Veganized SpaghettiOs
Get ready to be transported back the Land Before Time, Sweet Valley Twins, Mr. Rogers, and a tear jerking final episode of M.A.S.H. Food is a powerful memory inducer and what 80's kid didn't have at least a thousand bowls of Spaghettios? This recipe is, as the name implies, a veganized version of the iconic, and still popular, canned noodle soup. No weird ingredients or anything that is uncommon in a vegan kitchen, and if you've been following me for a while you more than likely have a lot of the less common items in stock. Start to finish this recipe only takes 30 minutes and the kid in you and the kids around you will thank you.
Servings - 8 Bowls
Equipment
- Immersion blender or upright blender
Ingredients
- 4 medium carrots, diced (About 2 cups total)
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 teaspoons paprika (Not smoked or hot)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (Can be omitted )
- 1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (Don't skip this! )
- 1/2 cup unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used oat milk)
- 1-2 cups vegetable broth (Can sub in water)
- 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon yellow/mellow miso (Can omit but adds more flavor)
- 28 ounces diced or crushed tomatoes
- 2 cups large ring noodles (Half of a box)
Instructions
- Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and cook the ring noodles for 5 minutes. The box will say 10 but you only want to cook for half that. Drain the noodles, rinse them with cold water, and rinse out the pot. I know that you might be cringing at the idea of rinsing noodles, but remember we are making SpaghettiOs here and not going for 5 star dining.
- Melt the vegan butter in the pot and stir in the onion and carrots. Cook for 2 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Pour in the 1/2 cup water, cover the pot, and heat over medium-high for 5 minutes. Stir in the remainder of the ingredients, except the noodles, and bring to a heat until bubbles form. Reduce heat to medium and cook while occasionally stirring for 10 minutes.
- Transfer to a blender, making sure to follow your blender's instructions for blending hot liquid, and puree until smooth. The easier method is to use an immersion blender because then you can puree right in the pot!
- Mix in the cooked noodles and heat over medium heat while stirring for 3-5 minutes. Add more water or stock as necessary for desired consistency. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Warning! If you're like me, you might be tempted to try and cook the noodles directly in the pureed sauce. Don't. Trust me. It's a literal hot mess. The thick soup can't get hot enough to boil noodles unless it nearly boiling and you'll need to stir often which is just risking a burn and a mess. So, cook according to the method above. You could cook the noodles and the soup separately, but I don't like to do more dishes than necessary so I stick to just the one pot and rinse it as stated.
Optional: The nutritional yeast is a must for this recipe because it adds a cheesy flavor and a depth of umami that gives it the iconic SpaghettiO flavor. If you don't have yellow miso paste you could skip it and still have a delicious batch of SpaghettiOs, but adding in the yellow miso adds even more flavor.
Substitutes: The recipe calls for a few ingredients like butter that you'll be tempted to skip because you think that it's either unhealthy or unnecessary. Remember you're making SpaghettiOs and trying to get a certain flavor AND texture/mouthfeel. If you skip the butter or swap it for a neutral it just won't be the same. The one thing you can substitute are the noodles. The large rings are the iconic shape/texture but you could use any noodle really for a similar effect. If you're gluten free make sure to undercook the noodles by about half and every brand is slightly different. You can also skip the noodles entirely and just go the white bean route but that does change the overall texture and flavor but it's still delicious.