Taco Spaghetti

🌮🍝😍 Tender spaghetti noodles are tossed in a creamy cheese sauce along with seasoned ground beef, tomatoes, green chiles, black beans, and cilantro! The PERFECT family-friendly weeknight dinner recipe that’s super EASY and ready in 30 minutes!

📝 Ingredients

• 12 ounces uncooked dry spaghetti noodles (or the pasta of your choice)
• 1 pound lean ground beef (about 90% lean)
• 1 to 2 tablespoon olive oil (optional (but helps with noodle sticking in leftovers))
• one 1-ounce packet taco seasoning
• 15 ounces no-salt added canned black beans (drained and rinsed (or pinto beans))
• 10- ounce can Rotel
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup American cheese (or Velveeta, cubed into 1-inch pieces*)
• 1 cup Mexican shredded cheese blend* (divided)
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• 1/3 cup fresh cilantro (finely minced; optional but recommended for garnishing)

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Boil: Cook the spaghetti (or other pasta) according to package directions. Tip - Make sure to only cook until al dente at this point because the pasta ends up cooking additionally as it's both stirred into the ground beef and cheese mixture and then baked. So don't overcook it now. After pasta has cooked, drain it, and set aside. But keep moving with the rest of the recipe while the pasta is boiling.
2. 2Preheat oven to 350F.
3. 3Brown: To a large oven-safe, high-sided skillet, saute pan, or Dutch oven, add the ground beef, optional olive oil, and cook over medium-high heat to brown the ground beef. Stir and crumble as the beef cooks to ensure even cooking. Do not drain any liquid/grease/natural cooking liquids.
4. 4Combine: After it has browned, reduce the heat to low or medium-low, and evenly sprinkle the taco seasoning, add the black beans, Rotel, sour cream, cubed cheese, half the shredded cheese, and stir to combine the ingredients and to encourage the cheese to melt.
5. 5Season: After the cheeses have melted, taste the dish, and add salt and pepper, to taste. Tip - If you want to make the dish spicier, add about 1 tablespoon chili powder or a pinch of cayenne pepper now. As written, the dish is not spicy.
6. 6Stir: Add the cooked pasta into the cheese mixture and stir to combine and coat evenly.
7. 7Bake: Evenly sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup shredded cheese over the top, and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the top layer of cheese fully melts. Tip - If you want to save time, it's not necessary to bake it. I like a notable cheese layer on top, but if you don't care or are in a hurry, just stir the whole 1 cup of shredded cheese in with everything else and skip baking it.
8. 8Garnish with cilantro and serve immediately. Leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months. Reheat gently in the microwave.