherwise known as Rotel), some cubed cream cheese, and just a half cup of the cheddar cheese.

Quick, simple, delicious. Then, just mix that sauce with your pasta and get it into a baking dish. Since this is a casserole, it of course needs a nice little topping of more cheese, but then it’s ready to head into the oven.

You might be thinking — why not just have tacos? or why not just have spaghetti? But I can promise you that there’s a merit to switching things up sometimes. This bake isn’t quite either of those things — it’s not tacos and it’s not spaghetti — but it’s something all its own and completely delicious in its own right. It’s a spectacularly easy dinner and it keeps things interesting!