Filipino spaghetti
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Read for freeFilipino spaghetti is a popular dish in the Philippines that’s made with sweetened tomato sauce, ground meat, and hot dogs. It’s usually served with shredded cheese or quick melt cheese on top.
Filipino-style spaghetti stands out because it has a very sweet tomato sauce compared to the regular tomato sauce Italians use. Also, this dish is cooked with hot dogs, ground pork, and banana ketchup (sweet banana catsup) instead of the usual beef.
Italian spaghetti recipes usually contain ground meat but not hot dogs. The addition of the hot dogs makes this “authentic Filipino spaghetti.”
The sauce is also mixed with shredded cheese, and this is what makes it different from the traditional Italian spaghetti sauce.
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Origin
It’s believed that Filipino spaghetti was invented after the introduction of various European and American ingredients brought over by colonizers. Filipino spaghetti is a traditional meal that’s been around from the time that European traders traveled the seas looking for salt and spices.
Spaghetti noodles were imported at that time and modified by local chefs. Like many Filipino dishes, new ingredients and culinary interpretations brought by traders, immigrants, and conquerors found their way into local Filipino cuisine.
After the noodles were imported, the locals developed the sweet meat sauce that’s now associated with Filipino spaghetti. Hot dogs and ketchup were imported by Americans in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The traditional tomato ketchup was turned into banana ketchup to give the spaghetti sauce its unique sweet and tangy flavor. Thus, Filipino spaghetti sauce was invented!
The use of cheddar cheese for this dish was also introduced by Americans.
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Bitemybun's family recipes with complete meal planner and recipe guide.
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Joost Nusselder, the founder of Bite My Bun is a content marketer, dad and loves trying out new food with Japanese food at the heart of his passion, and together with his team he's been creating in-depth blog articles since 2016 to help loyal readers with recipes and cooking tips.
