The Best Jollof Spaghetti

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: African, Fusion, Nigerian

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 45

Servings: servings

Calories: 294kcal

Author: Jazzmine Woodard

Tender pasta cooked in a jollof seasoned tomato sauce with aromatics and spices

Print Recipe

Equipment

1 cutting board
1 knife
1 Blender
1 large pot or saute pan 4 quarts or larger

Ingredients

1 onion
4 Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes
2 bell peppers
1-2 scotch bonnet peppers
½ cup water
3-4 tablespoons oil
2 cups spinach leaves fresh or frozen, thawed, and drained
3 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 maggi cube crushed into powder
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon white pepper
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground thyme
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bay leaf
4 cups broth or stock
sea salt to taste
16 ounces spaghetti uncooked

Instructions

Cut the onion in half and add one half with tomatoes, bell peppers, and scotch bonnet peppers to blender with water and puree until smooth (about two minutes).
Meanwhile, add oil to pot over medium flame. Dice the remaining onion, chop the spinach, and mince or crush the garlic then add the onion to the heated oil along with curry powder, crushed maggi cube, smoked paprika, white pepper, ginger, and thyme. Do not add salt (see recipe notes).
Cook until fragrant and onions are nearly translucent (about four minutes) then add garlic and cook one minute more.
Stir the tomato paste into the pot, followed by the tomato puree and bay leaf. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes or until bubbling and slightly reduced.
Stir in the broth or stock then increase heat to medium high and bring to a boil.
Taste test the sauce and add salt, if needed, to your preference. Reduce the heat to medium then add spaghetti to the pot and cook to al dente (about 16 minutes).
Remove from heat and discard bay leaf then stir chopped spinach into pasta until wilted. Serve hot.

Notes

Preparation

You can make jollof spaghetti up to three days in advance as long as it is stored properly in the fridge.

Alternatively, you can prep just the tomato and pepper puree up to three days ahead of time, just make sure to stir it up before us in case of separation.

If you want to cook jollof spaghetti with smoked fish, add it to the pot in step two with the onion and spices.

Be sure to taste test the sauce and add salt, as needed. Since we're using maggi cube and broth, it's best not to add additional salt at the start of cooking but you want to salt the sauce just as you would water for boiling pasta!

Storage

To store, transfer the spaghetti and sauce to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to five days.

You can freeze cooked spaghetti jollof for up to three months in an airtight, freezer-safe container or zip top freezer bag.

Nutrition