GREEK SPAGHETTI. These two words are enough to send my heart (and appetite) aflutter, and have been ever since I was young. Growing up, my mom would make whatever I wanted on my birthday, and more often than not this was my request. It’s the first thing I ever cooked for Zach and now we’re married. (Coincidence? I think not.) I’ve been saving this recipe for a long time, waiting to post on my blog for the right moment. Greek Spaghetti is the ultimate comfort food for me- and given the fact that I am 8 months pregnant and in need of some edible comfort, now seems as good a time as any to share my favorite family recipe with you!
Just because this recipe is called “Greek Spaghetti” doesn’t mean it has your most familiar “Greek” ingredients- olives, feta, etc. It’s Greek in an entirely different way. This recipe is packed with ground beef spiced with cinnamon and drizzled with (lots of) rich browned butter, and sprinkled with Romano cheese. It’s rich, earthy, and decadent. And amazing and wonderful and represents everything that is good in the world. It truly is the food of the gods.
If you’ve never had this combination before, you may be thinking: “Really? Ground beef with cinnamon? I don’t know…”
Using cinnamon in savory dishes is very common in Greek cuisine. Have you ever had Pastitsio (a very common entree served at Greek festivals)? Or perhaps Cincinnati Chili (a cinnamon spiced chili served over spaghetti developed by Greek immigrants in the Cincinnati area)? Both use cinnamon (and sometimes nutmeg) and both are absolutely delicious.
I’m writing this post at 8am and just looking at these photographs makes me really, really wish I could dive face-first into a big bowl of this for breakfast. Sigh. Sadly, it’s all gone.
Here are the great things about this recipe:
- It takes only 25 minutes to make and it’s super easy.
- It has only SIX ingredients!
- It’s budget-friendly.
- You can easily make it vegetarian by substituting chopped mushrooms for the ground beef.
- The leftovers reheat very well.
- BROWNED BUTTER. *drool*
Anything made with browned butter is bound to be delicious. In fact, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to recipes that use it. If you’ve never made it before, don’t be sacred- it’s easy. Just melt butter over medium high heat and stir constantly, with a spoon or a whisk, until it foams and turns a light brown color under the foam. The brown color is a result of the dairy solids that are in butter getting toasted. Just don’t heat for too long, or you’ll end up with burned butter! Here’s a good tutorial on how to make browned butter.
If you love browned butter as much as I do, try this Spaghetti with Browned Butter and Wilted Greens, this Mushroom Brie Soup, or this Butternut Squash, Browned Butter, and Rosemary Fettucini Alfredo.
That’s it, folks. The best recipe in the world. Hope you like it :-)
Recipe for Greek Spaghetti below!
Greek Spaghetti (Makaronia Me Kima)
Equipment
- Small Pot
Ingredients
- 16 oz. spaghetti
- 8 tablespoons butter divided (1 stick)
- 1 large onion diced
- 1 lb. lean ground beef
- 1/2 cup Romano cheese grated (or parmesan), plus more for serving
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook spaghetti according to directions in salted water.
- Meanwhile, saute the onion in 1 tablespoon of butter in a large skillet over medium high heat until softened and beginning to brown (about 3 minutes).
- Add the ground beef (1 lb.); continue cooking until browned and fully cooked.
- Season with beef and onions with the cinnamon (1 tablespoon) and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to coat.
- In a large bowl, layer 1/3 of the cooked spaghetti, 1/3 of the ground beef mixture, and 1/3 of the grated Romano cheese. Repeat layers two more times.
- Brown the remaining 7 tablespoons of butter in the same skillet, or a small pot, by melting the butter over medium high heat and stirring or whisking continuously until the butter foams and turns a light brown color underneath the foam. Remove from heat immediately when this happens.
- Drizzle the browned butter over the spaghetti.
- Serve with extra cheese.
Notes
- For a vegetarian version, chopped mushrooms can be used in place of the ground beef.
- The provided nutrition information does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. Feel free to calculate it yourself using this calculator or by adding the recipe to Yummly.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
Judy Maynard
The Greek Spaghetti was OK but the recipe is not worth keeping. It was short on flavor and the brown butter did little to add richness of flavor. Glad I tried this recipe but will not make this again.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Do make sure you use enough salt in this recipe, especially if you use unsalted brown butter. It’s definitely a simple recipe, so it needs a bit of a boost from salt otherwise it may be bland.
John Newport
I am so excited to try this recipe and several others that you shared, which I saved. Love Greek food and have always been intimidated to make them on my own; so I never did. However, this one does not seem difficult at all and going to give it a go. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hope you like it! It’s a family favorite, an Americanized-Greek dish I grew up on. Sometimes I’ll add a little marinara sauce or crushed tomatoes to the beef and onion mixture – also delicious!
Amanda Goldberg
Hi. This question is directed towards anyone who has made the recipe- How rich and fatty does this dish 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆…
Elizabeth Lindemann
It tastes pretty rich but not too much, in my opinion! Because the whole thing is drizzled in butter I think it’s important to use lean ground beef to make this, otherwise it might taste too greasy. Hope that helps!
Natalie
Tried this with impossible meat, and it was delicious!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Great to know it works well with impossible meat! Thanks for sharing :-)
Ashley
I am planning on making this for dinner! Sounds tasty! One question, do you drain the meat after it’s browned before adding the cinnamon?
Elizabeth Lindemann
I almost never drain the meat, especially if I am using lean ground beef. But you can if you like! If you use a fattier cut (like 80/20) it would be a good idea to drain it because the whole thing is drizzled in butter in the end so you don’t need all that extra fat in there. Hope that helps and hope you like it!
Michelle F
I was served “greek spaghetti” decades ago while visiting a friend’s friend in Germany (husband was Greek). This was pre-internet, so my cookbook searches did not reveal a recipe that matched what I remembered. It didn’t help that I thought there were cloves in the sauce, not cinammon. (language barrier when I was there) Not only will I be testing this out very soon, but I poked around and found several more recipes to try. I am not a great cook, so I love that your recipes are simple yet sound so savory and satisfying. And this isn’t hunger speaking, I just ate. I bookmarked for later! Thank you!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy you found this recipe, and as a side note, I think just a pinch of ground cloves (or nutmeg!) would be delicious in addition to the cinnamon! Hope you like it :-)
Sue
Tried this for dinner tonight…my whole kitchen smells amazing as was the dish!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Andtea
I added garlic and nutmeg! Outstanding!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh I LOVE the idea of adding garlic and nutmeg to this! Yum! So glad you liked it :-)
Gabriella
OMG! This was exceptionally rich and delicious! We ate ourselves silly!! I added just a touch of allspice and pepper to the browned butter and we LOVED this dish. Seems like it would be great for freezing and leftover lunches for my hunny! So YUMMY!!! Make this NOW!
Elizabeth Lindemann
SO happy you liked it! This is literally my all-time favorite recipe. EVER. That idea about freezing is great! You could freeze the beef mixture with the browned butter and then just toss it all with cooked pasta when you’re ready eat- genius! Can’t wait to try that. Thanks for the comment!
Alexandra
This was really outstanding. I couldn’t believe how well the cinnamon and ground beef worked together, especially with the browned butter. I never would usually make something like this but I’m so glad I did! Plus, it was pretty quick!
Anthony Stamson
Another version of this that is great as a side dish is just the noodles and Kasseri cheese (a greek cheese that I assume Romano is being substituted for i most of these recipes because its hard to find. Kasseri is a much stronger that makes the dish unique.)
Put the noodles in a square dish cover with a lot of finely grated cheese and drizzle with butter. Bake for a few minutes to finish melting the cheese.
Elizabeth
I’ve only had it with Romano before but I can’t wait to try it with Kasseri! Hopefully I can find it close by. Love the idea of baking the pasta for a little bit- so simple and yummy. Thanks for the suggestion!
Mary
I was hesitant about using the butter, but it turned out really good. My family loved it.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy to hear that you and your family liked it! It’s a favorite with my family too :-)
Irma Tchamourian
My family makes this with mizithra….. yummy.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yum! Such a great cheese, if you can get it!