Name: Basic Spaghetti Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 3 large eggs, beaten; 2 cups of all-purpose flour; 1 tablespoon of olive oil; 1 teaspoon of salt

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January 4 is National Spaghetti Day. This national food day is the perfect excuse to indulge in this delicious and twirlable pasta.

The most obvious way to celebrate National Spaghetti Day is to cook spaghetti! You can pick one of the 10 pasta sauce recipes below to go with your noodles. Plus, if you’ve never made homemade spaghetti, you can try making it today with the recipe for homemade spaghetti at the bottom of this post.

Keep reading for the recipes, 10+ fun facts about spaghetti, and some creative ways to celebrate this national day!

Fun facts about spaghetti

Do you love to dig into a bowl of spaghetti? Here are some spaghetti facts to think about while you enjoy the taste:

The word spaghetti is the plural of spaghetto, which comes from the Italian word spago, meaning twine or thin string.
The BBC played an April Fools’ joke in 1957 with a spoof broadcast intended to convince people that spaghetti grew on trees!
Contrary to popular belief. Marco Polo did not discover spaghetti.
Italians don’t use a spoon and fork to eat spaghetti (this is an American custom). They twirl the pasta on a fork against the dish.
National Spaghetti isn’t the only day of the year dedicated to celebrating pasta. There’s also National Pasta Day on October 17 and World Pasta Day on October 25.
Italy is the world’s largest producer of spaghetti, making over 3 tons a year.
The first tomato sauces for spaghetti appeared in the 18th century.
Spaghetti started being offered in restaurants in the US towards the end of the 19th century.
The original spaghetti strands were quite long but shorter lengths started appearing during the latter half of the 20th century. The most common lengths are now 10-12 inches.
A serving of spaghetti has about 220 calories and 8 grams of protein.
Not everyone can digest spaghetti because of its gluten content.
Adding tomato sauce to spaghetti is a United States invention.

How to celebrate National Spaghetti Day

One of the fun things to do for national days is to figure out how to come up with new ways to celebrate the special days. Here are a few ideas:

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Ditch the boxed spaghetti and make your own homemade spaghetti noodles with the easy recipe at the bottom of this post.
Find National Spaghetti Day in this free January word search printable.
Watch the Disney movie Lady and the Tramp for its adorable spaghetti eating scene.
Check with your favorite pasta restaurants to see who is offering specials for National Spaghetti Day.
Get a copy of Spaghetti!: An Interactive Recipe Book to read with your child. It has movable elements to teach them how to cook spaghetti in a fun way!
Are you a gardener? Make your own homemade roasted tomato pasta sauce.
Get a cute wall decor that says “more spaghetti, less upsetti” for your kitchen.
Cook a spaghetti recipe to share with family or friends. Below are 10 tasty spaghetti recipes.

Tasty spaghetti recipes

Nothing celebrates National Spaghetti Day on January 4th as much as making your favorite spaghetti recipe. Looking for a new idea? Try one of these spaghetti dishes.

Buttery tomato chicken over spaghetti

These tender chicken breasts have a buttery tomato sauce that is super tasty. Serve them over a bowl of spaghetti for a twist on the normal marinara dish.

Abruzzese meatballs and spaghetti

Take a trip to the Italian town of Abruzze, a little known coastal town that is rarely visited by tourists, with this delicious recipe. These Abruzzese meatballs are a wonderful blend of spices and herbs and served in a tomato sauce over a big bowl of spaghetti. YUMMO!

Creamy garlic chicken tetrazzini

Not all spaghetti sauces are red. This creamy garlic and chicken tetrazzini recipe uses a home made cream and wine sauce with English peas, all spooned over a big bowl of spaghetti.

Savory Italian meatballs and spaghetti

Who can resist a bowl of Italian meatballs and a home made savory tomato sauce over a big bowl of spaghetti? It’s the perfect comfort food and so easy to prepare.

Even though this dish is not a normal Italian offering, it is very popular here in the USA.

Chicken scallopine

This delicious recipe for easy chicken scallopine is short on time but big on flavor. It is very easy to make and on the table in just 25 minutes. It’s the perfect topping for al dente spaghetti.

More January 4 national days

Have you enjoyed learning about National Spaghetti Day and want more January 4 national days to celebrate? Below is the full list:

National Spaghetti Day
National Missouri Day
National Trivia Day
Pop Music Chart Day
World Hypnotism Day
Dimpled Chad Day
Free Flower Basket Day
Tom Thumb Day

For more reasons to celebrate this month, be sure to check out this list of January national days, and July food days.

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Celebrate National Spaghetti Day this year with a list of fun facts about spaghetti and a compilation of tasty spaghetti sauce recipes on Always the Holidays. 🍝🌱🍅 #SpaghettiFacts #NationalSpaghettiDay Share on X

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Yield: About 1 pound of spaghetti

Basic Spaghetti Recipe

Instead of using boxed spaghetti, try making your own pasta. It's easier than you might think!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Additional Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

3 large eggs, beaten
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt

Instructions

Mix together the eggs, all purpose flour, olive oil, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Use your hands to combine the ingredients until a dough starts to form.
Knead with mixture with a dough hook until it is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes or longer.
Use a pasta maker to roll out the dough.
Cut it into strips.

Notes

The dough can be made 1 day ahead. Just wrap it tightly and keep cool in the fridge. Fresh pasta cooks much more quickly than normal boxed spaghetti. You only need to cook it for 1 to 3 minutes.

National Spaghetti Day – January 4 – Fun Facts and Recipes

Fun facts about spaghetti

How to celebrate National Spaghetti Day