A one pot meal, nutritious and delicious, quick and easy, this Mexican Spaghetti makes for the perfect weeknight meal. It tastes so familiar with your favorite taco ingredients but so unique when made in pasta form.
Table of Contents
About this Pasta
Mexican cuisine is one of my favorites. There’s so many ways to enjoy Mexican food from tacos, to enchiladas, to burritos, taco salads, and tostadas. But what about spaghetti?
This Mexican Spaghetti is far from an authentic Mexican meal, but it is crazy good. Made with ground chicken, plenty of veggies, taco seasoning and shredded cheese on top it’s hearty and tasty.
This Mexican Spaghetti is great for the entire family for a weeknight supper or also holds up great for meal prep. After you try it once, this Mexican Pasta is going to become one of your go-to dinner recipes.
And if you love Mexican Cuisine, also check out this Mexican Caesar Salad, this Ranch Taco Salad with Creamy Jalapeño Dressing, or this Mexican 7 Layer Salad Bowl!
Recipe Ingredients
- Ground Chicken - I also love using Mighty Spark meat. They’re almost sold nationwide - they have a ‘fajita’ ground chicken. I’ve used this in this recipe and it’s phenomenal. You can also use lean ground beef or ground pork. Just make sure it’s higher than 90% lean, as we do not want excess fat on the noodles.
- Taco Seasoning - This will give our Mexican Pasta so much flavor.
- Tomatoes - We'll used both canned tomatoes and tomato sauce to create the sauce of our spaghetti which becomes super flavorful when it soaks up some of the taco seasoning.
- Banza Spaghetti Noodles - I like using chickpea noodles to add a little extra protein to pasta dishes.
- Cheese - I used two types of cheese, Pepper Jack and Colby Jack, for extra flavor. You could also use a Mexican cheese blend.
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make This Recipe
1. Heat a large skillet to medium heat (one with a little depth works best, like an OurPlace Always Pan). Grease with cooking spray and add ground chicken, minced garlic, diced white onion, diced bell pepper, and taco seasoning.
2. Break apart the ground chicken and cook until veggies have softened and are no longer pink.
3. Add the canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. Bring the skillet to a boil and stir all together.
4. Then, break the spaghetti noodles into thirds and add to the skillet. Use a large spoon to cover all of the noodles with the sauce ingredients (this is going to cook the noodles).
5. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the skillet. Simmer for 25 minutes - stirring every 5 minutes or so to ensure noodles cook through and don’t clump together. Once the noodles are fully cooked, it’s ready to serve! Top with the cheese, cilantro, green onion and avocado. Enjoy!
Recipe FAQs
Store this pasta an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave for 60-90 seconds.
Chickpea noodles generally cook much faster than regular noodles. If needed, add ¼ cup more water for regular noodles and simmer for ~5 minutes longer.
Be sure to stir the spaghetti every 5 minutes (or even more often) once you add the noodles. If you don't stir, the noodles will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn and/or will clump together (especially the case with chickpea noodles).
If you don’t have a taco seasoning packet handy, you can make your own. Toss one teaspoon each of smoked paprika, chili powder, sea salt, cumin, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano in a mixing bowl. Then, add a fresh crack of black pepper.
Quick tip: Spices lose their potency over time, so if you’ve had that chili powder on the shelf for who knows how many years, you’re likely going to need a little extra.
- Instead of spaghetti noodles use penne, fusilli, bowtie, or shells. For low carb, you could also do spaghetti squash or zoodles.
- Switch out the chicken for ground turkey, ground beef, crumbled tofu, or tempeh.
- Swap the shredded cheese for crumbled cotija cheese, a Mexican cheese similar to feta.
- Veggies: I used a variety of classic Mexican veggies. You can also add jalapeño for some heat, zucchini or yellow squash, mushrooms and/or corn.
More Recipes You'll Love
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Recipe
Mexican Spaghetti
Equipment
- skillet
- Knife
- Cutting Board
- Rubber Spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
Ingredients
- 1 lbs ground chicken, 90% lean or higher
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 1 white onion
- 1 cup bell pepper, diced
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- 1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz
- 1 can fire roasted diced tomatoes, 14.5 oz
- 2 cups water
- 1 box Banza spaghetti noodles
- 2 tbsp green onion, chopped
- ½ cup Pepper Jack Cheese
- ½ cup Colby Jack Cheese
Instructions
- First prepare the vegetables - dice white onion and bell pepper.
- Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Grease with cooking spray and add ground chicken, minced garlic, diced white onion, diced bell pepper, and taco seasoning. Cook until the meat is no longer pink.
- Add the canned diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and water. Bring the skillet to a boil and stir all together.
- Then, break the spaghetti noodles into thirds and add to the skillet. Use a large spoon to cover all of the noodles with the sauce ingredients (this is going to cook the noodles).
- Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover the skillet. Simmer for 25 minutes - stirring every 5 minutes or so to ensure noodles cook through and don’t clump together or stick to the bottom of the pan
- Once the noodles are fully cooked, it’s ready to serve! Top with the cheese, cilantro, green onion and avocado. Enjoy!
Nutrition
Notes
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If you're using MyFitnessPal, search 'A Paige Of Positivity' and find Mexican Spaghetti calories and nutrition facts. Disclaimer: for most accurate macronutrients and caloric breakdown, it is recommended that you input each ingredient into your MyFitnessPal food diary.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. It’s my passion to create dishes that can be shared with others. Tell me something you loved or just say hi!
Courtney Paige says
I love this recipe! So delicious and easy to make!
Sydney Van Acker says
woah, so unexpectedly delicious. gave me taco casserole vibes but more like comfort food.
marlee burridge says
so yummy!
maggie says
i would’ve never thought of this and could never imagine what this tastes like! it was absolutely delicious! such a classic comforting meal with a tangy twist, will definitely be making again!