Taco Spaghetti
A copycat of the Taco Spaghetti that has been on the menu at Ross Park Drive Inn in Pocatello, Idaho since 1950. Plain spaghetti, a ladle of red sauce and taco meat over the middle, and a mountain of shredded cheddar on top. It never sees the oven.
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 598kcal
Cost: $13
Equipment
- 12" Cast Iron Skillet
- 2 quart saucepan
- Large pot for pasta
- Box grater
Ingredients
Taco Meat
- 1 lb ground beef 80/20
- 1 ½ teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ¾ teaspoon granulated garlic
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon sweet paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper adjust to taste
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅔ cup tomato sauce from the 15 oz can below
- ⅓ cup beef broth or water
Spaghetti Sauce
- 15 oz can tomato sauce divided, ⅔ cup goes to the taco meat, the rest, about 1 ¼ cups, goes here
- 1 ½ tablespoon tomato paste
- ⅓ cup water
- ¾ teaspoon granulated garlic
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
Hot Sauce (for serving)
- ⅔ cup tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon water
- ¾ teaspoon chili powder
- ¼ teaspoon granulated garlic
- ⅛ teaspoon cayenne pepper up to ¼ tsp
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
For Assembly
- 12 oz spaghetti ¾ of a standard box
- 1 lb mild cheddar cheese shredded from a block, about 4 cups
- 4 slices Texas toast garlic bread
Instructions
Make the taco meat
- Brown the ground beef in a 12" cast iron skillet over medium heat, about 8 minutes. Break it up as fine as you can as it cooks. A potato masher works better than a spoon here. Do not add onion. Ground beef is cooked through at 160F.
- Drain off most of the fat, but leave a little behind for flavor.
- Stir in the chili powder, cumin, granulated garlic, onion powder, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Cook about 1 minute, until it smells good.
- Add ⅔ cup of the tomato sauce and the beef broth. Simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the meat is loose and saucy. It should fall off a spoon in a soft ribbon, not sit there in a clump. Add a splash of water if it tightens up. Keep it warm.
Make the spaghetti sauce
- Whisk the remaining tomato sauce with the tomato paste, water, granulated garlic, onion powder, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper in a saucepan.
- Simmer uncovered about 10 minutes. Keep it thin enough to pour. If it coats the back of a spoon heavily, thin it with a little water.
Make the hot sauce
- Whisk all the hot sauce ingredients together in a small bowl. No cooking needed. Serve at room temperature.
Assemble
- Cook the spaghetti about 1 minute past al dente. Drain it. Do not rinse it and do not sauce it.
- Toast the garlic bread.
- Mound plain noodles onto each plate. Leave bare noodle showing around the edges.
- Ladle spaghetti sauce over the center of the noodles, then ladle taco meat over the sauce.
- Pile the shredded cheddar over the top. Do not stir it in and do not put it in the oven. The heat coming off the noodles softens the bottom of the cheese while the top stays shreddy, and that contrast is the whole point.
- Serve right away with garlic bread and a small cup of hot sauce on the side.
Notes
- Yes, a whole pound of cheese for four plates. That is not a typo. Look at any photo of the real thing and you will see the cheese is about half the plate. This is the number most people cut, and cutting it is why their version does not taste like the drive-in.
- Make it a Mess. At the drive-in, adding refried beans and diced raw onion turns Taco Spaghetti into a Mess. Warm a can of refried beans, spoon it on before the cheese, and scatter diced onion over the top.
- Shred the cheese yourself. Bagged shredded cheese is coated in cellulose to keep it from clumping, and it will not slump the same way over hot noodles. A block of mild cheddar on the medium side of a box grater is what you want.
- Do not bake it. This is the mistake every other taco spaghetti recipe makes. Residual heat does the work.
- Do not sauce the noodles. Plain noodles under a center ladle is what makes this different from a one pot taco pasta.
- No onion in the meat. That is a real constraint, not a shortcut. Onions belong in the Mess.
- Make ahead. The taco meat, spaghetti sauce and hot sauce all keep 4 days in the fridge and reheat well. Cook fresh pasta and assemble at the last minute.
- Tomato sauce math. One 15 oz can covers both the meat and the sauce. The hot sauce needs a separate 8 oz can, and you will have a little left over.
Nutrition
Calories: 598kcal | Carbohydrates: 69g | Protein: 30g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 74mg | Sodium: 1537mg | Potassium: 892mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 10g | Vitamin A: 1509IU | Vitamin C: 14mg | Calcium: 185mg | Iron: 5mg
