Filipino Style Sweet Spaghetti (Vegan)

vegan filipino sweet spaghetti with cheddar cheese

5 from 2 votes

This is a veganised version of my all-time favourite Filipino-Style Sweet Spaghetti. This Filipino-Style Sweet Spaghetti is our adaptation of Italian Bolognese or spaghetti with meat sauce. It has sweet meat sauce packed with ground meat and sliced hot dogs, that’s sweetened with brown sugar and ketchup.

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Prep Time 20

Cook Time 20

Total Time 40

Course Main Course

Cuisine Filipino, Fusion, Italian

Servings people

Calories 507 kcal

Ingredients

Filipino ‘Meat’ Sauce

1 cup dry TVP (texturised vegetable protein) , see notes for alternatives
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 small onion diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1.5 cups sliced vegan sausage (see notes)
2 cups tomato sauce , see recipe notes
1-2 tbsp tomato paste , see recipe notes
1/2 cup ketchup , I used tomato ketchup (see notes)
1/2 cup no beef broth or vegetable stock , see notes
1/4 cup sugar plus more if needed (see notes)
Pinch salt to taste if needed

Spaghetti

14 oz dry spaghetti
Drizzle neutral oil

To Finish

1 cup vegan cheddar shreds for topping (I used Daiya cheddar shreds)

Instructions

If using TVP: rehydrate the TVP by placing it in a large bowl. Pour over room temperature water and leave it to soak until rehydrated, about 5-10 minutes. You can also use hot or warm water, but I found that room temperate water works perfectly fine.
Once rehydrated, drain the TVP from water and squeeze out any excess liquid.
Heat a dutch over or pot over medium heat. Add the oil. Once hot, sauté diced onions until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add in the sliced sausages and TVP. Cook for 2-3 minutes over medium high heat.
Add in the tomato sauce, tomato paste ketchup, no beef broth/vegetable stock, and sugar (if using). Mix well. Leave to simmer over medium heat. Once it boils, add some salt, to taste, if needed. Leave over medium to also to come to a gentle simmer.
Meanwhile, prepare a large pot of water and allow it to boil for the spaghetti. Generously salt the water. Leave the spaghetti to cook. I keep my spaghetti and sauce separate so I make sure the spaghetti is cooked since I won’t be cooking this down in the sauce unlike in Italian pastas.
Once cooked, you can run the spaghetti over water or simply strain the excess water. I transfer the spaghetti into a large bowl and drizzle some oil into the cooked spaghetti. Mix well to coat. This is to ensure the spaghetti doesn’t still together as it sits.
Taste the 'meat' sauce and season with more sugar, for sweetness, if desired. Filipino spaghetti is traditionally very sweet so don't skimp on the sugar! Turn off the heat.

TO SERVE

You can serve the cooked spaghetti in a large bowl and the sauce in the pot to keep it warm. We get a serving of spaghetti and scoop some sauce to pour over it -- we enjoy our spaghetti like this at home.
Finish off with some grated vegan cheddar cheese. Mix well to coat the spaghetti in the sauce and add more, if needed. Enjoy!

Notes

TVP/PLANT BASED GROUND/VEGAN MINCE

Instead of TVP, you can also ground meat alternatives like those from Gardein, OmniPork, Beyond Meat, etc.

DO NOTE: some plant-based ground meat alternatives are already seasoned so it’s best to taste these before adding more salt to the sauce.

OTHER ALTERNATIVES

You can use 2 cups of fresh mushrooms and dice or mince these to use. You can use mushrooms like shiitake, king oyster, button, etc.
You can also use cooked lentils. I personally like to use red lentils.

VEGAN SAUSAGES

I used a local Filipino brand of sausages from Country Vegefoods that are very neutral tasting. If you can find neutral-tasting/original sausages, those would be best so they go well with the sauce.

TOMATO SAUCE

Filipino tomato sauces in the market are usually cooked down and thickened with some starch so have a consistency almost similar to tomato sauce. If you have a runnier/more watery tomato sauce similar to Italian passata, you should add more tomato paste to thicken it.
Although I highly recommend to use tomato sauce, that’s cooked down and thickened for this recipe since it has a much thicker consistency.

NO BEEF BROTH

I diluted 1/2 Edward & Son’s No Beef Cube in 1/2 cup hot water. You can also use vegetable stock.

TOMATO KETCHUP

First of all, yes, we add ketchup in Filipino spaghetti! It's actually usually banana ketchup that's used but I wanted to make a version that was easy for you to replicate in case you don't have access to banana ketchup so I used tomato ketchup.
I used Del Monte’s original tomato ketchup, which is a local tomato ketchup that’s considerably sweeter compared to other tomato ketchup like those of Heinz. You will need to add more sugar to counter the acidity of your ketchup depending on your sweetness preference.

SWEETNESS 

For the sugar, you may need to add more depending on the type of tomato sauce and ketchup you use.
Some tomato sauces are unsweetened so would need some more sugar. This will also depend on the sweetness or acidity of your ketchup. I used a local Filipino tomato ketchup that is a bit sweet and less acidic that ketchup like those from Heinz so I used less sugar.
Filipino spaghetti is really traditionally sweet so don’t be afraid to add sugar. Adding a salty cheddar cheese (I used Daiya’s cheddar shreds) also brings a great contrast to the the sweetness of the spaghetti.

NUTRITIONAL INFO

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