Homemade Spaghettios Recipe – With Extra Veggies
Good morning! The weather has been unseasonably warm for us here in Utah, and we are taking full advantage! In fact, I wrote just two weeks ago, “we’re headed out for our last hike of the year”, and then BAM! A 60 degree day (that felt like 70) in mid-November! I just couldn’t let it get away. At first, my kids didn’t want to go. But I’ve been talking about this book Spark, with my running partner that discusses how exercise affects kids brains and literally makes them smarter! Plus, with the diminishing vitamin D and the fresh air, I decided to make them go. And guess, what- they had a blast!
Anyway, onto our newest recipe- Homemade Spaghettios Recipe! Do we need to discuss why this canned meal needs a makeover? Well, it starts with the presence of high fructose corn syrup. That ingredient alone screams: Make a homemade version of me! But it ends with a list too long for us.
Water, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Macaroni Product with Added Calcium and Vitamin D (Wheat Flour, Calcium Phosphate, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D) (All Nutrients in Excess of Standard), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains Less than 2% of: Salt, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese (Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Calcium Chloride], Water, Disodium Phosphate, Enzymes), Flavoring (Natural Flavoring, Vegetable Oil (Corn and/or Canola), Onion Extract, Thyme Oil, Laurel Leaf Oil, Cottonseed Oil), Potassium Chloride, Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola, and/or Soybean), Enzyme Modified Butter (Milk), Skim Milk, Paprika Extract, Citric AcidSo, of course, we made our own.
The only “vegetables” in Spaghettios is tomatoes. Even though the label promotes: 1 Full Serving of Vegetables! Our version contains much more! We used:
- 4 carrots
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 1/2 cups of diced tomatoes
- 1 1/2 cups of o noodles- which was hard to find, until I found out they are called: Anelletti Pasta.
- and a bit of salt to taste.
I cooked the carrots, celery, tomatoes, and salt in a pot until it was all soft enough to blend. It took about 10-15 minutes.
Then, once the veggies are soft, blend in a high powered blender until smooth.
At this point, you can just add your cooked noodles to the sauce, or you can make it thinner. The sauce in real spaghettios is SUPER thin (and sweet). So, I did juice 2 more carrots, and add it back to the sauce to thin it out. But you don’t need to do this. In fact, my kids prefer the thicker sauce. They also prefer the homemade version!! (we did taste testing).
So, avoid the high fructose corn syrup, and the list of 20 ingredients, and make it yourself.. with more vegetables, and more whole foods! Let us know how your kids like it! (full recipe below)
Come back later this week for more kids favorite food makeovers! And check out these other posts for our makeovers of the past:
Homemade Spaghettios – With Extra Veggies
Ingredients
- 3 medium carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 1/2 cup diced tomatoes, canned
- 1 1/2 cup pasta, anelletti
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, ground
- 1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Chop carrots and celery.
- Place tomatoes, celery and carrots in a pot and boil for about 10-15 minutes.
- Once veggies are soft, puree in a blender until smooth. Optional: Juice your carrots and celery if you have a juicer to make a sauce that is more runny, similar to spaghettios.
- Boil noodles according to package directions. Combine.
- Season with salt, pepper and parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
www.superhealthykids.com
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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I love this idea! My kids love pasta; this is a fun new way to eat it. They’ve never had Spaghettios because of a dairy allergy.
Great Kim! Than this is perfect- No Dairy!
Do you think you could make this in large quantities and can it?
Do you think you could make this in large quantities and can it?
My daughter is such a finicky eater. Maybe she’ll try some of these ideas. I’m trying to teach her healthy eating choices.
Yes you could Erin! I would just make sure to follow a site with specific canning instructions to make sure you don’t get any spoiling!
My three kids loved this, they are 4,3 and 2. Thank you so much.
My three kids loved this, they are 4,3 and 2. Thank you so much.
Glad they liked it! Thanks Briana!
When you boil the vegetables do you do it in water or just the juice of the cut up tomatoes?
Misty- Just the liquid from the tomatoes!
My little dude is old enough to eat a whole variety of foods but the gerber graduates freak me out! Plus, he is allergic to eggs and pretty much all of the little meals contain eggs. Regardless, I’ve made a point to make my own baby food so why stop now? I am super pumped to have found your site.
Anyway, here is my question: How long do you keep this in the fridge? Can you freeze extra sauce? He is almost 1 so he eats a decent amount for a little guy, but there are always leftovers.
I would only keep this in the fridge for 2-3 days. Otherwise, definitely freeze the sauce!
My daughter gets a horrible rash from carrots, any substitution I can use? Or omit all together?
I cannot wait to try this with my 4 and 2 yos. 🙂
Do you use canned tomatoes or whole, fresh ones? Thanks or the idea.
I am soo gonna try this, my seven yr old loves canned ravioli and spaghetti O’s. And if I can get him to eat this for the extra veggies than that’s awesome. He is picky when it comes to veggies, he likes carrots and sweet potatoes and squash, he will only eat broccoli and cauliflower with cheese sauce and he doesn’t like the broccoli stems only the top part. And of corn and peas too, when I make squash for dinner he practically runs to the table lol. But some extra veggies would be good for him. Thanks for this recipe.
Hey! My husband might even eat this! Gonna have to try it tomorrow!
This sounds good! My 2 yr old has never had spaghettios, but I loved them as a kid – and I still do! I don’t buy them anymore knowing some of the junk that’s in them, so this recipe sounds great! Going to make it for lunch today!
Do you use fresh tomatoes and dice them or canned dice tomatoes?
Made these for lunch yesterday and they were a hit! I added grated Romano at the end and toe, they taste EXACTLY like the canned stuff (but so much healthier!)! Thanks for a great recipe!
I used canned for this- with the juices!
Ellen- I would just leave them out altogether. That really stinks though 🙁
I am looking at making a batch of this but I was wondering if you knew how long it would freeze for. I will probably freeze some in jars and some with the food saver. Thanks!
I wouldn’t hesitate to freeze it for 3-4 months! Especially if you are using a food saver.
well that sucks amy! you seem realy lazy.
My version has about twenty ingredients. I used a tomato and veggie sauce found here:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/-full-of-veg-tomato-sauce
I added spices to it as well. Majoram, Oregano, Basil, savory, salt and peper, etc
I used Roma tomatoes and it came out a little thick. I forgot that roma don’t have a lot of flavor so I ended up adding 2 other tomatoes I had after running them through the blender. next time I’ll use more of a mix.
This recipe was a good way to get vegetable I wouldn’t normally eat into my diet. Its currently mellowing in the fridge overnight. Tomorrow I plan on adding pasta and having some for lunch. Then freezing the rest.
Awesome Christian! Thanks for the link.
I have been making this since my preschooler was an infant – using soup-sized pasta (though the rings are easy for a baby to pick up) and a sauce made from roasted cherry tomatoes – halve a box of cherry tomatoes, roast with s&p and olive oil until soft and wilted and roasty, and then run them through a food mill to make a sauce (which removes the skins). Toss with cooked little pasta. It’s sweet, like the canned version, but you can melt in some cheddar if you want to mimic the Alphaghetti (Canadian version of Chef Boyardee) flavour.
Hi there, how much pasta do you add? What is the serving size for your ingredients listed above?
Ellen, butternut squash might be worth a try.
I made this today and it was surprisingly good! I fed it to 5 kids, 2 didn’t like it, 2 liked it, and 1 LOVED it and ate 3 bowls! I added a touch of garlic salt and did have to add about 1/2 cup of water while the tomatoes and other veggies were cooking. Thanks for this recipe!
@Tina- great idea! I love some cheese!
@Amanda- glad they loved it!
Help! I made third as directed and cooked the veggies until soft but could not get them to puree smooth! Added water and cooked longer still gritty! What did I do wrong??
This is in no way meant to be a negative comment so I hope it doesn’t come across that way! I made these tonight and they tasted exactly like I remember spaghettios tasting. That being said, my kids (who have never had the other version) weren’t fans. Oh well. You win some, you lose some!
LOL! I’ve never been a fan of spaghettios, so I know how your kids feel! My kids (and the neighbor kids who have eaten the canned variety like it. lol @nichole
Haha! I never liked them either though I would be lying if I said I didn’t eat other canned pasta (chef boyardee ravioli were a favorite!) when I was a kid. For people whose kids love spaghettios though they should seriously try these. Oh and we used tiny alphabet pasta since we couldn’t find Os. They made a pretty good substitution size-wise.
Approx. how much does this make? Wanting to make some for my nephews that are coming to visit and freeze so we can have it ready for a quick lunch
You are such a great aunt Sydney! I believe we get about 6 cups from this.
Sweet potatoes or turnip would probrobly work too
Super good!!! Just made this for my family last night and I wished I had made more. We love it so much better then the canned stuff, definitely will be making this again.
Is the diced tomatoes u used canned or fresh? I noticed in the picture that the little bowl of tomatoes were dicedand had a lot of juice Iin it so I thought maybe it was canned, but not sure lol
It was canned Tara- but you can use fresh too.
I’m a little confused too, my tomatoes didn’t have alot of juice ( I used fresh ) so I had to add a splash of tomato sauce, but it still wasn’t enough to cook the carrots. They are still hard as rocks after 10 minutes. What am I doing wrong?
I’m making this now and can’t wait to taste it! Amy, how do I add this recipe to my Recipe Box?
Hey Kelly,
We can’t add blog posts to the recipe box anymore! Sorry!
You can bookmark it or pin it though!
-Amy
I was wondering if I was making this recipe with baby carrots and pre cut celery (pieces are about 4-5 inches long) how much should I use of each of those?
You could actually use any amount Samantha- but If I were using baby carrots, I would use at least 10 of them.
How much sauce does this make? Without the extra carrot juice…
About 2-3 cups Aira
So used to do this the lazy girl way with cans of v-8 and circle noodles (or sometimes alphabet noodles)…
Super easy to make and was really good! Kids loved it. I made it with rice noodle shells to b gluten free! Thanks for the great recipe!
I love this recipe and my kids loved it too!! I used fresh roma tomatoes and boiled the veggies in chicken stock and added little meatballs. I had enough for lunch today and froze the rest for another easy lunch. Delicious recipe 🙂 thank you for the post
What a great recipe! My four year old had seen Spaghettios at the store before and wanted them (I said no), but it never occurred to me to make my own. It was super simple to make (I left out the celery, added some butternut squash, & used veggie broth & a bit of salt). I found some alphabet pasta at my local store & my son thinks this is the best thing ever! Thanks!
Found the o pasta noodles at Wegman’s. Will be trying this soon.
I was just thinking the other day, I wish there was a way to make homemade spaghetti-o’s. Now that I found a recipe I’ll have to try it.
Hope you like it!
I tried this today & I don’t know what I did wrong but it was a mess 🙁 I spent an hour scrubbing my stainless steel pan from all the burnt on veggies.
In the picture you tomatoes look like they have quite a bit of liquid, did you add any or was that what was in the can (because mine did not have that much liquid)? Also, do we need to stir continuously? Thanks for the help!
I didn’t add liquid, but you are right, my tomatoes are generally SUPER juicy! If you use a can of tomatoes, the juice would be sufficient. And, although I don’t think you need to stir continuously, once it reaches a boil and you simmer, than keeping your eye on it would be very important!
So sorry this didn’t work out 🙁 That’s the worst!
Are there any versions of whole wheat pasta that would work for this? We don’t like to do processed flour.
I haven’t seen one made yet Bonnie!
I have made and pressure canned a sauce similar to this for a few years. The recipe I use is a combo of this one and another veggie heavy version that is thinned with chicken or veggie broth. When canning, I leave out any dairy. Then when I want to make it, I open the jar, add sauce and pasta in the pan and actually cook the pasta in the sauce. You can use whole wheat pasta if you can find small shapes. I also make and freeze tiny meatballs (which you can also hide lots of minced veggies in!) to add while cooking. My fiancée and I love it!
My 6-year-old son made this (with a little help) and ate a whole bowl!
Super easy to make. I made it for my son for daycare and ended up taking it with me to work too. It was great!
Tasted just like spaghetti-o’s! The kids loved them!
Not a hit on my kids, I did like it
Love this! My kids have never had the canned version but they devoured this. This even fooled my husband who dislikes carrots! Thank for this 🙂
A whole stalk of celery, or a rib?
One rib!
My 13-month old son loves the Spaghetti-O’s from Herbert’s First Foods, but doesn’t like the meatballs in it. So I resorted to canned Spaghetti-O’s and he LOVES them, but of course I don’t like THE high fructose corn syrup, so come grocery day Dad will be making some of this for the li’l big man!
I would love to have seen the recipe but after closing 2 pop up ads and being bombarded with 3 video ads, I didn’t even get to the recipe which I imagine is at the bottom instead of the top. Just too distracting
Hi! I’m sorry the ads are a pain. I get it. But ads are also a fact of life for us food bloggers. If the ads are really bothering you, all our recipes are on the connected cooking app, Prepear, in a much more user-friendly format. The app is free to download and use: https://www.prepear.com/