Viral Dirty Spaghetti made better on the griddle. Ground beef, andouille, and bacon in a Cajun sauce upgraded with canned French onion soup. Ready in 30 minutes.
Y’all know we don’t leave well enough alone. After Dirty Cabbage went over so well, I went digging around online and found out dirty cabbage has a cousin – dirty spaghetti. Same idea, different main ingredient. So naturally, I had to try it on the Blackstone griddle.
If you’ve been with us a while, you know that we love Cajun flavors, and this isn’t our first time making these “dirty” dishes on the griddle. We’ve actually made our own traditional Dirty Rice the old-school way with chicken livers, and it is fantastic. Go check that one out if you want to see where all this started.
But this spaghetti version – I’m just gonna say it – it beats the cabbage. We made a couple of changes along the way to build in more depth of flavor, and the biggest one is swapping the sad, watery beef stock most versions call for with a can of French onion soup. Beef stock out of a box is basically tinted water. A can of French onion soup already has caramelized onion flavor built in, so instead of fighting for flavor, you’re starting ahead.
This viral dirty spaghetti takes under 30 minutes on the griddle from start to finish (including boiling the water for the pasta), so it’s the perfect weeknight dinner, and it reheats well, so it’s great for meal prep too. Let’s get into it.
Ingredients for Dirty Spaghetti
- Spaghetti noodles
- Ground beef – We used 80/20, though you can use a leaner beef if you prefer. There will still be a good amount of fat from the sausage.
- Bacon – We only used 2 slices of thick cut bacon. Enough to render a good amount of fat to use to flavor the vegetables.
- Andouille sausage – We loved the smoked andouille sausage in this dish, and we didn’t find it too spicy. If you really don’t like heat, then you can substitute a regular smoked kielbasa, but you won’t get as much of that great Cajun flavor.
- Celery, onion, and bell pepper – These make up the “holy trinity” of Cajun cooking.
- Garlic
- Jalapeno – We added half of a fresh jalapeno, seeded and diced, for a bit of extra heat and flavor. Optional.
- Mushrooms – We love mushrooms, so we added them to make the dish more vegetable-heavy. You can omit them if you’re not a fan.
- Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste – The two basics for most viral “dirty” Cajun-inspired recipes.
- Can of French Onion soup – This is our flavor secret! So much better than regular beef stock.
- Green onion and/or parsley – For garnish and a bit of color.
- Flour – Just a bit to help the sauce stick to the noodles. Another trick for more flavor.
- Cajun or Creole seasoning
Ingredient Notes:
- For the pasta – Cook your pasta to al dente. It finishes on the griddle, and over-cooked noodles on a hot surface turn to mush fast.
- The pasta water – Save your pasta water, but don’t drown your pasta to begin with. If you use a huge pot with a ton of water, you’re diluting the starch that’s supposed to help your sauce cling to the noodles. Use just enough water to cover the pasta when boiling.
- About the Cajun seasoning – The amount of Cajun seasoning will vary slightly based on what brand you are using. Some Cajun or Creole-style seasonings are very salt heavy, so you would want to use less. We used 1 teaspoon of the mild Pi-Yahhhh seasoning from the Cajun Ninja to season the ground beef, and we used about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the Creole Blackening seasoning from Wide Open Foods (found at Kroger) for the rest of the dish. We also recommend the Cajun Two Step from StaleKracker.
What Makes Our Dirty Spaghetti Recipe Different
Most versions of this recipe floating around online lean on plain beef broth or beef stock for the sauce, and it shows – it tastes like brown water because that’s basically what it is. We swapped that for canned French onion soup, which brings built-in caramelized onion flavor and way more depth without adding a bunch of extra steps.
We also add flour to the cooked noodles and vegetable mixture. Sounds strange with pasta, but a light dusting of flour on the noodles – before you add the wet ingredients – gives the sauce something to actually grab onto. Without it, a light sauce like this just slides right off.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Heat the griddle. The temperature setting will vary based on what griddle you are using, but for my 4 burner Blackstone, I started with the 2 outer burners on medium-high and the 2 inner burners on low. *You can also make this recipe in a large skillet on the stovetop, though you’ll need to work in batches, cooking the meats and vegetables separately before adding everything together.
Start cooking the bacon. It takes the longest, so it goes down first.
Get your pasta water going. While the bacon is cooking, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, then set aside, reserving some pasta water.
Sear the ground beef on a hot section of the griddle. When the bacon is about halfway done, start cooking the ground beef. Let it sit and develop a crust before breaking it apart – don’t rush this part, it’s where a lot of your flavor comes from. Season with a little Cajun seasoning as it cooks.
Cook the andouille sausage in a separate section of the griddle until it picks up good color.
Add the vegetables – bell pepper, celery, onion, garlic, jalapeño, and mushrooms if using – into the residual tallow left behind by the bacon, beef, and sausage. Sauté for a few minutes, but don’t overcook at this point. The veggies will continue to cook after adding the noodles and sauce. At this point the bacon should be done and crispy – remove it from the griddle and chop. Then add it back to the other ingredients.
Cut the heat down to low once everything has good color, and combine the meats and vegetables together to let the flavors marry. Then push the mixture to the side of the griddle to sauté the garlic and add the spaghetti noodles.
Heat the garlic and add the pasta. Clear a space in the center of the griddle and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon/sausage fat, forming a small pool. Add the minced garlic to the fat and cook for about 1 minute, until fragrant. Then add the drained spaghetti directly to the garlic and toss together on the griddle to coat.
Add the meat and vegetable mixture to the noodles. Sauté everything together for about 2 minutes.
Make a well and add the tomato paste. Make a “well” in the middle of the pasta mixture so you can see bare griddle in the center. Add the tomato paste to the well and cook for about 1 minute to knock off the raw flavor.
Add the French Onion soup to the well. Add the French onion soup to the well with the tomato paste and cook for about 30 seconds.
Add the sauce ingredients on top of the “ring” of noodles. While the French Onion soup heats in the middle, sprinkle the flour around the outside of the well directly on the pasta, along with Cajun seasoning and the Worcestershire sauce. Then mix everything together thoroughly, and turn the griddle off.
Add reserved pasta water, about 1/2 cup total, until the sauce is coating the noodles the way you want. Stir everything together, and sauté a few more minutes for the sauce to reduce just a bit.
Finish with green onion tops and parsley for color and freshness right before plating.
Recipe Tips
- Season your ground beef. We skipped this the first time we made a “dirty” recipe and it was a mistake. A little Cajun seasoning on the beef while it cooks builds a layer of flavor you can’t get back later.
- Don’t overfill your pasta pot. You only need enough water to cover the noodles. Too much water dilutes the starch that helps your sauce cling to the pasta later.
- Cook your pasta al dente and no further. It finishes cooking on the griddle once it’s tossed with the sauce, so overcooked noodles at this stage turn to mush by the time you plate it.
- Use rendered fat instead of extra oil or butter. The tallow left behind from the bacon, sausage, and ground beef carries all the flavor you’ve already built – let it do the work instead of adding more fat on top of it.
- Cook the tomato paste before adding liquid. Even just a minute in the well knocks off the raw, tinny taste and deepens the flavor before the soup goes in.
- Build flavor in stages, not all at once. Seasoning the beef separately, cooking the garlic on its own, and finishing with Worcestershire and Cajun seasoning at the end all add up. Skipping straight to one big seasoning dump loses that layered effect.
Dirty Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 1 lb 80/20 ground beef
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning for the ground beef
- 3 slices bacon
- 12 oz smoked andouille sausage quartered and then sliced into chunks
- 1 medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped
- 1 stalk celery diced
- ½ jalapeño diced (optional)
- 6-8 mushrooms sliced (optional)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb spaghetti noodles
- salt for the pasta water
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ can Campbell's French Onion soup
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1-2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning *see notes
- ½ cup reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Preheat the griddle or a large skillet. Heat the griddle or a large skillet to a medium heat. *The temperature setting will vary based on what griddle you are using, but for my 4 burner Blackstone, I started with the 2 outer burners on medium-high and the 2 inner burners on low.
- Cook the bacon. Lay the bacon on the griddle first – it takes the longest to render. Cook until crisp, then remove and set aside, leaving the rendered fat on the griddle. If needed, you can move the bacon to the side of the griddle to continue to cook while you cook the other meats.
- Boil the pasta. While the bacon cooks, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the spaghetti to al dente, then drain and set aside. Reserve about ½ cup of the pasta water before draining.
- Sear the ground beef. On a hot section of the griddle, cook the ground beef, letting it develop a good sear before breaking it apart. Once cooked through, season with 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning, then move to the side of the griddle (or remove from the skillet).
- Cook the andouille sausage. In a separate section of the griddle, cook the sliced andouille until browned and slightly crisped. Move to the side of the griddle. (Or remove from the skillet and set aside.)
- Cook the vegetables. Add the chopped onion, bell pepper, celery, jalapeño (if using), and mushrooms (if using) to the griddle in the residual fat left behind from the bacon and sausage. Cook until softened and lightly browned.
- Combine the meats and vegetables. Add the cooked ground beef and andouille sausage into the vegetable mixture and stir to combine. Set this mixture aside on a cooler section of the griddle, or off to one side.
- Cook the garlic. Clear a space in the center of the griddle and add 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon/sausage fat, forming a small pool. Add the minced garlic to the fat and cook for about 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
- Toss the pasta with the garlic. Add the drained spaghetti directly to the garlic and toss together on the griddle to coat.
- Add the meat and vegetable mixture. Add the cooked meat and vegetable mixture to the spaghetti and sauté everything together for about 2 minutes.
- Make a well and build the sauce base. Make a "well" in the middle of the pasta mixture so you can see bare griddle in the center. Add the tomato paste to the well and cook for about 1 minute to knock off the raw flavor. Add the French onion soup to the well with the tomato paste and cook for about 30 seconds.
- Season and finish the sauce. Sprinkle the flour around the outside of the well directly on the pasta, along with Cajun seasoning and the Worcestershire sauce. Then mix everything together thoroughly, and turn the griddle off.
- Loosen with pasta water. Add about ¼-½ cup of the reserved pasta water, stirring to combine. There should be enough residual heat on the griddle to finish cooking everything through and let the sauce reduce and cling to the noodles.
- Garnish and serve. Serve immediately, garnished with green onion tops and parsley if desired.
Notes
- For the Cajun seasoning – The amount of Cajun seasoning will vary slightly based on what brand you are using. Some Cajun or Creole-style seasonings are very salt heavy, so you would want to use less. We used 1 teaspoon of the mild Pi-Yahhhh seasoning from the Cajun Ninja to season the ground beef, and we used about 1.5-2 tablespoons of the Creole Blackening seasoning from Wide Open Foods (found at Kroger). We also recommend the Cajun Two Step from StaleKracker.
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