Mexican Spaghetti is a great quick and easy dinner. It’s essentially made as a one-pot meal. You can make it for a weeknight dinner, or cook a big batch for a crowd.
If you’re looking for a new way to cook spaghetti noodles, this Mexican spaghetti recipe is for you. It’s one of our favorite Mexican dishes. In our family, we love swapping out Taco Tuesday with this fantastic recipe.
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What is Mexican Spaghetti?
Mexican Spaghetti is a mix of delicious ingredients like ground beef and shredded cheese, mixed with a spice blend over spaghetti. Kind of like taco spaghetti. Below we have listed the ingredients for this amazing Mexican Spaghetti Recipe.
Ingredients for Mexican Spaghetti
- Ground beef
- Freshly grated cheese
- Taco seasoning (store-bought or homemade)
- Ro-tel
- Onion
- Tomato Sauce
- Spaghetti (broken in half, you can purchase one pot-size noodle)
- You can use gluten-free spaghetti if you are following a gluten-free lifestyle.
- Cilantro (optional)
1. Ground Beef
Ground beef is one of the main ingredients when making this spaghetti dish. It is cooked through and then simmered in the spaghetti sauce to add flavor and depth. When choosing which ground beef is best, I would recommend going with 85/15. It’s lean yet has enough fat to provide the dish with the perfect amount of taste.
2. Onion
With any spaghetti sauce, diced onions play a huge role in creating flavor. You can choose from a yellow onion to a white onion. The only onion I would shy away from would be red (purple). Feel free to garnish with green onions when serving.
3. Freshly Grated Cheese
Freshly grated cheese is highly recommended when making Mexican Spaghetti. Store-bought shredded cheese is packed with certain additives like cellulose. This helps keep the cheese from sticking together. Cellulose is not necessarily harmful to ingest, however, it does not break down well when melting.
Cheddar cheese is our top choice when making Mexican spaghetti. You can choose a mild cheddar, or go bold with a sharp cheddar cheese. Feel free to add more or as little cheese as you like.
4. Taco Seasoning
My favorite part of this spaghetti recipe is the Mexican blend of spices. You can totally make things easy and use store-bought taco seasoning, but I can promise you homemade taco seasoning is so good!
Ingredients for Homemade Taco Seasoning:
- Salt and Pepper
- Chili Powder
- Oregano
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
- Cumin
- Paprika
- Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
5. Ro-tel
Ro-tel packs a bold flavor to this dish. It consists of tomatoes and green chilies and gives this Mexican spaghetti sauce a kick of spice and flavor. You can keep it more of a simple tomato-based sauce if you’re not into that extra flavor, but I suggest you give it a try!
6. Tomato Sauce
A jar of tomato sauce works, but you can easily add flavor with 1 jar of canned tomatoes (crushed) and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. A few popular brands would be Cento, Hunts, and Tuttoroso.
The way of achieving great flavor would be to sautee the onions and then add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste. This is the start of building the perfect tomato sauce.
7. Spaghetti
Since this Mexican spaghetti recipe is considered a one-pot meal, you want the fideo noodles (Mexican noodles) about half the size of spaghetti noodles. You can easily accomplish this by breaking the spaghetti noodles in half. One-pot noodles are also sold in many grocery stores. Walmart in particular makes its own brand of half-length spaghetti.
8. Cilantro
Fresh cilantro for most has a citrusy, fresh flavor. It’s perfect for this one delicious dish, however, it is an acquired taste. Many love it and others dislike it. A study was done and about 5-15% of people dislike cilantro due to its soapy taste.
You can choose to garnish or not to garnish with fresh cilantro.
How do I make Mexican Spaghetti?
- 1 Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat to medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until translucent. Make sure to adjust the heat so they do not burn.
- Add the ground beef to the onions and cook while breaking them apart.
- Add the Mexican homemade blend or store-bought spices to the pan and continue to cook until no longer pink. You will want to drain any excess fat from the pan before moving to the next step.
- Pour in the pasta sauce, Ro-tel, and water and bring to a boil.
- Once the sauce has come to a boil, you can add the half-length spaghetti to the skillet and reduce it to medium heat.
- Cover and cook stirring frequently so the noodles do not stick together. I suggest cooking the pasta until it is al dente, 18-20 minutes.
- Once the pasta is ready, add half of the cheese and mix until melted.
- Move the pasta into a large bowl and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro (optional)
Can You Add More Ingredients to Mexican Spaghetti?
Easy answer, yes! We love to add extra ingredients to switch it up a bit. There is a lot you can do to kick this great recipe up a notch.
Our Tuesday taco night has been taken over by Tuesday taco spaghetti night. We have even dared to create taco pasta. Yes, we use flour tortillas and make taco spaghetti, or spaghetti tacos, whichever way you decide to say. You really can’t go wrong with this delicious dish.
Additional Ingredients:
- Cream cheese
- Cream cheese can help thicken the sauce and cut down on the heat of the spice blend.
- Sour Cream
- Sour cream is perfect to add at the end. It will provide a rich and creamy flavor.
- Diced tomatoes
- Diced tomatoes are the perfect replacement for the Rotel, especially if you’re not a fan of green chilies.
- Crumbled queso fresco
- Crumbled queso fresco can provide a fresh and mild cheese flavor. It is commonly used in Mexican food.
- Green pepper
- Green pepper diced up can add flavor and crunch.
- Monterey jack cheese
- Monterey jack cheese provides a mild buttery flavor.
Can you substitute ingredients for Mexican Spaghetti?
There are many reasons why you would want or need to substitute certain ingredients. Whether you are interested in leaner meat, dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan, or any special diet you may need to alter the ingredients listed above.
Substitutions
- Ground turkey
- Ground chicken
- Tofu
- Dairy-free/vegan cheese
- Gluten-free pasta
Please comment below if you have a favorite substitution so we can add it to the list.
Can you store Mexican Spaghetti for leftovers?
Yes, you can store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days. You can also create the Mexican spaghetti sauce in advance and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or freeze it until needed. If you choose to make in advance and freeze it, just place it in the refrigerator at least 24 hours prior to use so it’s easy to remove from the container and ready to heat in a pan.
Mexican Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive Oil
- 2 medium Yellow Onions diced
- 4 tbsp taco seasoning see below for homemade recipe
- 1 pound ground Beef 85/20 preferred
- 1 8 oz can RO-TEL
- 1 8 oz can or jar tomato sauce
- 3 ½ cups water
- 1 lb spaghetti broke in half or purchased the half-length size
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese freshly grated preferred
- 2 tbsp Cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or large enough skillet with a lid over medium heat to medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for about 4-5 minutes or until translucent. Make sure to adjust the heat so they do not burn.
- Add the ground beef to the onions and cook while breaking them apart.
- Add the Mexican homemade blend or store-bought spices to the pan and continue to cook until no longer pink. You will want to drain any excess fat from the pan before moving to the next step.
- Pour in the pasta sauce, Ro-tel, and water and bring to a boil.
- Once the sauce has come to a boil, you can add the half-length spaghetti to the skillet and reduce it to medium heat.
- Cook the pasta according to the package stirring frequently. I suggest cooking the pasta in the sauce until it is al dente. Overcooking the spaghetti can make this recipe mushy.
- Once the pasta is ready, add half of the cheese and mix until melted.
- Move the pasta into a large bowl and sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
- Garnish with chopped cilantro (optional)
Video
Notes
2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Pepper
2 tbsp Chili Powder
2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tsp Paprika
½ tsp Oregano
½ tsp Garlic Powder
½ tsp Onion Powder
½ tsp red pepper flakes (optional) Additional Ingredients for Mexican Spaghetti
Add ¼ cup cream cheese to the sauce to thicken up and reduce the overheat of the recipe.
Top with sour cream.
Add more shredded cheese and flavors like monterey jack cheese.
Make it for taco night and wrap the spaghetti up in tortillas.
Sprinkle green onions on top to add more flavor.
Add diced tomatoes to give fresh flavor to the recipe.
Use store bought taco seasoning if needed.
Make it vegan by using tofu and vegan cheese.
Make it gluten free with gluten free spaghetti.
Use a leaner meat like ground turkey or ground chicken.
