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The internet is stirring over a surprising new take on a pasta night classic — and it all comes down to one unexpected holiday favorite.
Sabrina Burke, a real estate agent-turned TV personality and content creator, is going viral for her unusual addition to spaghetti and meat sauce: canned cranberry sauce.
“If you’re not eating your spaghetti like this, you are missing out, honey,” Burke teased in a recent TikTok cooking clip that has gotten more than 1.3 million views and 17,000 shares.
Burke walked followers through her unique recipe in a May video.
She began by boiling angel hair pasta for six minutes. “If you throw it on the wall, and it sticks like that, then it’s ready,” she said, demonstrating the trick.
Then, Burke browned about two pounds of chopped meat and a pound of ground sausage. After draining the pan, she added her “secret ingredient.”
“Ta-da, cranberry sauce!” she said. “I’m gonna smush this up and put it in the meat.”
Using a fork, she mashed it and stirred it in.
“Ya’ll, this will give your spaghetti the most incredible flavor,” Burke said. “It is like a sweet tangy — you don’t even know it’s in there. But people eat it and they’ll be like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so good, what is in there?’ They will never guess it’s cranberry sauce.”
Burke also stirred in three jars of mushroom tomato sauce before topping the pasta with a mix of 16 ounces of ricotta and about 3 ounces of Parmesan cheese.
“That little bit of tang from that cranberry sauce, that creaminess from that ricotta and Parmesan — this is like the perfect spaghetti,” she raved in the clip.
After a big forkful, Burke declared: “That is divine. Your family will be asking for this.”
And her secret ingredient isn’t just for pasta.
“I also put it in my chili, and it just takes it to the next level,” she said.
Burke told Fox News Digital that the addition first debuted in her chili, and she decided to try it in her sauce after her family raved about it.
“It was a game-changer, absolutely delicious,” she said. “It’s an amazing party for your taste buds!”
While she has experimented with whole-berry sauce, Burke said the jellied variety is “hands down” the best because “it just melts right into the spaghetti sauce.”
While the recipe is good any time of year, Burke said it’s a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce this coming holiday season.
She suggests aiming for a balance of about 85% savory to 15% sweet in the dish.
But reactions to Burke’s viral pasta hack are split.
“I made this tonight, and you’re absolutely right!” one TikToker commented on her video. “It’s good, and you’d never know it was cranberry sauce! If you like sweeter spaghetti sauce, this is a must-try!”
Other people offered similar tips.
“I add brown sugar and if I don’t have that, I will use a little jelly,” one commenter shared. Someone else chimed in with balsamic vinegar as their go-to addition. Another said, “We put grape jelly in meatballs.”
Others were less convinced.
“Every Italian nonna clutching her pearls!” one woman wrote with a shocked emoji. Another viewer suggested a lighter hand: “I don’t know about this. Maybe add 1/4 can?”
Some criticized the recipe for skipping Italian staples like onions, garlic and basil.
“I was shocked by the number of people who commented that their Italian ancestors and Italian grandmothers would roll over in their graves over putting cranberry sauce in spaghetti,” Burke said. “Some people were actually offended by the recipe. I definitely wasn’t expecting to offend anyone … I was just sharing a twist on a meal that my family loved.”
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