Taco spaghetti is a delicious Mexican casserole that brings together two of our all-time favorite dishes, tacos and spaghetti with meat sauce all made in one pan and ready in under 30 minutes!
Our one-pan taco spaghetti recipe could not be any easier to put together. It combines ground beef seasoned with zesty taco seasoning, Rotel, pasta, and melted cheese. The result is a Mexican flavored pasta dish that’s full of flavor and even our picky eater asks for it!
Table of Contents
- Flavorful Taco Spaghetti
- Why We Love This Recipe For Taco Spaghetti
- Ingredients You’ll Need For One Pot Taco Spaghetti
- How to Make Taco Spaghetti
- Taco Spaghetti Recipe Variations and Add-ins
- Tips For The Best Taco Spaghetti
- Storing One Pot Taco Spaghetti
- How to Reheat This Mexican Spaghetti Recipe
- Other Twists on Taco Recipes
- More Favorites from Princess Pinky Girl
- Taco Spaghetti Recipe Recipe
Flavorful Taco Spaghetti
Two of my favorite types of food are Italian and Mexican. I swear, if I could have tacos, pizza, and pasta alternating every night, I’d be totally happy. So, what could be better than combining tacos and pasta? Pretty much nothing.
This taco spaghetti dish is just that. It’s a flavorful Tex-Mex style pasta that’s perfect for family dinner. It’s a simple one-pot recipe, so it’s become a go-to for busy nights.
If you are like me and can’t get enough of Mexican and Italian food in your life, you have to give this one a try!
Why We Love This Recipe For Taco Spaghetti
- One-pot dish means easy clean-up!
- 4 easy steps!
- Ready in less than 30-minutes.
- Taco seasoning pack short-cut and time saver!
- Kid-friendly and picky eater approved.
- A quick weeknight dinner.
Ingredients You’ll Need For One Pot Taco Spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- ¼ cup yellow onions
- ¼ cup (or 1 packet) taco seasoning or try our Homemade Taco Seasoning
- 10 oz. can Rotel tomatoes
- 8 oz. spaghetti noodles, uncooked
- 3 cups water
- 4 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
- ½ cup chopped cilantro.
SEE FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE CARD BELOW
How to Make Taco Spaghetti
You are going to love how easy it is to throw this recipe together. It’s virtually impossible to mess it up. Best of all you only need one pan and 30-minutes, which means it’s just as easy to clean it up as it is to make it.
- BROWN ground beef and onion.
- ADD taco seasoning, Rotel tomatoes, noodles, and water and bring to a boil.
- REDUCE heat, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
- STIR in half of the cheese and top with the other half and the cilantro.
Serve with chips and Homemade Salsa and our Easy Guacamole!
Taco Spaghetti Recipe Variations and Add-ins
- PASTA: You could use any type of noodle for this recipe. If you want to stick with the feeling of spaghetti, you should use a long noodle-like linguine, angel hair, or fettuccine. You could also choose a smaller, bite-size noodle such as penne, bowtie, or macaroni.
- TOPPINGS: Feel free to top this pasta off with any of your favorite taco toppings. I love to add some fresh tomato, black olives, and onions to mine! You can also add them into your recipe, instead of using them as a garnish.
- BAKE: If you want to really go the extra mile with this recipe, throw it in a casserole dish when it is done cooking and put it in the oven on 350 for about 10 minutes with the cheese on top. Then for about 3-5 minutes crank up the heat to get the cheese and top layer a little bit browned. It is delicious!
Tips For The Best Taco Spaghetti
Be patient while the mixture is simmering. This is the time when the noodles will get cooked.
Depending on which type of noodles you end up using, it could take more than 15 minutes or less. Keep an eye on it.
When the noodles are cooked, you can mix in the cheese.
Storing One Pot Taco Spaghetti
This makes a fairly big batch of pasta, so we usually have enough for two dinners at our house. If you have leftovers, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
This recipe makes great leftovers, the flavors are almost better the second day. To reheat, simply pop it in the microwave!
How to Reheat This Mexican Spaghetti Recipe
Place your pasta in a microwave-safe dish and add a little bit of extra pasta sauce or water on top. This will help it keep from drying out. Cover the dish and microwave on medium power for about 1 minute or until warmed (adding about 15-second increments) all the way through.
Other Twists on Taco Recipes
Taco Sticks|Oven Baked Beef Tacos |Beef Taco Ring (Made with Crescent Rolls) |Walking Taco Bar |Taco Braid |Taco Pie | Rotel Dip | Stuffed Peppers | Copycat Taco Bell Mexican Pizza
More Favorites from Princess Pinky Girl
Taco Spaghetti Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 pound ground beef
- ¼ cup yellow onions
- ¼ cup taco seasoning or 1 packet
- 10 oz. can Rotel tomatoes do NOT drain
- 8 oz. spaghetti noodles uncooked
- 3 cups water
- 4 oz. cheddar cheese shredded
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Heat olive oil in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet until meat is no longer pink and onions are soft and translucent.
- Add taco seasoning, Rotel tomatoes (including juice), spaghetti noodles, and water.
- Bring to a boil over high heat. Once water comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat. Sprinkle half of the cheese into the pan and stir to distribute the cooked spaghetti and cheese throughout the pan.
- Top with remaining cheese and cilantro.
Easy to make! Absolutely delicious!
I made this and followed the recipe-made no adjustments or tweaks-we were all disappointed-very bland-not much flavor. Will try again and use broth instead of water. Any other ideas to more flavor?