Homemade spaghetti with meat sauce is stuffed into toasted hard taco shells to create the ultimate kids’ dinner. These spaghetti tacos were a favorite of my daughter’s when she went through her iCarly phase!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“My kids have been after me to make Spaghetti Tacos because of iCarly! So glad I found you via Pinterest as this will be Tuesday night’s dinner when I have to feed the babysitting kids too. Should be a hit for all. Thank you!!” -Amber Joy, FoodieCrush reader
I Discovered This Weirdly Delicious Combination from iCarly
I know, I know. You’re sitting there, staring at this post and thinking this recipe is one of those “Oh, let’s see how outlandish we can be and create an oddball recipe just to be different.”
Well, it is and it isn’t.
Blame it on Spencer. He’s Carly’s big brother in the TV show iCarly. When I first created this recipe years ago, Smudge was deep in her iCarly phase and one night when her friends were over for a sleepover, I asked “How about spaghetti for dinner?”
What I heard in return was a symphony of, “SPAGHETTI TACOS!!!!!!”
When I first created this recipe, I used my favorite bolognese sauce as a jumping off point for the spaghetti filling. It involved deglazing, slow simmering, and a whole host of chopping that I quite frankly don’t have time for on busy weeknights.
I’ve since updated my spaghetti taco recipe to make it much faster and simpler to prepare. The bolognese-esque sauce has been replaced with my go-to 7 ingredient meat sauce, so now I can get these bad boys on the table in under an hour.
Enjoy!
Here’s What You’ll Need
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Ground meat — I prefer using both 85/15 ground beef and ground Italian sausage. You need some fat so that your sauce tastes rich and flavorful.
- Canned tomatoes — Choose whole peeled tomatoes for the best flavor (crushed tomatoes can sometimes taste metallically, depending on the brand).
- Olive oil + garlic — Letting the garlic hang out in the hot olive oil infuses it with tons of flavor.
- Butter — Just a couple tablespoons makes the spaghetti sauce taste rich and velvety.
- Spaghetti noodles — Normally I’d say you can use any kind of noodle you’d like, but spaghetti is the easiest pasta shape to stuff into taco shells. Skip anything short and sturdy, like penne, which will be nearly impossible to keep cradled in the tacos.
- Hard taco shell — I like wide-bottom corn taco shells to best fit as much spaghetti and sauce into each taco. You could try soft flour tortillas, but I don’t recommend soft corn tortillas.
Sneak in some healthy veggies: Add grated or finely chopped carrots or zucchini while the sauce cooks, and the kids won’t even notice!
How to Make Spaghetti Tacos à la iCarly
- Make the meat sauce. The ground beef and pork are browned and then simmered with the tomatoes, garlic-infused olive oil, butter, and salt. To thicken the sauce and deepen its flavor, remove the lid for its 30-minute simmer.
- Cook the spaghetti until al dente. Make sure to salt the boiling water generously to season the noodles from the inside out.
- Toast the taco shells, then assemble. Hard taco shells are already fairly hardy, but a quick toast in the oven makes them even sturdier so they don’t crumble when loaded up with spaghetti.
Heidi’s Tip: For easy taco assembly, I suggest using a pair of kitchen tongs to fit the spaghetti and meat sauce into the taco shells.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Spaghetti Tacos Recipe
Ingredients
- 28- ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
- 8 ounces 85% lean ground beef
- 8 ounces ground Italian sausage
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- 3 tablespoons butter
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 16 hard shell corn shells
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Pulse to purée the whole tomatoes. Add 28- ounce can whole peeled tomatoes and their juice to a food processor (or use an immersion blender) and pulse 3-4 times until mostly smooth. Set aside.
- Brown and flavor the ground beef. Place 8 ounces 85% lean ground beef and 8 ounces ground pork in a large, high-sided skillet over medium-high. Cook the meat undisturbed for a few minutes, then break up into smaller pieces and cook just until gently browned. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- Flavor the olive oil. To the same skillet over medium, add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil and 4 garlic cloves,. Cook while stirring for 1 minute until the garlic is fragrant. Remove from the heat. Don’t let it brown too much or it will become bitter.
- Cook the sauce. Carefully add the tomatoes to the oil (watch for splatters) and return to medium-high. Add the cooked meat, 3 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon granulated sugar and ¾ teaspoon kosher salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook uncovered for 30 minutes (up to 1 ½ hours). The longer it cooks, the deeper the flavor.
- Boil the noodles and combine with sauce. Bring a large stock pot of water to a boil. Add enough kosher salt (about 2 tablespoons) to make the water taste like the ocean. Cook 8 ounces spaghetti until al dente, about 8 -10 minutes. Drain, then add noodles back to the stock pot. Add the sauce and toss to coat. Remove from heat.
- Toast and fill the tacos with spaghetti. Heat the oven to 400ºF. Place 16 hard shell corn shells on a baking sheet and toast for 2-4 minutes until golden. Remove from the oven, fill the taco shells with spaghetti noodles in sauce, and sprinkle with ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Nutrition
What to Serve with Spaghetti Tacos
- Caesar Salad with Garlic Croutons
- Glazed Carrots
- Parmesan Zucchini
- Garlic Bread
- Strawberry Burrata Salad
More Spaghetti Recipes to Slurp Up
- Spaghetti alla Carbonara
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Crab Spaghetti
- Spaghetti Pasta Salad
- Best Ever Spaghetti and Meat Sauce
We send good emails. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and have each post plus exclusive content only for our subscribers delivered straight to your e-mail box.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for more FoodieCrush inspiration.
As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There may be affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293925-d2044621-Reviews-XO_Tours_Vietnam_Motorbike_Tours-Ho_Chi_Minh_City.html
At this time I am ready to do my breakfast, later than having my breakfast coming yet again to read other news.
Emma
Nothing new. Here in Mexico, we make pasta and bean tacos. Very thin pasta, maybe like angel hair pasta, just cook it by frying it a little bit and then add some tomate sauce, little bit of onion and pepper, some chicken stock, cook it until its dry(and cooked). Use cooked pinto beans, mix them with the pasta and put in a soft tortilla taco. They are called “tacos de fideo con frijoles”
Amber Joy
My kids have been after me to make Spaghetti Tacos because of iCarly! So glad I found you via Pinterest as this will be Tuesday night’s dinner when I have to feed the babysitting kids too. Should be a hit for all. Thank you!!
Cathy @ Noble Pig
My kids always wanted spaghetti tacos from iCarly!! Love these…will share on Facebook!
Julia
My carb lovin’ self is totally ok with these.
Kristen
Oh we have big iCarly fans around here…. and this is what is going to make you mom of the year. Actually making spaghetti tacos? Brilliant.
Kristen and Katie, so glad to hear there are more crazy iCarly followers out there. But the big question is: 1D or Big Time Rush for best boy band? :)