Home-made Jolly Spaghetti Recipe | Panlasang Pinoy Recipes™ (2024)

Italians look away! This spaghetti recipe has is truly bastardized and has been given the Filipino treatment and is now a fully-realized Filipino dish. That’s right, the jolly spaghetti is a fully certified Filipino recipe (if that’s even possible) and it has taken over the nation.

Seriously, purists of Italian cuisine would probably have a heart attack with this recipe but Filipinos love it and many would think of this recipe first and its flavors when talking about a delicious plate of spaghetti.

Most western and European people would think of the classic spaghetti and meatballs but for Filipinos, the jolly spaghetti with its slices of red hotdogs, shredded cheese on top, and sweetness is the staple pasta dish.

To Filipinos, the jolly spaghetti needs no introduction but for the foreigners just coming across this recipe, the jolly spaghetti originates from a popular fast-food restaurant chain in the Philippines called Jollibee.

Jollibee is the oldest restaurant chain in the Philippines first gaining popularity for their ice cream, then the delicious yumburger, then their fried chicken which is the best out of all the fast-food chains in my opinion, then they introduced their jolly spaghetti. A lot of their signature products took over the nation and their jolly spaghetti recipe became the standard spaghetti recipe for Filipinos.

Now that the jolly spaghetti has become popular throughout the country, many Filipinos have strived to capture the sweet taste and texture that it has with their own homemade spaghetti. In fact, the average Filipino will probably describe the ideal spaghetti dish as having sweet tomato sauce, ground meat, with slices of hotdog, and gracious toppings of shredded cheese.

Practically every household in the Philippines these days have their version of their own jolly spaghetti that they are proud of and would gladly offer a platter to other households for whenever there is a special occasion.

I didn’t know any other version of spaghetti as a kid other than the jolly spaghetti until I got interested in cooking and exploring a wider range of recipes and finally discovered that the jolly spaghetti I grew up with was a bastardized version of the Italian spaghetti. And through the exploration of the internet for recipes and getting to eat at fancy Italian and fusion restaurants, I did get to have a taste of the original Italian version of spaghetti.

But at this point, there’s no denying that the jolly spaghetti flavor has forever a place into my palate and would always consider it the best version of the pasta with its Filipino spin.

Now, I’ve delved into cooking some authentic Italian recipes like spaghetti as a practice of cooking skills but I realized that I hardly make the everyday Pinoy style jolly spaghetti for this site. I guess I considered this recipe as such a common one that previous entries for the Pinoy style spaghettis I have on this site always have a twist to them.

So now, we’re going to recreate the ever so popular jolly spaghetti. This recipe is meant for a big serving size for those meant for those special occasions like Christmas or a celebration. But many Filipinos also cook it at home whenever they want something special.

The ingredients for this recipe are very easy to get at the store and they’re specifically picked to alleviate the sweetness of the dish. We’ll need 2 pounds of spaghetti pasta, 3 15-ounce cans of tomato sauce, ½ can of tomato paste, 1 pound of ham that we need to mince, 1 ½ pound of ground pork, 2 cups of beef broth, and 1 cup of Velveeta cheese that should be shredded.

We’re also gonna need 6 to 8 pieces of red hotdogs that should be sliced diagonally which always have on my fridge. I also prepared ½ cup of granulated white sugar, 1 minced medium yellow onion, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of cooking oil, and some salt and pepper. All of which I got from my pantry.

Now for the cooking process! First off, cook the spaghetti in boiling water according to the package instruction. Drain the pot and set the pasta aside.

Now for the sauce, heat the oil in a cooking pot and saute the garlic and onion first. Then add the minced ham and let it cook for 3 minutes. Now it’s time to put in the ground pork and let that cook for 3 to 5 minutes.

Then pour in the tomato sauce and beef broth. Stir to get everything blended and let it bring to a boil. Once the pot is on a boil, let it simmer for 60 minutes.

After the 60 minutes is done, add in the sliced red hotdogs and tomato paste. Stir everything and let it cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Then it’s time to put in the sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir the pot until all of the ingredients are well incorporated.

Finally for the presentation! Arrange the pasta on a separate plate with the amount you want and pour meat sauce over the pasta. Lastly, top it off with the shredded cheese.

We now have the delicious home-made jolly spaghetti. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

CookingInstructions:

1. Cook the spaghetti pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat the oil in a cooking pot.
3. Saute the garlic and onion.
4. Add the ham. Cook for 3 minutes.
5. Put-in the ground pork. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes.
6. Pour-in the tomato sauce and beef broth. Stir and let boil. Simmer for 60 minutes.
7. Add the hotdogs and tomato paste. Stir and cook for 10 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
8. Put-in the sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir until the ingredients are well incorporated.
9. Arrange the spaghetti pasta in an individual plate. Pour the meat sauceover the pasta and top with cheese.
10. Serve. Share and enjoy!

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