Just had my first can of SpaghettiOs. I was expecting the sauce to be more tomato-y, rather than the orange stuff in the can. Why is the canned sauce so different from actual tomato sauce, and what could they do to improve it?
the sauce in Spaghetti-Os also contains powdered cheese, and they add beta carotene which would give it an orangier color.
Growing up I loved Spagettios. Just saying.
Why it’s different: it’s aimed at kids, whose taste buds are different. I’ll trust the manufacturer to know their consumers.
Franco-American brand? I thought pasta was Italian.
There’s also a lot of sugar in that sauce.
It’s also cheap. You want higher-quality ingredients, you have to pay more for them.
Yeah, it’s obnoxiously sweet, even to me as a kid. It just never tasted like any type of tomato sauce I’ve ever had before and it had that oddball orange color to it. I can see developing a taste for that particular flavor, as it’s so different than other tomato sauces, but I just never glommed onto it. Franco-American and Chef Boyaredee both seemed to have that weird flavor and sweetness, as far as I remember. Maybe there’s also something in the canning process that alters the flavor.
I don’t think they need to do anything to improve it, as I suspect it sells just fine, and if you changed it even for what you might think is the “better” (and remember, in matter of tastes, there is no “better,” i.e. de gustibus non est disputandem) you’ll get millions of people bitching that they changed their recipe.
The French Canadian family I’m from (MA North Shore) further took that Franco-American pasta in a can, then put it in a casserole dish, poured on breadcrumbs and baked it. Certainly stretched the food dollar in the big families.
According to this, a 7.5 oz can has 150 calories and is very low fat. I’m surprised it isn’t worse than that. There’s precious little in the way of nutrition, but it isn’t high cal.
IANA chef but if you wanted to doctor it for a more adult flavor, I’d try adding some garlic powder, oregano, and other spices to make it more Italian. I’d add parmesan to thicken the sauce a bit. I’d add plain tomato sauce to dilute that sweetness. But the manufacturer would be losing profit by adding those things and the kids who eat them may stop. The al dente on those noodles sailed long ago, anyway.
Was it just me or were the old Chef Boyardee pizza kits a*** lot ***more Italian than the jillion varieties of canned pasta? My hypothesis was that the parent had to work to make the pizza (not simply heating in a saucepan or microwaving), which meant the parent was going to be eating some of it as well, so it better be palatable to adults. I haven’t had one in decades but they are still available. I’m tempted.
I’d rather they keep it the same. Usually, when we have pasta, we make the sauce from scratch and sometimes make our own noodles. I love pasta made this way.
But every so often I’ll buy a can of spaghetti because sometimes I’m in the mood for exactly what canned spaghetti is.
There’s a “throwback” version now that has a lot less sugar than the regular stuff, which could almost be used as an ice cream topping.
Mind you, the less sugar version is still pretty sweet and orange compared to normal pasta sauce.
Here is a recipe for Spaghetti-Os casserole here(it doesn’t mention breadcrumbs though):
https://www.mommyskitchen.net/2009/03/super-easy-sapaghetti-os-casserole.html
And a “lasagna” using canned ravioli:
https://www.readyseteat.com/recipes-Ravioli-Lasagna-5616
And some more recipes using canned pasta:
Seems like a lot of work trying to make it edible, Might as well rinse rinse rinse all that wretched orange goo off in a strainer and use the handful of pasta as the base for actual food…I have fond memories of making the pizza from a box mix, I bought one not long ago and am waiting for just the right Saturday night need-a-bad-snack-attack.
To be honest I usually eat my Spaghetti-Os cold right out of the can.
Yep, spaghettios as well as baked beans are great right out of the can.
Both Chef Boyardee and Appian Way make/made pizza kits that were perfect for broke college students. Stock make was basic stoner food, but with a few cents worth of spices and cheese (which you could liberate from the school cafeteria during Sunday Brunch) you could turn out semi-respectable dorm pizza.
I know, right? If your cupboard was bare and all you had was a can…? I’d ask myself why I bought it. Anyway, OP asked what they could do to improve it.
I prefer Spagetti-os to anything Chef Boy-ar-dee.
Every so often, I’ll eat a can of Spagetti-os. I typically don’t finish it because it is so sweet and devoid of any nutrition. But a can of Spagetti-os is a Time Machine, and I enjoy a trip now and then.
~VOW
wow never ever tried them before ?
wait until you try the ones with the mystery meatballs or cocktail weenies …
these days Campbell’s soup owns spaghetti-os and anything else franco-american made
did anyone ever try their mac and cheese in a can? it was usually near the spagetti-os but even as kids we were afraid to try it …
After I had kids and they got past toddler-hood, I bought some Spaghetti-O’s. I mean, my Mom used to just heat that up and give it to us for lunch.
Wow, they are aimed at kids. I tried some and honestly, it was disgusting. Yes, the same as when I was a kid, but I had not realized how much my tastes had changed.