Easy Taco Spaghetti

Sharing is caring!

My Easy Taco Spaghetti is the perfect pasta dish with a cheesy, spicy taco inspired sauce. Ground beef is flavored with taco seasoning to form the base of the Mexican spaghetti pasta sauce, then cream cheese is added to give the sauce its wonderful creamy texture.

Easy Taco Spaghetti

This one pot taco spaghetti dish is the perfect bowl of comfort food, combining everything we love about tacos in a creamy, spicy pasta sauce.

My best taco spaghetti recipe has enough chili heat from the canned tomatoes with chili, and spice from the taco seasoning. However, I make taco spaghetti with cream cheese which helps cool the dish down, making it suitable for everyone, even younger kids.

What I love most about this dish is that everything is cooked in one pot, which makes cleaning up afterwards a whole lot easier.

Mexican spaghetti is a great variation for taco night, with all the flavors of your favorite ground beef taco filling, but served with pasta. I hope this cheesy taco spaghetti becomes as popular with your family, as it has my own!

Recipe ingredients

• PASTA: I use 8 ounces spaghetti to serve 6. I cook the pasta while I am making the sauce so it’s all ready at the same time.
• MEAT: the pasta sauce is made with ground beef.
• ONION: I use a regular onion to flavor the beef.
• SEASONING: I season the pasta sauce with a packet of taco seasoning.
• TOMATOES: I used canned tomatoes in the sauce, I use the diced tomatoes with green chilies for extra chili heat and flavor.
• CHEESE: I use a combination of cream cheese and shredded fiesta blend cheese in the taco pasta sauce.

How to make Taco Spaghetti

Brown the ground beef with the onion in a large skillet

When the meat is cooked through, add the taco seasoning and water.

Stir to mix.

Simmer until the sauce has thickened, then add the tomatoes and cream cheese.

Reduce heat and stir until all the cheese is melted.

Add the spaghetti and shredded cheese.

Stir to mix until the cheese is melted.

Serve immediately.

Flavor variations

• I’ve use ground beef, but you could use ground pork, turkey or chicken.
• Use any shape of pasta noodle, I’ve used spaghetti, but you can use linguine, fettuccine, tagliatelle, or even penne, rigatoni or fusilli.
• Swap the cream cheese for sour cream instead.
• Saute some chopped red or green bell peppers along with the onion.
• Add some canned corn to the pasta sauce.
• Add extra chili heat by stirring through some sliced jalapenos or red chilies, or a pinch of chili powder or red pepper flakes.
• For a real kick of spice stir through some of your favorite hot sauce.
• Garnish the pasta with some freshly chopped cilantro or parsley, or stir some through the taco pasta sauce.
• Sprinkle some finely sliced green onions over the pasta just before serving.
• Add some lime wedges to squeeze over the pasta sauce.

Serving suggestion

This one pot taco spaghetti is a filling dish, so I keep the sides simple and serve it with some crusty bread, or a fresh green salad, or tomato salad. For a Mexican twist you could serve it with tortilla chips and a spoon of tomato salsa, or sour cream.

Recipe hints & tips

• Hold back a ladle of the pasta cooking water and if the pasta sauce is looking a little thick stir it through. As well as thinning the sauce, the reserved pasta water will help the sauce to stick to the pasta.
• This recipe serves 6 but can be easily doubled up if feeding a crowd.

FAQs

Here are some of my favorite taco inspired dishes here at When is Dinner

• Baked Tacos
• Taco Stuffed Peppers
• Taco Pasta Bake
• Keto Cheese Shell Taco Cups
• Taco Pasta Bake
• Taco Crescent Rolls
• Slow Cooker Queso Chicken Tacos