This Filipino Spaghetti recipe has the perfect sweetness and flavor. I made it 100% from scratch, and it's honestly one of the best versions I've ever had. I learned how to make it after watching a Filipino chef on TikTok. The secret ingredients are banana sauce and sweetened condensed milk!
For me, this Filipino spaghetti is like a taste of childhood. No, I'm not Filipino, and no, my mother did not make this for me growing up. But I ate it many times because I had a Filipino friend who would trade his lunches with me in middle school. My parents used to own a pizza place, and I would trade my pizza for his sweet spaghetti.
My favorite part about Filipino spaghetti is the sweetness. The sauce is made by cooking down onions and garlic, then simmering it with canned tomatoes, banana sauce, and sweetened condensed milk. It's sweet, savory, and so addictive!
What is banana sauce?
Banana sauce (sometimes called banana ketchup) is just ketchup made from bananas. In the Philippines, bananas are extremely plentiful, and so people started sweetening their ketchup with bananas, and that's how banana sauce was formed. The most popular brands are Jufran and UFC. Here is a picture of my bottle:
One interesting thing I noticed about banana sauce is that the texture is almost like jelly. I think this is because of the ingredients used to thicken it. If you find the ketchup hard to pour out, I recommend sticking a chopstick in it and just stirring it until it breaks up.
Finishing in the sauce
When your spaghetti is 2 minutes from being done, remove it from the pasta water (reserve ยผ cup of the pasta water) and finish cooking it in the sauce. You want to add the remaining pasta water to the sauce so that it has enough moisture to finish cooking the spaghetti.
If by the end of cooking, the sauce is too wet, just increase the heat and boil the sauce for a few minutes until it thickens. On the other hand, if the sauce is too thick, just add more water.
๐ Recipe
Filipino Spaghetti
Ingredients
- ยผ cup oil
- 1 large onion (chopped)
- 6 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 10 hotdogs
- 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
- 1 cup banana sauce/ketchup
- 1 cup beef broth/stock (I mixed 2 ยฝ teaspoons of better than bouillon beef base with 1 cup of water)
- ยผ cup sweetened condensed milk
- ยฝ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1 pound dried spaghetti
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the oil over high heat. Add the onions and cook for 4-5 minutes until golden brown and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute.
- Add the ground pork and cook for another 5 minutes until no longer pink. Use a spatula to break up the pork into small pieces. Add the hotdogs and continue cooking for 1 minute.
- Stir in the crushed tomatoes, banana sauce, and beef broth. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, the texture should be slightly thicker and less watery.
- Stir in the condensed milk and black pepper. Taste for seasoning and add some salt if needed.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (don't make the water too salty. About 1 teaspoon of salt per 4 cups). Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions but remove the spaghetti 2 minutes before they are done.
- Add the spaghetti to the sauce along with ยผ cup of the pasta water. Cook for 2-3 minutes until the spaghetti is al dente. If there is too much moisture in the sauce, just increase the heat and boil the sauce until it thickens. Stir in cheddar cheese and enjoy!
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