Easy Fried Spaghetti Recipe - The Fiery Vegetarian (2024)

This easy fried spaghetti recipe with cheddar, tomatoes, and onions is UNBELIEVABLY quick and incredibly tasty. Just five ingredients plus salt and pepper, and ready in half an hour.

While it is definitely not a “healthy” vegetarian recipe, a little of what you fancy every now and then won’t do you any harm.

This fried spaghetti is a comfort food recipe first and foremost. It is also:

• The ultimate hangover recipe
• The ultimate hangry recipe
• The just-plain-fed-up recipe
• The ultimate vegetarian-food-is-awesome-and-not-just-salad recipe

All that with oozy stretchy cheesy spaghetti bits mixed in with crisped up bits? Yes please! Absolute carb and fat heaven.

Most comfort food recipes either come from your roots or your childhood meals, and this recipe is no exception.

My mum used to make fried spaghetti with cheddar just enough so that every time she said “Guess what’s for dinner?”, we would shout excitedly “Fried cheesy spaghetti?!?!”(nine times out of ten nope, my mother was no nutritional fool).

If you love pasta (who doesn’t?) you might also be interested in trying out the best arrabbiata sauce ever (it is, I swear), roasted red pepper sauce for pasta (ready in just ten minutes!), or this decadent 20-minute pumpkin pasta. For a really light dish, zucchini marinara is also gorgeous over spaghetti, or try this 7-minute pasta in green sauce.

How to make it

This cheesy fried spaghetti is a super easy recipe but I’ll go into detail in this section and include some photos of the process so you can check back here if you have any doubts while making it.

First, put your water on to boil in the pot for the spaghetti (remember it will boil faster if you put a lid on). You can also use leftover spaghetti for this, just heat it up with a tablespoon of water in the microwave for up to two and a half minutes before adding it to the pan later so it loosens up a bit.

Then chop up your onions (I always do this under the extractor fan so they don’t irritate my eyes), seed and chop the tomatoes, and grate the cheese.

I use cheddar cheese and highly recommend it, but you can use any sharp hard cheese such as jack, colby, gouda, etc.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan (make sure it’s non-stick) on high heat. Add in the onions and stir. You’re going to leave the onions to fry for about five-eight minutes until quite brown (as in image number one below) but you’ll need to stir them often to stop them from sticking and burning.

Don’t forget to add the spaghetti to the pot when the water comes to a boil. When it comes back to the boil, set a timer for 10-11 minutes and leave to cook, stirring the odd time to separate the strands).

Keep stirring the onions regularly and when they’re nice and brown you can add the tomatoes and the teaspoon of salt (as in image number two above), and turn the heat down to medium-high.

Stir the onion and tomato mixture well and leave to cook for about five minutes, stirring the odd time, or until the tomatoes have broken down (they should look like image number three above).

Drain your spaghetti well when cooked al-dente, and add to the pan with the tomatoes and onions (image number four). Toss the spaghetti to make sure it’s well coated with the olive oil tomatoes and onions.

Turn the heat up to high and sprinkle a third of the grated cheese on top of the spaghetti (see image number one below). Toss quickly with the pasta before it starts to melt, and then let sit for two minutes.

This is when the magic happens and the cheese starts to melt through all the spaghetti and the spaghetti and cheese bits on the bottom get nice and crispy.

After two minutes, add another third of the cheese, toss again (make sure to lift any crispy bits away from the bottom or they will burn), and let sit two minutes more. Repeat with the final third of the cheese, letting it sit two minutes again.

Your spaghetti should look like image number two from the photo above. Done!

Mixing the cheese in three times and letting the cheesy spaghetti sit and fry two minutes each time yields the perfect ratio of gooey cheese to crispy cheesy spaghetti bits for me, but if you like it crispier, then you can let it sit a little longer. Likewise, if you prefer it less crispy, let it sit less time.

Storing it

If you have any leftovers, they’ll keep in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to five days. To reheat, add a tablespoon of water to the container, shake, and microwave on high for two and a half minutes. I don’t recommend freezing this dish as this spaghetti gets a bit spongy.

I hope you enjoyed your fried spaghetti, and if you made it please let me know how you got on in the comments below or leave a star rating and review by clicking on the stars in the recipe box.

Ooh, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram (@the_fiery_vegetarian), I love seeing your creations!

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