Baked Spaghetti Skillet
Ground beef, sauce, and broken spaghetti cooked down in one pot, finished with hard cheese.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 20 min
- total time
- 25 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Spaghetti | 8 oz | snapped into thirds so it fits the pot |
|---|---|---|
| Canned or pouched cooked ground beef | 12 oz | or two pouches of chicken if beef is hard to find |
| Jarred pasta sauce | 16 oz | pouched sauce weighs less and will not break |
| Canned diced tomatoes | 14.5 oz | drained, juice saved for the pot |
| Dried onion flakes | 2 tbsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Italian seasoning | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried parsley | 2 tbsp | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp | |
| Hard aged cheese | 4 oz | parmesan or dry jack; keeps unrefrigerated for days |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp |
Method
- Boil 700 ml of water in the pot with the salt. Add the broken spaghetti and cook until just short of soft, about 8 minutes.
- Do not drain. Pour off only the water that sits above the pasta.
- Stir in the beef, sauce, drained tomatoes, onion flakes, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning.
- Simmer on low heat, stirring often so the bottom does not scorch, until the sauce clings to the pasta. Ten minutes is usually enough.
- Kill the heat. Stir in the oil and parsley, then grate the cheese over the top and put the lid on for two minutes.
- Serve straight from the pot.
The original is a casserole: boil pasta, brown meat, layer it into a dish, and bake it under cheese for half an hour. No oven at camp, so the pot does both jobs. Cooking the pasta and then simmering the sauce onto it in the same water gets you the same thick, clingy texture the bake was after, and it saves you a drain and a second pan.
The fresh things are the parts that had to change. Onion and bell pepper became onion flakes and seasoning, mozzarella became hard aged cheese that survives a warm day in a pack. Do not skip the low-heat simmer at the end. That is where the starch and the sauce come together instead of sitting in a puddle at the bottom of the pot.
Packing
Dry spices, onion flakes, and parsley go in one small bag mixed together. Snap the spaghetti at home and bag it so it stops stabbing your pack. Cheese travels in a wax paper wrap, not plastic.
Variations
- Swap the beef for a can of chicken chunks and use half the sauce for a lighter pot.
- A can of drained mixed vegetables stirred in at the simmer stage stretches this to five servings.
- For backpacking, dehydrate the finished sauce and beef at home, then rehydrate with the pasta water.
https://morefood.org/making-spirits-and-budgets-bright-with-feasts-mains-and-meats