Homemade Spaghetti O's and Meatballs - Lunch Version
Saucy and flavorful this freezable Homemade Spaghetti O’s and Meatballs surpasses its canned counterpart in taste and quality. Chicken meatballs are seasoned with pesto and the rich tomato sauce is finished with butter and cheese for an oh-so-creamy bowl of pasta goodness.
Ingredients
- ⅔ pounds Ground Chicken
- 4 ½ tablespoons Pesto
- ¼ cups Bread Crumbs
- ¼ teaspoons Salt #1
- 4 ½ cups Tomato Sauce
- 2 ½ cups Water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 8 ounces Anelletti Pasta
- ¾ cups Cheddar Cheese, Shredded
- ¼ cups Milk
- 8 tablespoons Butter
- 1 teaspoon Salt #2
- ¼ teaspoons Black Pepper
Containers
Supplies
Cooking Instructions
Freeze For Later Cooking Day Directions
These directions help you cook or prepare this meal PRIOR to being frozen for serving later (see Serving Day Directions when you are ready to prepare it to eat).
Why would I want to freeze this?
- Combine ground chicken, pesto, breadcrumbs, and salt #1 in bowl.
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Make From Frozen Serving Day Directions
These directions help you cook or reheat this meal AFTER it's been frozen for when you are ready to eat it.
- Thaw: In fridge
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Make It Now Cooking Directions
These directions are for cooking this recipe to serve immediately and NOT to freeze for later.
- Combine ground chicken, pesto, breadcrumbs, and salt #1 in bowl.
- Roll into meatballs about 3/4 of an inch using a heaping teaspoon. Set aside.
- In a large pot combine tomato sauce, water and garlic powder.
- Bring to a boil.
- Add pasta and meatballs to the pot.
- Cook, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes, or until pasta is soft.
- Stir in cheese, until melted. Add milk, butter, salt #2 and pepper.
Nutrition Facts
- Servings Per Recipe
- 8 Servings
- Serving Size
- about 2 cups Amount Per Serving
- Calories
- 391
- Total Fat
- 23g
- Saturated Fat
- 11g
- Trans Fat
- 1g
- Cholesterol
- 72mg
- Sodium
- 1180mg
- Total Carbohydrates
- 33g
- Fiber
- 2g
- Sugar
- 7g
- Protein
- 15g
- WW Freestyle
- 11
48 Comments
Join the discussionMy family is not a fan of ground chicken. Would ground turkey work just as well?
Yes, that would work just fine.
I was just craving Spaghetti-Os the other day, so this is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
What can I use in place of pesto? I’m planning on making these, and they look yummy for my daughter and the kid in me!
Hi Julieann, I guess you could use spaghetti sauce? I loved using the pesto because it added flavor and acted as a binder. I guess you could also just make them like regular meatballs – breadcrumbs and egg.
can i use ground beef instead of ground chicken or turkey?? This sounds like the perfect meal to send with the DH for his lunches this winter~
Most certainly!
Do you need to cook the meatballs before you add them to the pasta and sauce pot? Is that a dumb question? 😉
You do not, they cook in the pasta sauce. And no, it is not a dumb question because I asked Heather the same thing. 🙂
Just made this and my kids loved it. I had a hard time talking them into leaving me some to freeze for lunch.
That’s great Cindy!
So that’s the secret… you actually cook the pasta in the sauce. Huh. I never would’ve thought that would do it.
How many 1 cup servings does this make? I’m sure I’ll have to double the recipe.
It makes around 8 servings.
Tried these last night. A big success. I did not make the meatballs because my kids will not eat them. Going to make another batch. Will be great for my 1st grader for lunch and for my highschooler when he needs to eat quick and get to a practice or game (I do have to double his portion lol)
Could we use rice milk or soy milk in place of whole milk?
I don’t see why that would be an issue. I haven’t tried it but I would love for you to report back if you do.
This is so, SO good. My kids loved it but, really, so did their mama!
Thanks, JessieLeigh – I (secretly) think I like them better than my kids!! Shhhh!
Made these last night for dinner and they were a huge hit with the whole family. I had enough left to freeze four 1 cup portions. Thank you for sharing this recipe. These are so much healthier and better tasting than the canned stuff. Now that I know how super easy these are to make (half an hour from start to table) I will always have these available for a quick dinner or school lunch.
This was delicious!!! Yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!
These are wonderful !
So I am totally new at the freezing meals thing, how do you freeze individually soups, what kind of containers are easiest to buy? Thanks!
Hi Bianca, I just use quart size Ziploc freezer bags.
I am SO SO SO excited that I found your site! I just finished making this recipe and, of course, had to take a taste. This is delicious and my kiddos will LOVE to take this for lunch! I will be making this a staple in our household. SO EXCITED that I can make this for may family and serve them a healthy and delicious version of Spaghetti O’s! Awesome! =)
Made this tonight because *I* had a serious Spaghetti O’s addiction as a young(er) person and was skeptical about the kids because they won’t humor me on most soups (sad face). The result- I loved it and THEY loved it! Clean bowls from the 1 and 3 year old, my daughter, the little one, had seconds and was clapping her hands!! Love this! And we have TONS left for the freezer. Thanks!
AWESOME!
PS. I forgot to mention, I added minced raw carrot to the meatballs and it worked really well!
I want to make the meatballs only, so how would I cook those?
Hmmm Kristen, they’re pretty small, you could probably just brown them on all sides in a bit of oil. Or bake them on a baking sheet for a few minutes.
Do you think this would work in the Crockpot? I was thinking maybe simmer the sauce all day and then add the meatballs and pasta during the last hour.
Mindy, I think that would work out fine.
Currently converting this recipe for my thermomix. Hopefully I can work it out easily because all three of my kids LOVE this!
seems like a lot of butter?
That is the right amount, it tones down the acidity of the tomatoes.
This looks delicious. My toddler is allergic to all dairy and eggs. Here’s what I’m thinking. Please tell me if this might work.Omit the cheese. Use almond milk and our safe margarine for the milk and butter. Use flax eggs instead of the pesto as a binder. Use non-fun (ha!) pasta because we only have a few safe pasta options.The only major change is omitting the cheese. Will that change the taste? Thanks!
Yes that should be fine. Be sure to come back and let us know how it goes!
This is a silly question but how much is 10 ounces ground chicken? I bought a package that is .61 ounces and it sure doesn’t look like it will make 40 meatballs
Ok. I guess there was enough. Tiny meatballs, I was thinking regular size.
Awesome recipe! I adjusted the ingredients just a bit to avoid having leftover chicken from the 1lb package. We love meatballs so a few more proportionately per pasta works well. We will repeat this one… soon! 🙂
Made this last night, and had to fight to keep hubby and the boys from digging in (I made it for school lunches, NOT for dinner, my mistake!) Great recipe! I made a double batch and used 1/2 ground turkey and 1/2 ground turkey sausage. Great meatballs! Unfortunately, I got sidetracked and forgot to add the milk and butter, but no one seems to care! Thanks!
Michelle – My 7 year old requests this for his lunch weekly! I can’t keep enough in the freezer. It is so yummy – glad your entire family enjoys!
I like to use a small ice cream scoop and bulk sausage for this recipe. Scoop and plop little sausage balls! It is faster than making meatballs and a great use for sausage that is on sale!
Thanks so much for sharing your adaptations! We love hearing what works for our readers!
I just made this for the second time. Added a little more spice and tried sun dried tomato pesto to the mini meat balls. Excellent! Shredded some asagio that I had in the fridge. My kids and their friends ate it all!!!! I was planning on freezing the extra for a quick meal in the future, but there is none left!
Oh sun dried tomato pesto sounds like an amazing twist to this recipe! We often have none left when it comes time to put in the freezer as well!
Having trouble finding the tiny o’s pasta…. Out of stock on Amazon LOL
BUT- did you love alphabet soup when you were a kid? I did. So I’m going to just use the La Moderna Alphabets Pasta from Walmart. Super cheap , similar size, and amusing to the kids.
Jessica, Alphabet Pasta sounds like a fun adaption to this recipe! ?