I really like making foods from scratch. I also really like making food that can be prepared easily. Meal kits are a great way to allow you to quickly put homemade dinners on the table, without have to do a lot of planning or prepwork. Kraft has just introduced their new Kraft Fresh Take Meal Kits – a combination of cheese and breadcrumbs that are perfect for breading meats, making savory appetizers, and more. They’re also perfect for making baked spaghetti and meatballs, so on a recent trip to Walmart, I picked up a couple of bags of Kraft Fresh Take to give it a try.
The Kraft Fresh Take meal kits were next to the Kraft shredded cheeses in the Cheese aisle.
I head over to the Cheese aisle, where I found Kraft Fresh Take next to the other Kraft Shredded cheese products. There are nine different varieties of Kraft Fresh Take, ranging from a classic Four Cheese to a Spicy Chipotle Cheddar. They were sold out of the Italian Parmesan, so I opted for Rosemary and Roasted Garlic Kraft Fresh Take. For good measure, I also picked up Smokey Mesquite BBQ Kraft Fresh Take, just because it sounds so good.
Once we got home, it was time to start cooking some Baked Spaghetti & Meatballs with Kraft Fresh Take.
Baked Spaghetti & Meatballs Recipe
- 1.5 lbs ground beef
- ½ tsp sea salt
- ½ tsp Italian Seasoning
- ½ tsp oregano
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
- 1½ Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 6 oz. package of Kraft Fresh Take meal kit split into ½ cup and ¼ cup.
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 1 package spaghetti (1 lb)
- 1 jar of spaghetti sauce (24 oz.)
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Mix 1 lb. ground beef, sea salt, Italian Seasoning, Oregano, Red Pepper Flakes, Worcestershire Suace, and ½ cup of Kraft Fresh Take.
- Form the beef mixture into ~12 meatballs that are approximately 2 inches in diameter and place onto a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
- Cook in oven at 350F for 20 minutes, turning the meatballs over at around 10 minutes.
- While the meatballs are cooking, boil water and cook spaghetti to al dente.
- When spaghetti is cooked, drain and set aside.
- In a medium pan, brown 0.5 lbs of ground beef (seasoned to taste).
- Add spaghetti sauce to beef and simmer, covered on low.
- Once the meatballs are cooked, remove from oven.
- Place cooked spaghetti into a 3 quart baking dish.
- Take cooked meatballs and arrange in the spaghetti.
- Top spaghetti and meatballs with the beef spaghetti sauce.
- Top with the remaining Kraft Fresh Take breadcrumb mixture.
- Bake, covered, for 20 minutes at 350.
I love the idea of Kraft Fresh Take. Not only does it provide you with pre-seasoned breadcrumbs and cheese, but it also makes it easy for you to bread things, since the package can be opened and used to shake the meat in. We won’t be doing that for our meatballs, though.
The cheese and breadcrumbs are separate, but when you open the Kraft Fresh Take bag, they different sections merge into one big bag you can use for breading.
First, we’ll start with the meatballs. Where I’d normally use breadcrumbs and cheese separately, I just use Kraft Fresh Take Rosemary & Roasted Garlic recipe. For these meatballs, you can use whichever Kraft Fresh Take you want. Next time I’ll try it with Italian Parmesan. I was also able to cut back on the spices, since the breadcrumbs are already seasoned. Make sure you set aside a 1/4 cup of Kraft Fresh Take, which you’ll use for topping everything later.
I’ve always found hand mixing meatballs the easiest versus using a spoon or fork.
After everything is mixed together, roll 12 large-ish meatballs and put them onto the cookie sheet. My meatballs were about 2″ in diameter.
Pop the meatballs in the oven and let them bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. I flipped the meatballs over at 10 minutes. If they stick to the pan, you can use a fork to unstick them from the bottom.
While the meatballs are cooking, it’s time to cook up the spaghetti and the sauce. You want the spaghetti to be al dente. This is going back into the oven, so if it’s too soft, your baked spaghetti will be mushy spaghetti.
We love adding meat to our sauces, and this meal is no different. Season and brown up some ground beef, then let it simmer with the jar of spaghetti sauce.
The spaghetti should be almost cooked now, so drain it and then either set it aside (if you’re still cooking the sauce or meatballs) or put it into a 3 quart baking dish that’s been sprayed with cooking spray. Next, you’ll arrange the meatballs into the spaghetti. I tried to nestle them into the spaghetti instead of just letting them sit on top.
Next, you’re going to top the spaghetti and meatballs with your meat sauce, then sprinkle the rest of the Kraft Fresh Take mix on top of the sauce. If you want more breading/cheese, you can use an additional bag of Kraft Fresh Take.
Cover the dish with a lid or foil and put it back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 350F. Once it’s cooked, simply serve and enjoy! With all this beef, you should know this is a hearty meal. I could only eat a couple of meatballs but loved every bit. The blend of the spices with the cheese is just delicious. Not too cheesy or too “herby.” This would make a great dish for pot lucks or get togethers.
If you would like to learn more about Kraft Fresh Take, or you want to have a sample of some of the easy and flavorful dishes you can cook-up using Kraft Fresh Take, keep an out out for the Kraft Fresh Possibilities Tour truck. They’ll be stopping in towns across the country during the Fresh Possibilities Tour through the end of July.
Have you tried Kraft Fresh Take yet?
Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® and Kraft Foods #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric. All opinions are my own.
Katherine G says
April 3, 2013 at 1:10 pmThis looks so delicious!!! I definitely want to try this.
Debra C says
April 3, 2013 at 4:47 pmI PLAN TO TRY THIS NEXT WEEK. lOOKS SO GOOD.
Maria Iemma says
April 4, 2013 at 12:55 pmAwesome, I must try this, I know my family will love it. Trust Kraft to come up with another wonderful product.
MADDIE K says
April 4, 2013 at 2:36 pmYou can’t go wrong with Spaghetti and Meatballs EVER!
lisa says
April 4, 2013 at 5:19 pmI make homemade spaghetti and meatballs that’s really good.I’ve tried the fresh take with chicken. Our family wasn’t fond of it.
Miriam T. says
April 5, 2013 at 1:34 pmWhich one did you try with the chicken? I’m going to be trying the mesquite BBQ with some chicken tonight and am hoping it tastes as good as it sounds.
Lorena W says
April 5, 2013 at 10:25 amThis looks so good! love Kraft recipes!
michelle oakley warner says
April 5, 2013 at 1:22 pmwow, great recipe i never made a good meatball, hopefully with this recipe i will get it right, thank you for an awsome recipe
Wanda Bergman says
April 5, 2013 at 3:07 pmI’ve made a similar recipe in the past but this one looks BETTER!!
md kennedy says
April 6, 2013 at 1:31 amI am not a big fan of processed cheese, but I have ot say Kraft has made this so easy and this recipe does look yummy!
Samantha says
April 7, 2013 at 12:53 pmLooks delicious!!
[email protected] says
April 7, 2013 at 10:50 pmThose looks so delicious! My kids love meatballs!
Cindy Brickley says
April 17, 2013 at 1:34 pmI have to make this recipe, it looks really good.
Maria Iemma says
June 2, 2013 at 8:08 amWhy didn’t I think of this? I make spaghetti and meatballs often but never thought of baking them. Looks delicious and I know my family will be very happy.
Wanda Bergman says
June 15, 2013 at 5:50 pmOh, yummy! This looks DELICIOUS!!
Deb Dorrington says
June 19, 2013 at 3:30 pmThis looks so good, I make spaghetti all the time but never put in meatballs. After reading your recipe and looking at the finished product I’m going to make this next weekend. I have never tried the Kraft Fresh Take meal kit but I will now!
ANN*H says
June 21, 2013 at 11:53 amThanks for the information on Kraft Fresh Take. This is great that its all you need to put in your meatball and spaghetti all together for a delicious dinner
Helga says
June 23, 2013 at 4:15 pmThat looks delish and Kraft Fresh Take makes it a lot easier to make!
Mahdi M says
October 4, 2013 at 5:54 pmI haven’t tried Kraft Fresh Take yet. I’ve never heard of it in fact, so I’m glad I found this recipe of yours! It looks delicious and I’ll have to try it!
Shari Alligood says
October 9, 2013 at 11:25 amThanks for posting I’ve always wondered what I’d make with Kraft Fresh Takes 🙂
Cynthia Cover says
November 22, 2013 at 4:40 pmWow that sounds delicious. I am going to make this really soon!
Jaafar says
December 13, 2013 at 6:06 pmYummy! My favorite!!Spaghetti with-a meat-a balls. The Kraft Fresh Take looks like a good idea. Will try it out. Thanks for sharing.
Lisa says
January 21, 2014 at 12:00 amYummy! But I was so confused because there is milk and egg in the ingredient list but no mention of it anywhere in the actual recipe. Does it go in the hamburger?? I didn’t use any at all but I’m curious!
Nancy says
January 30, 2014 at 6:55 pmYes, we have tried Fresh Take. Sometimes I use the cheese in 1 recipe and the crumbs in another. This recipe for Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs looks easy and delicious!
Linda Bradshaw says
October 16, 2014 at 6:11 pmI have to make this. I have not tried it yet. I have seen it in our store.
Katherine Riley says
October 17, 2014 at 7:47 amI have used the Kraft Fresh Takes to make meatloaf. I have also used the cheese and crumbs to make flavored mac & cheese.