Serve up a Spaghetti Bar at home with a few different spaghetti sauces. This is a great way to feed a crowd.

Build Your Own Pasta Bar

Kids love spaghetti…The Old Spaghetti Factory is one of our favorite restaurants to go to as a family. My mom surprised us last night with a few of our Spaghetti Factory favorites at home with a DIY Spaghetti Bar. It was so delicious! Marinara with giant meatballs, clam sauce and our most favorite grated Mizithra cheese with browned butter all served over spaghetti along side fresh watermelon, breadsticks and a big Loaded Italian Salad. It was so good! If you’re looking for a menu idea to feed a crowd, this meal is such a hit with kids and adults alike!

What kind of sauces to serve for a Spaghetti Bar:

For those who might be gluten free or might want to cut carbs, you could also offer zucchini noodles (aka: zoodles)
Clam sauce is my most favorite. I love to order the managers favorite combination at the Old Spaghetti Factory: myzithra cheese with browned butter on one side and clam sauce over spaghetti on the other side and mix the two sauces together, it’s so good! We also love to serve baked ziti at a pasta bar like this. It’s a nice addition to all the spaghetti.

The kids love the giant meatballs with marinara.

The mizithra cheese served over browned butter is so good on it’s own, but it’s also so good mixed with the clam and marinara sauces above.

Depending on the size of the group you are feeding, you might want to double some of these recipes. When all your sauces are simmering, cook a big pot of spaghetti noodles to be al dente (slightly undercooked) and remove from the water and set aside until ready to serve. You can quickly warm up single servings of the spaghetti by dunking it into the hot water for 30 seconds to rewarm it for serving. For the Myzithra, just grate a block of Myzithra cheese and sprinkle over the spaghetti noodles with browned butter. If you have never browned butter, here’s a great how to when it comes to browning the butter.

Marinara Sauce with Giant Italian Meatballs

Take your Italian Night to the next level with this delicious homemade Marinara Sauce with Giant Italian Meatballs.

Author Kami - NoBiggie.net

Ingredients

FOR THE MEATBALLS

1 ½ pounds ground beef
½ pound Italian Sausage mild or hot your choice
1 onion finely diced
½ green pepper finely chopped
1 clove garlic minced
3/4 cup bread crumbs
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt & pepper to taste
cayenne pepper just a dash
¼ cup fresh parsley chopped or 1 tablespoon dried parsley
½ cup romano cheese I just use Kraft Parmesan

FOR THE MARINARA SAUCE

1 large can tomatoes diced
1 16oz. can tomato paste
1 onion chopped fine
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon dry parsley or fresh
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dry red pepper flakes or less

Instructions

FOR THE MEATBALLS:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Sauté onion and green pepper until translucent. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant about 1 minute.
In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients with your hands until well mixed. Form into meatballs. Line a sheet pan with foil. Place the meatballs in rows on the sheet pan and bake for about 50 minutes at 350.

FOR THE MARINARA:

In a large sauce pot sauté the onion until soft. Add the minced garlic and cook for one minute.
Add in all the ingredients to the onion and garlic, mix together and simmer softly for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Recipe Notes

The meatballs freeze well after baking if you'd like to make them ahead.

Making This Recipe? Tag us on Instagram: @NoBiggie using the hashtag #NoBiggieRecipes, so we can see what you are making in the kitchen!

It’s such a fun way to feed a crowd! I hope your family enjoys these recipes as much as we do!

What to serve with a Homemade Spaghetti Bar?

–garlic bread (with homemade garlic butter)
–parmesan bread sticks
–wedge salad
–Loaded Italian Salad
–Easy Caprese Salad
–Parmesan Garlic Knots

Spaghetti Bar at Home

Build Your Own Pasta Bar

What kind of sauces to serve for a Spaghetti Bar: