Retro Johnny Marzetti Casserole
When we were kids growing up in the midwest, my mom made a popular dish called "Johnny Marzetti" that we adored! It's a simple dish that was created as good food at cheap prices mostly designed for the starved college kids attending Ohio State University.
It all started back in 1896 when Italian immigrant Teresa Marzetti started serving it at her family's restaurant in Columbus, Ohio, on Broad Street. This popular dish came to be known as "Johnny Marzetti" after her brother-in-law.
The simple dish consisting of ground beef, cheese, tomato sauce and noodles became an instant hit at only .45¢ a plate!
By the 1920's, it was popular all across the midwest and started being served in public schools. It's still the number one favorite fondly remembered and still served in public school lunchrooms all across the nation! Teresa's original recipe is even preserved at the Ohio Historical Society!
Though Teresa and her restaurant are long gone, she is still remembered for her Marzetti Salad Dressings! And of course, this heart-warming, tummy-filling dish that sticks to your ribs and warms you from head to toe on cold winter's days.
There are many variations and additions made by home cooks like me, and happy to share my version of Teresa's "Johnny Marzetti".
I still start with ground beef, but I really enjoy adding bell peppers, celery and onions to start.
I also like to add a little butter to help the next addition cook better - - some fresh sliced mushrooms!
Next to go in are some nice, sweet, stewed tomatoes!
Then the traditional tomato soup and part of the cheddar cheese!
I like to boil my egg noodles separately, drain them, then add them to the casserole.
Just gently fold in the mostly cooked noodles, pour into a casserole dish, and top with the rest of the cheese! 😀
Pop into a moderate oven and bake until happy and bubbly!
Simply serve with a side veggie or salad, some bread and butter, and you're all set!
This makes a nice-sized casserole that's perfect for the whole family or that potluck coming up that you need to fix a dish for! 😉
So if you're browsing for an easy but delicious casserole to make for supper tonight, you've stumbled onto the right place!
You, too, can adjust to your own family's liking, adding and omitting the extra ingredients to the basic recipe, so that everyone at the table is happy! And believe me, there will lots 'n lots of smiles! 😀 😉
Hope you enjoy! Take care and I'll see you soon! ~Kelly
*I used 2 (8 oz.) bags Sargento Off the Block Sharp Cheddar Traditional Cut for this, divided , plus about a ¼ cup shredded mozzarella that I added to the top that I had extra from something else and needed to use up. No cheese goes to waste in this house! 😉 Just use whatever brand of cheddar that you enjoy that doesn't melt greasy, and however much cheese makes you happy.
Retro Johnny Marzetti
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
I used cavatappi pasta because I find egg noodles absorb way too much liquid and ends up super soggy. This was beyond yummy though! Definitely reminds me of my childhood.
My wife suggested this for tonight. I jumped at the idea, as I have not had it for years. I was raised on Ft. Kobbe and in Los Rios in the Panama Canal Zone, in the 1950s. The recipe looks like the way my mother made it. My wife remembers it from her days in western PA. I'm sure we will love it. Thx!
You didn't say where to use the brown sugar - I assume you dump it in when you do the soups
Thanks for catching that, Jym! Yes, it's added with the tomatoes, soup, cream and cheese. Recipe directions are now corrected! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing this. It tastes the same as what I remember as a small child made by my great Aunt Gerry. She also had an old fashioned sugar cookie recipe which had sour cream in it but I can not find that anywhere. 🙁
Her pickled beets was another favorite, not sure what she put in it but I still crave them now 30 years later! Her old but trusty family cookbook was given to my mother, a master of cooking and baking, for keepsake and we can always call her when we want a recipe from our childhood. Love your recipes as well. Thank you.
Thanks for the great recipe: It looks great;
In my version I used rotini pasta.
I substituted canned tuna for the ground beef
I omitted the tomatoes and canned tomato soup, instead I used cream of mushroom soup
I think my grandma is the greatest too.
They are one of a kind, aren't they? The foundation that holds everyone together! 😀 Thanks so much for stopping by, Shiqua! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! 🙂
I use egg noodles + I add peas or corn but tonite I'm adding both. Great fall & winter meals. I loved in school meals on John Marzetti days. I grew up in 60's for grade school & early 70's junior high. After that was open camps in high school. The radio station would also make it a BIG deal on that day. Love, love,loved it.
Me, too!!! 😀 We must be about the same age!! 😀
I'm in Blackpool, North West England! My Mum died last year and I have inherited her Mother (my Grandmother's) recipe book. I was looking through it and found a newspaper cutting of a very similar recipe called "Slosh - (otherwise known as Joe's Mazotti". Funny how things travel...
So sorry about your mom! It truly is amazing how recipes are shared and end up clear across the pond! Very lucky of you to have inherited your Grandmother's recipes! I'm sure they will all bring back cherished memories!
Hi! I grew up with this casserole at home and in school (from OH). My Mom called it slumgullian (I think that means "clean out the fridge casserole"), but we loved it and I still make it. I sure wish someone would come up with a cookbook of school recipes. We had the best cooks at our schools back in the 60's and 70's (in Lexington, OH) none of that warehouse stuff that's delivered in food trucks to the schools in Columbus, OH. By the way, your Beef and Noodles is a staple here in our house! Thanks, I love your site! 🙂
Awww, thank you, Nina!!! What a kind thing to say!! 🙂 I wish the school cooks from our era would make a cookbook, too!!! (I miss that Friday pizza!! It had finely crumbled sausage and was a large rectangle! SO good!!) 😀
My mother used to make this in the 40's and 50's.....never used chopped canned tomatoes, tho'....
too much liquid.....think she used tomato soup with tomato paste.....nothing elaborate as some of
the versions are....plain old macaroni or flat noodles. Was always yummy!
What is Italian cheese blend? We used plain cheddar cheese.
Sharon
California
I think you're confusing my recipe with someone else's. I use cheddar also. And plain dumpling egg noodles.
This is my kind of meal and such an interesting story behind the recipe! I have been using Marzetti salad dressing for years, who knew?
She was such a kind a generous lady to the kids, wasn't she? 🙂 I loved reading about her, too!
My grama used to have a restaurant in Chicago and adapted this to use left over pork roast and added or left out whatever veggies were available. She didn't top with cheese. So good! Great to feed a large family.
Grandma's are the best, aren't they!!! 😀 I sure miss mine! Thanks for stopping by! Hope you find lots of recipes to try! 😀
4stars
Thanks, Janice!