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    Home / Dinner / Filipino Spaghetti

    Filipino Spaghetti

    Sweet, saucy spaghetti with ground beef, hot dogs, and melted cheese — the birthday-party pasta generations of Filipino kids grew up on.

    ⏱ 15 minPrep time
    🔥 40 minCook time
    🍽 6Servings
    🏷 DinnerCategory
    ☆☆☆☆☆No ratings yet
    Filipino Spaghetti — sweet saucy spaghetti with ground beef and hot dogs, topped with cheese

    Filipino spaghetti is the country’s sweet-style pasta, the undisputed king of birthday parties. Its sauce is made with banana ketchup, which gives it a fruity tang and a beautiful reddish color, sweetened with sugar and loaded with ground beef and sliced hot dogs. Popularized by fast-food chains but perfected in home kitchens, it is the pasta of first birthday parties, school celebrations, and family reunions — a taste that carries grown adults straight back to childhood.

    Sweet, saucy, and topped with cheese

    The sauce is glossy and thick, noticeably sweet with a tomato-fruity depth, studded with tender beef and rounds of hot dog that everyone fights over. A shower of grated cheddar melts into the hot noodles, adding salt and richness against the sweetness. It is not trying to be Italian, and that is exactly the point — it is unapologetically indulgent, and kids and grown-ups alike go back for seconds, sometimes thirds. No Filipino party is complete without it.

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    Step by stepInstructions

    1. Cook the spaghetti in salted boiling water according to package directions until al dente. Drain and set aside.
    2. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat and brown the ground beef, breaking it up, for 6 to 8 minutes.
    3. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 2 minutes, then add the hot dogs and cook for 2 minutes more.
    4. Pour in the banana ketchup, tomato sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, until the sauce is thick and glossy.
    5. Taste and adjust the sweetness, then toss the cooked spaghetti with the sauce until well coated.
    6. Serve in bowls topped with a generous shower of grated cheddar cheese.

    💡 Chef tips & storage

    Taste the sauce before serving and add sugar a spoonful at a time — the sweetness should be present but not cloying. Banana ketchup is worth seeking out at an Asian market; it gives the sauce its signature tang.

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    Recipe details

    Prep15 min
    Cook40 min
    Servings6
    CategoryDinner
    PublishedAugust 17, 2026
    Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes

    Hi, I'm Emily 🧡

    Hi, I'm Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes. Simple, tested comfort food for real weeknights, written down the way grandma would. Pull up a chair. More about me →

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