Easy Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

These easy baked stuffed tomatoes are full of spaghetti and topped with plenty of cheese. They’re a fun and unique vegetarian side dish or main course!

I used to subscribe to a ton of magazines, mostly food related but also some trashy tabloids thrown in for good measure. A few years ago I let most of my subscriptions lapse. I much prefer to use Pinterest as an electronic recipe box rather than actually having to tear things out of magazines and file them away. There is one magazine I still get, and that’s Martha Stewart Living. Every issue is beautiful and Martha Stewart was one of my original inspirations back in 2001 when I started cooking. When I was reading the latest issue a picture of spaghetti stuffed peppers caught my eye. I thought my girls would get a kick out of the presentation but I knew they wouldn’t want to eat a whole bell pepper. I came up with the idea to do easy baked stuffed tomatoes with spaghetti instead, all three of them love tomatoes. And so this recipe was born.

I went looking for the biggest tomatoes I could find and ended up with half a dozen beefsteak tomatoes. You want the tomatoes to be firm so that they won’t fall apart when you hollow them out. I used a grapefruit spoon to easily scoop all the tomato flesh out.

The spaghetti that Martha used in her recipe was flavored with capers and anchovies. Not exactly kid friendly, but I don’t think she intended it to be! I decided to go with a combination of sauteed red onion, parsley, parmesan, olive oil and finely diced tomato from the flesh I just scooped out, then finished the stuffed tomatoes off with a generous sprinkle of mozzarella cheese.

The spaghetti mixture gets mounded into the tomato shells and baked. Make sure you generously season the insides of your tomatoes. As the stuffed tomatoes bake in the oven they’ll let off juice which will water down the seasoning a bit but this juice is also what keeps the pasta from drying out. You’ll also want to put the tomato lids on during the baking process to keep the moisture in.

These easy baked stuffed tomatoes exceeded my expectations. The herbs and cheese in the spaghetti worked perfectly with the roasted tomato exterior. As I predicted, the girls thought it was super fun to eat their noodles out of a tomato bowl. I bet Martha would be proud too!

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4.75 from 4 votes

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Easy Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

These easy baked stuffed tomatoes are filled with a mixture of spaghetti, cheese and herbs. Inspired by Martha Stewart Living.

Course Dinner

Prep Time 25 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 55 minutes

Servings 6

Calories 333 kcal

Author Dinner at the Zoo

Ingredients

• 6 very large firm tomatoes (I recommend beefsteak)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 ounces spaghetti
• 1/2 cup red onion , finely diced
• 1 cup of finely diced tomato pulp
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup parsley , minced
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• kosher salt and pepper
• cooking spray

Instructions

1. Cut the tops off the tomatoes. Hollow out the insides of the tomatoes with a knife or grapefruit spoon. Discard the tomato seeds; reserve the remaining tomato pulp. Dice up 1 cup of the pulp, set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti as directed on the package.
4. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat up a large pan on medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Add the red onion to the pan, saute for 5 minutes or until the onion has softened and is starting to brown.
6. Add the tomato to the pan, cook for 1 minute. Season the onion and tomato mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Drain the spaghetti and add it to the pan. Stir in the remaining tablespoon of olive oil, parmesan cheese and parsley. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
8. Put the tomato shells into a pan greased with cooking spray. I used an 8x8 square pan. Mound the pasta evenly into the tomato shells. You may have a little pasta leftover. Sprinkle the mozzarella evenly over the spaghetti mixture.
9. Place the tops back on the tomatoes. Bake the tomatoes for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.

Recipe Notes

Make Ahead: The tomatoes can be hollowed out earlier in the day and stored in the fridge.

Little Helpers: The kids can help hollow out the tomatoes and stuff them with the spaghetti.

Nutrition Facts

Easy Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

Amount Per Serving

Calories 333 Calories from Fat 99

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 11g 17%

Saturated Fat 4g 20%

Cholesterol 15mg 5%

Sodium 281mg 12%

Potassium 621mg 18%

Total Carbohydrates 44g 15%

Dietary Fiber 3g 12%

Sugars 6g

Protein 14g 28%

Vitamin A 32.4%

Vitamin C 30.1%

Calcium 22.9%

Iron 11.2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Things You’ll Need

Pasta Pot I love my pasta pot, it’s tall enough to be able to put all of the spaghetti in without breaking it up and the strainer insert is super convenient.

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Pasta Storage Container These storage containers are great to have on hand, because have you ever tried to close an already opened bag of spaghetti? It’s hard to get those long skinny packages shut. These inexpensive containers keep everything fresh!

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Pasta Serving Spoon It’s so nice to have this spaghetti spoon to serve up heaping portions of pasta with ease.

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