Dutch Oven Spaghetti, One Pot
Noodles, sauce, and meat cooked in the same water. No colander, no second pot.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 6.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 95
- protein
- 26 g
- serves
- 5, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 30 min
- water
- 2000 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Spaghetti | 1 lb | snapped in half so it fits the oven |
|---|---|---|
| Dry spaghetti sauce mix | 1 packet | |
| Tomato paste | 1 can (6 oz) | |
| Cooked ground beef | 1/2 lb | browned and drained at home, or freeze-dried and rehydrated |
| Oregano, basil, thyme | 1 tsp each | |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | keeps the noodles from welding together |
Method
- Set the dutch oven over coals with about two inches of water in it. Bring it to a boil.
- Snap the spaghetti in half and add it. Boil, then back the coals off and simmer 10 minutes.
- Pour off the water down to roughly two cups. That leftover starch water is the sauce base, so do not drain it dry.
- Stir in the sauce mix, the tomato paste, the dried herbs, and the beef.
- Lid on, simmer 10 to 15 minutes over low coals. Stir every few minutes so the bottom does not scorch.
- If it is still loose, pull the lid and simmer uncovered until it tightens up.
The whole point is that the pasta water never leaves the pot. Drained pasta water takes the starch with it, and starch is what turns tomato paste into sauce instead of a red slick sitting on top of noodles. Leaving two cups behind gives you enough liquid to reconstitute the mix and enough body to make it cling.
The beef gets browned at home. Cooking raw ground meat over coals in the same pot you are about to boil pasta in means grease, guesswork, and a food safety problem you do not need at a campsite. Freeze-dried beef works the same way and drops the cooler entirely.
Coal management matters more than timing here. A hard boil under the lid will scorch the bottom once the paste goes in, so pull coals off after the noodles soften.
Packing
Sauce mix, herbs, and the paste can can travel in the pot itself. Pre-brown the beef at home and freeze it flat; it thaws in the cooler over the drive.
Variations
- Dehydrated ground beef rehydrated in the sauce step makes this backpackable on a stove.
- Skip the meat and add a cup of dried lentils with the noodles for a vegetarian version.
- A parmesan shaker adds fat and salt and does not need a cooler.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/spaghetti_1pot-1982.asp