This Cheesy Sloppy Joe Noodle Bake recipe has been in my recipe box for years.
It's SO flavorful, the whole family goes crazy over it. It's also got sour cream and cream cheese in there, so really, how could it go wrong?! Plus I love recipes that you can make ahead and then just throw into the oven later. Once you assemble the ingredients, putting it together is pretty simple, too.
*Note that I'm on a ‘make-extra kick' around here, so this recipe is for TWO 9×13 glass pans PLUS one square.
For the extra pans, maybe one for the freezer and one for a friend, I used aluminum disposables pans, with parchment paper lining the bottom so the food isn't touching aluminum.
If you only want one pan, you could half this for an 11×14 sized pan or a really full 9×13. Note that it still may be too much for only one pan, so if so, just throw the extras into a bowl all together to heat up for lunch the next day. This doesn't even have to be baked–you can use a saucepan to heat up with a little milk or water in the bottom. Even if you only have extra of the noodle mixture leftover, that's still yummy on its own!
Want to make this a low-carb meal? There are two options:
- Either make it with your favorite low-carb noodles…
- Or I prefer to make a small pan (lined with parchment paper) or muffin cups with liners, and just layer the meat mixture, the cream cheese/sour cream mixture, and lots of cheese on top.
Cheesy Sloppy Joe Noodle Bake
Ingredients
- 32 ounces of whatever noodles you like – my favorites are einkorn pasta or spelt pasta. Some like this gluten-free pasta, or see the low-carb options above.
- 16 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups sour cream-- I've seen some recipes call for cottage cheese instead.
- 1 Tablespoon chives or green onion, chopped
- Sea salt & pepper to your taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder or more to your taste
- 1/4 cup milk
- 2.5 pounds ground beef-- we get it from our local farmer with 1/4# ground heart mixed with 3/4# ground beef, if you don't have a good local source you trust for grassfed meat, you could get it online here.
- 1 onion chopped, or 3 Tablespoons dried
- More sea salt and pepper for this meat mixture. amount to your taste
- 2 cans tomato paste
- 1/2 cup ketchup or tomato sauce
- 1 Tablespoon mustard
- 4 Tablespoons maple syrup (omit for low-carb)
- 3-4 cups shredded cheese, whichever kind you prefer — we like cheddar or mozzarella
Instructions
- Brown the ground beef with onions.
- Stir in the ketchup or tomato sauce, tomato paste, mustard, maple syrup, and some salt and pepper. This should be thick, but not dry. If it seems dry, add a little water. Set aside.
- Cook pasta according to directions, drain.
- Meanwhile, use your handheld blender to mix together the sour cream, cream cheese, milk, chives or green onion, and a few shakes of salt and pepper.
- Toss the cream mixture with the pasta, add milk so that it's creamy; not runny, but not dry. Taste one. If it tastes blah, add more salt and pepper until it's dreamy—this is very important to make the whole thing taste really good.
Start assembling:
- Spoon a layer of the pasta mixture into your buttered or parchment paper-lined pans, dollop half the meat mixture around the top.
- Spread the rest of the pasta around the top of the meat
- Now the other half of the meat mixture on that.
- Sprinkle with cheese.
- Now either cover well and label it for the freezer, put it into the fridge to bake later, or bake now.
- 350* until hot, about 20-30 minutes.
Let me know what you think & if you love this cheesy sloppy joe noodle bake too!
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Jill-David Boman says
I’ve made this and it’s super yummy!
Annette Rupert says
I made this last week. It was really yummy, but also quite rich. The pasta and cream sauce would be good by itself. It reheated easily for lunch and I think it tasted better the second day.
Heather T says
Great recipe, made this the other night everyone loved it. Plus I have 4 extras ready to go for future dinners can’t beat that…
Thank you for sharing.
Katie says
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Wendi says
Okay, I feel silly asking this, but after reading through the recipe (it sounds fabulously delish!) and all of the comments thus far, I’m still wondering how many pans it’ll take to bake ALL of this recipe. In the “Start assembling:” part of the recipe it says, “…paper-lined panS” (emphasis mine) plural pans noted, yet only one is shown. I’m just asking because it seems like a HUGE recipe (3#s of meat, 32 oz of pasta, 8 oz cream cheese, 2 cups of sour cream, and etc.?) for one pan and, if so, what size pan does all of this fit in?
Thank you very much!
KitchenKop says
Hi Wendi, sorry for the confusion!
Yes, this is a really big batch, I tried to make the amounts more clear in the recipe now, hopefully that’s better, but if not, feel free to comment again. 🙂
Kelly
KitchenKop says
OH and also Wendi, be sure you’re reading the part above the recipe, that’s where I talk about the pan sizes.
Kelly
Wendi says
Thank you, Kelly! Now I feel SUPER silly! 🙂 I try to save time by not reading the other stuff, then I miss out on pertinent information and ask silly questions. Thank you for your kindness and patience. This recipe sounds amazing! Thanks again…
Alexis says
How can I use raw dairy products to make this dish? Will the outcome still be the same?
KitchenKop says
When you cook it they’ll no longer be raw, but I used our raw milk in this, and I don’t know why any other raw dairy product wouldn’t work fine.
Kelly
Kimberly says
Thanks for the recipe, Kelly! Two comments on this: #1 My family LOVED this. We just had for dinner tonight. They definitely want it again. #2 I was recently diagnosed with a dairy allergy (sad for a girl with a cow, right?), so I set aside some of the pasta and tossed it with some Daiya (dairy and soy free cheese) and almond milk, then baked it in a separate dish. Yumm!! Thanks!!
Lori says
Amazing! We loved it is an understatement. 🙂 My 8 year old is on seconds even though his first plateful was big. My family told me to “put it on the menu” and I plan on it. Thank you!
KitchenKop says
Oh good! Thanks for your feedback!
Kel
Lori says
Made this for supper tonight and can hardly wait to try it. It is baking in the oven as I type. Will let you know what we think! 🙂
Magda says
I’ve been cooking Tinkyada for years and here’s how I do it:
1. Bring water to boiling (I do add salt to the cold water).
2. Put noodles in, stir. Let water come to boil again.
3. Boil for 2 minutes. Stir again.
4. Turn off gas, cover pot, leave for 20 minutes.
Perfect every time!! I will definitely try this recipe for kids’ lunches.
Kimberly says
Tip on cooking brown rice pasta – do NOT add salt to the water as it makes it very “gummy”. You may add a little oil and this will keep the pasta from sticking together. I hope this helps! This recipe looks yummy – thanks!
KitchenKop says
Thanks @Kimberly!
Christina says
This looks AMAZING!!!!! I can’t wait to try it; thanks so much for sharing your recipe! 🙂