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We're keeping dinner easy and making Vegan Puerto Rican Spaghetti tonight!
There are no limits when it comes to spaghetti and growing up we did our thing and spiced up our pasta with Puerto Rican flavors and spices.
While thinking about my childhood, I immediately thought about the quick and easy spaghetti my mom used to cook up. It was a staple and it was one of our favorite dishes to come home to.
Spaghetti night as a kid? That was always given the thumbs up.
Why You’ll Love This
- We’re using easy-to-find, affordable ingredients.
- It’s a great recipe for when you want something quick, easy, and loved by kids and adults alike.
- This recipe is great for meal prep and can be served throughout the week.
- If you love this recipe, check out our other Puerto Rican recipes including tostones, maduros, arroz con gandules (Puerto Rican yellow rice), and vegan “beef” stew, and mushroom pernil.
What is in Puerto Rican Spaghetti
Puerto Rican spaghetti has many of the traditional ingredients you'll find in Puerto Rican cusine including sofrito, tomato paste/sauce, sazon, and adobo. As for the protein, you'll usually either see ground beef or chicken.
Although pork is the choice-of-protein in many Puerto Rican dishes, it surprisingly didn’t have a spotlight in our spaghetti.
Vegan Puerto Rican spaghetti can be made with any plant-based/meatless protein of choice. Because we’re going plant-based and meatless, we’re switching out the meat for vegan ground “beef” instead. Specially, we’re using Gardein’s Beefless Ground.
If you choose to use a different brand of vegan beefless ground, just adjust the salt-based seasonings (adobo, sazon) accordingly.
How To Make Puerto Rican Spaghetti
- First, cook the pasta or spaghetti according to the packaging’s instructions. Set aside.
- Then, fry the sofrito in a pan over medium heat. Add the rest of the ingredients
- Simmer the sofrito-spice mix.
- Next, add the spaghetti/pasta and combine it well with the rest of the ingredients.
Ingredients in recipe: spaghetti, olive oil, sofrito, adobo, sazon, oregano, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, vegan ground beef, vegetable broth.
Sazon is made with a blend of spices and it's vegan!
What To Eat With Vegan Puerto Rican Spaghetti
Stick with traditional spaghetti sides likes garlic bread, garlic sticks, or toast. To keep the Puerto Rican theme, I like to add a side of fried plantains or sliced avocado.
Roasted vegetables or a side salad also make for a healthy, light addition.
How To Store
Store the Puerto Rican spaghetti in an airtight container or reusable silicone bag for up to 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Recipe Tips
- The base of this recipe includes Puerto Rican ingredients. Sofrito is best made from scratch - or it can be purchased at a grocery store. If you can find it at the store, I recommend frozen sofrito over the canned.
- Puerto Rican spices and seasoning are often found at Latin grocery stores or in the “ethnic” or “Latin/Hispanic” aisles. If you’re having trouble physically finding the sazon, adobo, and oregano, they can be found online.
- Use any spaghetti or pasta of your choice. Be sure to follow the cooking instructions mentioned on the packaging.
If you’re in the pasta mood, be sure to also check out our Lentil Meatballs, Tofu Meatballs, homemade Spaghetti Sauce, One-Pot Pasta, and Creamy Rigatoni with Sofrito Avocado Sauce.
Tried out this Vegan Puerto Rican Spaghetti recipe?
Please leave a comment below, share it, rate it, or tag a picture @plantbasedandbroke on Instagram and hashtag it #plantbasedandbroke. Show off that creation with us.
Vegan Puerto Rican Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 pound spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ¼ cup sofrito
- 1 teaspoon adobo
- ½ teaspoon sazon
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 cup crushed tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 bag Gardein Beefless Ground
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti according to package instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Add olive oil to a deep skillet or wok over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the sofrito and cook for 3 minutes.
- Then add, the adobo, sazon, oregano, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaves, and broth. Stir to combine.
- Add in the vegan ground beef and combine it with the rest of the ingredients in the pan. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes.
- Remove bay leaves. Add to combine the spaghetti with the vegan meat spaghetti sauce. Serve and top with chopped parsley, cilantro, nutritional yeast, or vegan parmesan cheese (optional)
Notes
- I used Gardein Beefless Ground. You can use any other vegan ground "beef." I just recommend getting one that has no/minimal seasoning or salt.
- I used my homemade crushed tomato recipe. However, canned crushed tomatoes worked fine, too.
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Ana
What is the cup of vegetable broth used for? Its not included in the cooking instructions yet its in the ingredients?
Aly Michell
Hey Ana! Thanks for pointing it out. The broth is listed with instruction #3.
Jenny K
This is so good! I have been secretly making vegan meals for my family about once a week. I just sneak them in there. This one is a total winner in that category! The flavors are really unexpected (and delicious) for spaghetti night, which distracts from any texture differences they might notice with the Gardein crumbles. I've made it twice now. The first time I made it exactly to the recipe. Tonight I was in a big hurry and substituted a jar of marinara for the crushed tomatoes/oregano/bay leaf/tomato paste/broth. It was still fabulous.
Aly Michell
Hey Jenny! Thank you so much for trying out the recipe - glad you and your family loved it!
Avarie Wieging
How spicy is this dish?
Aly Michell
Hey! It's not spicy at all. 🙂
BMARIE
Hi Aly!
Will this recipe work if I sub Mushrooms for the meatless crumbles? I'm not a fan of meatless crumbles. But LOVE Mushrooms.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Aly Michell
Oh yeah mushrooms work just fine, too! I think "meaty" mushrooms like shiitake, king oyster mushrooms, and portobello will probably work very well.
Jess Zellmer
Had leftover Sazon and Adobo from another recipe I made so tried this to use up these spices. It was amazing!! Very simple and such fun flavors. I actually used ground turkey as we are not vegetarians and I had it on hand. Love this recipe!
Aly Michell
Hey Jess! Thank you for trying out the recipe - glad you loved it, even while making it your own!