Banana Spaghetti, My Take On Grandma’s Filipino Spaghetti

If every Chinese birthday must have Long Life Noodles, then every Filipino birthday must have Filipino-style spaghetti. Unlike its Italian cousin, Filipino spaghetti is sweet, made with Filipino-style hotdogs, and—surprise!—banana ketchup. I’ve previously shared the history of banana ketchup and even have my own recipe if you want to DIY it in [this post].

For a few months between high school and college, I worked at a popular Filipino fast-food chain called Jollibee. I mostly worked weekends, planning and hosting birthday parties (sometimes being forced to dance, too). Despite the pressure of performing in front of a crowd, it was fun being part of a new-location opening crew—learning what it takes to hit the ground running and the day-to-day operations of a fast-food company. Jollibee is best known for its fried chicken, but like many other fast-food restaurants in the Philippines, they also serve spaghetti. To this day, I still head to Jollibee whenever I crave Filipino spaghetti but don’t feel like making an entire pot of it.

My earliest memories of Filipino spaghetti take me back to sitting at the dining table as a kid with my cousins, waiting for my grandma to finish cooking her spaghetti. Once served, we’d place an American cheese single on top and watch it melt before digging in. To recreate a similar memory for my daughter’s birthday, I decided to make Filipino spaghetti from scratch—consulting the matriarch herself.

A few things surprised me as I spoke to my grandma over the phone. First, I had no idea Filipino spaghetti has so much sugar! I knew it was sweet, but she told me to add a full cup of brown sugar. I jotted it down but mentally made a note to revisit that amount later. Second, she used sweet pickle relish—which I should’ve guessed since both her and my dad’s famous caldereta also contain it. The relish adds a bit of tang to balance the sweetness, giving the sauce a hint of classic Italian spaghetti flavors. Before we hung up, her parting words were:

“DON’T ADD PATIS (fish sauce) OR SOY SAUCE. This is Italian food!”

So, I didn’t add either of those, but… shhh, don’t tell my grandma—I know someone who does add fish sauce to her spaghetti, and the umami flavor is just chef’s kiss.

Last week, my parents flew in from California to visit my youngest for her 5th birthday. I figured it was the perfect time to make spaghetti—not just to celebrate but also to get honest feedback from someone who knows my grandma’s cooking well. Hitting two birds with one stone, I waited for the verdict…

It didn’t taste like my grandma’s spaghetti. BUT—it did taste like my dad’s favorite: Makati Supermarket Spaghetti. Every time he visits Manila, he makes it a point to stop by this supermarket for that one and only reason.

I have a theory. Maybe the reason it didn’t taste like my grandma’s spaghetti is because:
✔ I only used a quarter of the sugar
✔ I cut the banana ketchup to a third because of the shortage
✔ I added a mashed banana

So… technically, it wasn’t her recipe.

While filming this… erm, experiment, I mentioned that it would be a tall order to perfectly recreate my grandma’s recipe in my own kitchen. But I had hoped, at the very least, to capture the spirit of it. And when I saw multiple servings polished off from everyone’s dinner plates that night, I felt that, in some small way, I had honored my grandma and her efforts to feed us all the best of her dishes.

Banana Spaghetti

Serves: 10-12

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 16 oz pack of spaghetti, cooked

1 head garlic, minced

½ onion, chopped

1 red bell pepper, minced

1 lb ground pork

1 lb ground beef

2 15 oz cans tomato sauce

3 tbsp tomato paste

⅓ cup banana ketchup

1 banana, mashed

3 tbsp sweet pickle relish

1 package (8-10 pieces) Filipino style hotdogs, sliced

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Shredded Cheese for topping

Vegetable oil for sauteing

Instructions:

In a pan, saute garlic and onion using medium heat until fragrant. Add bell pepper and saute until softened. Brown ground pork and ground beef in the pan, then combine with tomato sauce, tomato paste, banana ketchup, banana and sweet pickle relish. Add hotdogs, sugar, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper. Stir to combine and simmer on medium heat for 15 minutes. Serve with cooked spaghetti noodles and top with shredded cheese.