This recipe is every kid’s favorite – Filipino Spaghetti – and comes from the orphanage that I worked at for a year in Cebu. Spaghetti, hot dogs, tomato sauce, and seasonings. So simple, so good.
Filipino Spaghetti
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3rd time I’m making this and among all the recipes there are out there, this one is the tops and the best!
Del Martinis
Filipino Spaghetti.
It’s a thing. It’s a sweet, sticky, saucy, even-sold-at-McDonald’s thing.
Much like the pancit from last week, this meal was served at almost every birthday party at the orphanage where I worked this last year, usually mushed together on kids’ plastic plates with heaping piles of steaming rice and some mixed vegetables. On this particular party day, Auntie Elvira and Auntie Puriza invited me into the kitchen and showed me how it’s done. Here’s the story, in pictures.
PS. Red hot dogs remain one of my unsolved mysteries about the Philippines.
What’s In Filipino Spaghetti?
This combination of ingredients makes for a really delicious, saucy, sweet spaghetti. It’s one of my favorite Filipino recipes!
Ingredients you’ll need:
- Spaghetti
- Tomato sauce and paste
- Onion and garlic
- Carrots and red peppers
- Ground pork
- Hot dogs
- Seasoning mix (Magic Sarap)
- Evaporated milk
- Grated cheese
How To Make Filipino Spaghetti
1
Gather Your Ingredients.
We’ve got our tomato sauce, tomato paste, hot dogs, veggies and aromatics, and more, all ready to go!
2
Cook and drain your spaghetti.
Any standard spaghetti is all you need here.
3
Mince the veggies and aromatics.
Carrots, bell peppers, onion, and garlic. Gang’s all here and it smells delicious!
4
Sauté ground sausage, hot dogs, and veggies in a wok.
Brown up the ground sausage and hot dogs in a pan. Then add your veggies, onion, and garlic! Things are really coming together now.
5
Add sauce and milk.
We’re almost there! Add the tomato sauce and paste, then the evaporated milk. Your sauce is ready to go.
6
Toss it all together!
Sweet, sticky, saucy perfection! I love this so much.
Filipino Spaghetti: FAQs
I don’t eat pork. What can I substitute?
Just use 100% beef hot dogs and switch the ground pork for another ground meet (ground turkey, ground beef, etc.).
Can I use banana ketchup here?
Sure can! I did not use it, because I am sharing what I was shown. These women are Filipinas, cooking for Filipinos, and they did not use banana catsup in their spaghetti.
What seasoning do you use here?
The seasoning they use is called Magic Sarap and it just adds a salty flavor! Any basic salty-type seasoning would be fine.
Filipino Spaghetti
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: 12–16 servings 1x
Description
This recipe is every kid’s favorite – Filipino Spaghetti – and comes from the orphanage that I worked at for a year in Cebu. Spaghetti, hot dogs, tomato sauce, and seasonings. So simple, so good.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 lb. spaghetti noodles
- 1 lb. Italian tomato sauce (the kind they used was called “Italian” but tasted sweet and was very smooth in texture)
- 8 ounces tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons minced onion
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1/2 cup minced carrots and red peppers
- 2 cups diced or thinly sliced hot dogs
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1 teaspoon seasoning mix
- 7 ounces evaporated milk
- grated cheese for topping (they use a processed cheese similar to Velveeta)
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to package directions. Set aside.
- Place the garlic, onion, and oil in a large saucepan or skillet. Saute for 3-4 minutes or until soft and fragrant. Add the ground pork and brown the meat until it’s completely cooked.
- Add the minced vegetables and hot dog pieces and stir to combine. Add the water and allow the mixture to simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste to the meat and continue to simmer the mixture for another 10-15 minutes. Add the evaporated milk, salt, and seasoning mix and stir until incorporated.
- Combine the noodles and the sauce in a large pot or mixing bowl. Top with grated cheese. At Cherne they grate a processed cheese similar to Velveeta and let it melt into the top layer of the spaghetti.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sauté
- Cuisine: Filipino
Keywords: spaghetti, filipino spaghetti, filipino recipe
Here’s my full post on the Children’s Shelter of Cebu website. While you’re there, you can check out the special projects page to see if there’s a need that you and your family could meet, like providing a meal (maybe even spaghetti!) for an entire home of 30 children for $33.
These kids are so precious to us – thank you for getting excited about this series with me and loving them from across the ocean!
{Just so you know: Many people have commented on this use of banana catsup – a very sweet tasting catsup made from bananas, sugar, vinegar, etc. – as being necessary for authentic Filipino spaghetti. For this recipe, I am sharing what I was shown. These women are Filipinas, cooking for Filipinos, and they did not use banana catsup in their spaghetti. Comments that are negative or disrespectful towards them in any way because of this will not be tolerated.}
More Filipino Recipes To Try Next
August 22, 2013
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
Wow is very nice the recipe.that looks gorgeous.i love you this picture.
This Filipino spaghetti recipe is, by far, the best one I’ve found so far. I absolutely love the way it turns out and have converted a lot of fans here. I use the UFC Spaghetti Sauce Sweet Filipino Style, available at Asian markets or Amazon. I also puree the onions and pepper which makes the consistency creamy.
Very intrigued! Question: is the minced carrot and red peppers just equal parts minced carrot and red bell pepper? Or is it some sort of pickled (or not) mixture unique to Filipino cooking? Thanks!
Yep! You can use 1/4 cup carrots and 1/4 cup red pepper.
People get weird about red hot dogs but will eat red velvet cake without a problem. Great recipe and making it today.
The recipe calls for a teaspoon of seasoning mix. Could you please elaborate on what seasoning mix to use? Or what spices make up the seasoning mix?
What kind of seasoning mix is used?
Hi Liz! We don’t have the name of the exact mix that was used, but any all purpose seasoning mixture will work!
I want to book 13 to 18 os it still available
Hey everyone. I want to make this but was wondering if anyone knows what the “1 teaspoon seasoning mix” is? Thank you
Hi Jake! Lindsay says the seasoning they use in The Philippines is called Magic Sarap and it just adds a salty flavor to the dish. Any basic salty-type seasoning would be fine.
Made this for the first time today and it was absolutely delicious! I used the UFC sweetened Filipino style spaghetti sauce as my base and loved it way more than a previous version that I made with Italian style sauce and banana ketchup added for sweetness. This is now my go to recipe for Filipino style spaghetti . Thank you!!
I just finished making this recipe and it was so delicious! Unfortunately I didn’t have red peppers so I used orange peppers, and I didn’t have carrots. Nonetheless it was super delicious!
So glad to hear it, Dariana!
I really like these Filipino recipes! My dad is Filipino and my mom is white. He didn’t know how to cook… except for white rice… which I still eat daily… lol. What I’m looking for is a recipe for this meal that I don’t know the name for. It’s a round white bread type ball with a meat filling. Have you heard of this. The other thing I’m looking for is a meal that’s all black and gross looking. My dad loved it and we all though it looked gross. Do you know what I’m talking about?
The evaporated milk is so interesting! I’ve gotta try this, maybe even tonight. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
My Tita also uses condensed milk for the spaghetti sauce, i find it weird at first but the taste is okay, i learned to love it! Thank you for appreciating Filipino style foods!
Equivalents: A small tin of evaporated milk is 5 oz / 150 ml. Large sizes are 12 oz (350 ml.)
Hi! I love exploring different ingredients when it comes to cooking spaghetti; which would taste better to my tastebuds but really I just want for a simple one. Anyways, I just wonder and got puzzled of the ingredients in the picture versus the ingredients stated.
In the picture, aside from “Tomato PASTE” is the “SPAGHETTI SAUCE”
But,
On the ingredients listed below, it is mentioned their:
“TOMATO SAUCE”
Would like to have clarification.
Is it “spaghetti sauce” or “tomato sauce” ?
Anyways, Would definitely try to cook this out!
Thanks! 🙂
I just finished making this, makes me really nostalgic for the spaghetti one of my Filipina coworkers used to make for me. The only thing I changed was adding mushrooms, because she did too!
Thank you for the wonderful recipe, hats off to you and the lovely ladies who came up with it. Will definitely be making this again. 🙂
Thanks for sharing, Louisa!
These recipes provide the perfect toppings and complements for classic spaghetti noodles. Spaghetti is the most popular pasta on the planet and with good reason: it’s convenient, delicious.
OMG! My son is Filipino! We adopted him in 1997. He was from the province of Davao. They moved him to Manila for us to pick him up. So nice to se some recipes
I have been looking for a sweet spagetti sauce that uses cream of Mushroom soup. We used to call it my Mom’s Pink Spagetti, my dad loved it, us kids teased her mercilessly about it looking anemic. Now that she has been gone for over 20 years–I really want to find this recipe—this looked like it in the picture. Her’s was much more like Italian with the can or two of condensed crm of mushroom soup added, but this definitely piked my interest.
Hi Lindsay
This is my first time visiting your blog. Thank you for sharing the recipe about Filipino Spaghetti. I am currently residing here in the Philippines, and people used banana ketchup. But I prefer to used tomato ketchup. Before residing in the Philippines, I was born in Kuwait and lived there for 18 years, and we only have tomato ketchup there. Surprisingly, the spaghetti tastes good. I don’t really use condensed milk, and this is the first time I heard about it. Apparently, some locals have their own version of cooking spaghetti. I look forward to trying this recipe.
As a Filipina herself, I can vouch for this recipe being delicious! I grew up in Southern California but this twist on spaghetti is something that I am familiar with. I have turned to this recipe over and over whenever I have a hankering for it. I love how your blog has incorporated Filipino recipes and vignettes of the culture. Thank you!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed this, Liz!
I made this tonight – fantastic! Nothing complex here except accessing the correct ingredients, and the very fact this is a ‘thing’ brought to our attention. Was so good. Thank you Lindsay!
What is the seasoning mix in the recipe and will any hot dogs work?
Thank you.
Thelma
Hello! I see in the recipe that you have a seasoning mix. I don’t see what the mixture is made of? Unless I completely missed it in the recipe.
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