Joanna Gaines' Baked Pasta Is Like Grown-Up Mac And Cheese

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A good cheesy pasta rarely needs a convincing argument, but Joanna Gaines gives us one anyway in her cookbook "Magnolia Table," with a baked pasta recipe that feels reminiscent of mac and cheese, just a bit more adult. To give it a more grown-up feel, she swaps out the macaroni for spaghetti and then folds in chicken for some added satiety, while still somehow retaining all the best parts about the childhood classic: comforting carby gooeyness.

It also gets an upgrade by being baked in the oven instead of being thrown together on a stovetop. She layers the pasta, sauce, and cheese so that the top crisps up while the middle stays indulgent and silky. The final result is a dish that lands somewhere between a nostalgic throwback and a sit-down dinner that can seriously impress — and impressive it certainly is to make spaghetti feel like it belongs somewhere the casserole category. The whole meal might make you wonder — what even qualifies as a casserole? Turns out, it doesn't have to be elbow pasta or a traditional base at all, it just needs to be something baked that can hold its own at the dinner table.

The chicken in this meal is what really pushes it into "full meal" territory, rather than acting like a side dish or something that needs something else to feel complete. With just some added protein, it becomes hearty enough to stand on its own, and from there it can be served up with a simple salad and maybe some bread. This is the real appeal — it's a familiar comfort but dressed up enough to work for all types of company, like taking something deeply familiar and changing it until it feels new again. 

Changing up the noodles probably seems like a small move, but actually, the length of spaghetti changes the whole experience. Instead of short pieces you can scoop up in one bite, the spaghetti means each forkful carries all the creamy sauce and other additions very differently. Yes, using orecchiette is usually the recommended swap to make mac and cheese even cheesier, but Joanna Gaines uses this recipe to prove that spaghetti brings its own kind of sophisticated charm to a cheesy pasta dish. 

The baked finish matters too, as plenty of pasta dishes are happily made on the stove, but that little bit of oven time adds a new dimension by creating crispy edges that really contrasts the creamy center — it's less about piling on more cheese and more about letting heat transform what's already in there. With a combination of noodles, chicken, and her creamy sauce, whether you want to try Gaines' recipe or a more simple cheesy chicken Parmesan spaghetti bake, this is a dish where everyone will be going for seconds.