While this Bacon Cream Cheese Baked Spaghetti is certainly easy enough for a busy weeknight, it most definitely is not health food.

No, this is indulgent comfort food that’s unapologetic in its creamy-cheesiness.

(There’s bacon too!) It’s simple, it’s rich, and it’s utterly delicious.

While many a casserole uses cream of mushroom soup as a shortcut, this one uses cream of bacon soup and it has me feeling like that should have been the go-to casserole shortcut option all along. You simply stir that together with some milk, cream cheese, and onion and garlic powder, bring it to a simmer and then drop the spaghetti right into the liquid. The spaghetti cooks in what will become the sauce, so it saves you some steps and ensures that the pasta is plenty flavorful.

As promised, there is also cheese. A generous helping of mozzarella goes in, which is the perfect melty but mild cheese to accompany the rest of the rich flavors.

And we’re not done with the bacon either! Stir half a cup of crispy, salty bacon into the pasta, transfer it all to a baking dish and top it with more bacon and more mozzarella and then pop it in the oven until everything is hot and bubbly.

When you serve this, dinner is generally a completely silent affair because everyone is too entranced by the creamy, salty, cheesy flavor to make conversation. It’s a crowd-pleaser for sure, it just happens to be one that’s very easy on the cook.