Throughout my college years I have had a lot of pasta. Why? It’s super cheap (what college student has a lot of money?) and it’s fast (gotta get back to homework!). Then I got married and I felt like I couldn’t feed my husband plain old pasta every night, even if he said he didn’t mind. However, my need for cheap and fast meals didn’t end since we’re both students, so the pasta had to stay. We still have regular old pasta with sauce from a jar more than I would like to admit, but whenever possible I like to dress it up a bit.
Homemade Spaghettios is definitely a favorite in our home. My husband lists it in his top 3 favorite meals!! I don’t think I really have a “favorite” meal (or meals) to eat, but this is probably one of my favorites to make. It requires no preparation beforehand, most of the ingredients I usually always have, and I can make it fast on a weeknight when we need a delicious dinner.
I love that I can alter the ingredients to what I like, or what I have on hand. Sometimes I add more or less red pepper flakes or garlic. Or sometimes I’ll add a little more sugar to make it a bit sweeter. My hubby likes it cheesy, so more often than not, I’ll add lots of cheese (depending on what I have on hand), or a different kind of cheese. This last time I even added in a little parmesan cheese! It’s a really fun recipe to tweak and have fun with – so I encourage you to do so and make it to your own liking.
Homemade Spaghettios
Ingredients:
8 oz. ditalini pasta
3 Tbs. Oil
4 cloves garlic, pressed OR 2 Tbs. chopped garlic
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 cup water
2 Tbs. sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook for one minute.
3. Stir in the tomato sauce, tomato paste, water, sugar, and butter. Heat until slightly bubbly, stirring frequently.
4. Stir in the milk and remove from heat.
5. Stir in the cheese and cooked/drained pasta.
6. Add salt/pepper to taste, and enjoy!
Stepson has been in a big spaghettio fix lately… will have to try these! Hugs, Holly
http://coconutheadsurvivalguide.com/blog/
You’ll have to try them out and see if he likes them! They’re SO yummy, for both adults and children! Let me know how he like them
Enjoy your week!
These are really good. Just made a variation not too long ago too. I love this version so much better than the canned version.
Oh my gosh, you’re so right! This version is SO much better than the canned stuff. I would recommend it to anyone!
Wow! I’m so pinning these and trying them very very soon. Spaghetti Os are one of the few things my toddler eats more than half a bite. Found you from Moonlight Mason Jars!
Thank you Stephanie! I hope that your toddler likes them! It can sure be rough when a child won’t eat, but these are so good, I’m sure they won’t be able to resist it! Good luck – let me know how it turns out
Thanks for stopping by!
I have never been a huge fan of canned spaghettios, but that looks real yummy! I will take scratch over canned any day, and my son loves pasta, I will have to try this! Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, canned spaghettios can become old really fast for me, so I can see how you may not like them, but I don’t think I could ever get sick of spaghettios from scratch! Thank you so much for stopping by, hope you have a great day!
Oh, I SO need this! My one year old will only eat mac n cheese type stuff! I can’t wait to try this out! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you! I hope that it is a success and that your child ends up liking them! Thanks for stopping by
pinned it! I can’t eat a lot of processed foods because of an allergy, so it’s awesome to find these DIY recipes that I CAN eat!
Thank you! I’m so glad that you like the idea of them. I hope you enjoy the recipe!!
We eat a lot of pasta – my husband often asks if we can have more pasta, lol.
I can’t wait to try this homemade spaghettios. thanks for sharing on Foodie Friday
Ha we’re the exact same way! Sometimes if we just had pasta the night before, my husband will ask for it again the next day! This is one of the reasons why I love this recipe
Thanks for stopping by!
Well… you had me at “pasta” and then you added cheese. lol YUM!! These look fantastic. Pinned!
xoxo
I’ll have to give this a try – I’m a sucker for the red italian chef canned stuff, but don’t like the guilt!
This is awesome, sometimes you want some of those classics from your childhood, but I try not to buy processed food for my son. So, I can finally enjoy them and let him try them.
What sort of tomato sauce is used? I am in Australia and our tomato sauce is similar to ketchup. Thanks
Wish I’d had this recipe when my kiddoz were little! I’d have saved so much money from the canned varitey, and NO DOUBT home made always tastes better! Deb @ Kneaded Creations
Omg…must try this, I loved this as a kid as well!