Filipino Macghetti
Filipino spaghetti has always been one of those dishes that immediately feels like a party to me. It’s sweet, savory, meaty, loaded with hot dogs, and usually buried under a mountain of shredded cheese. So I took everything I love about classic Filipino spaghetti and switched up the pasta because my kids love mac and cheese. Meet Filipino Macghetti.
Instead of traditional spaghetti noodles, I use cavatappi, a curly, tube-shaped pasta that catches all that thick, sweet Filipino-style meat sauce in every little groove. It’s basically Filipino spaghetti with a mac-and-cheese pasta.
The sauce has ground beef, garlic, onion, red Filipino hot dogs, tomato sauce, banana ketchup, fish sauce, shredded carrot, and just enough sweetened condensed milk to give it that unmistakably Filipino sweetness.
Ingredients
1 pound cavatappi pasta
3 to 4 tablespoons cooking oil
1 pound ground beef
3 to 5 cloves garlic, chopped
½ small onion, diced
½ medium carrot, finely shredded
1 package Filipino red hot dogs, sliced
24 ounces tomato sauce
¼ cup banana ketchup
1 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce
hot honey (optional)
2 to 4 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 to 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1. Cook the cavatappi in salted boiling water a minute or two past the recommended cooking time. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the cooking oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned.
3. Add the onion and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the garlic and shredded carrot and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
4. Stir in the sliced red hot dogs and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce, banana ketchup, fish sauce, and sweetened condensed milk. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes uncovered stirring occasionally.
6. Add the cooked cavatappi and toss until completely coated. Top generously with shredded cheddar cheese and serve hot. Garnish with hot honey for added sweetness.
The pasta will absorb more sauce as it sits, so when reheating it, add a small splash of water, tomato sauce, or evaporated milk
