Macaroni with Tomato Juice
I was home today by myself, everyone else was out of town. With no one coming home for supper, I decided to make one of my favorite dishes from my childhood. Macaroni with tomato juice is a major comfort food for me. When I was a kid, my mom did a lot of canning from the garden. Tomato juice is one thing that she never had to buy, she always had it canned and ready to go. She used it in a lot of recipes like chili, vegetable soup, goulash, and macaroni with tomato juice. I know a lot of people use tomatoes, but Mom always made macaroni with tomato juice. It is one of the first dishes I taught myself to make after we were married, but it took me a long time to get it right since I didn’t have a recipe.
One thing I always had trouble with was the seasoning, I had trouble getting it to taste right, it tasted flat. Finally, I learned that you need to salt the water when you boil the pasta or it will never be right. It is amazing the difference it makes when you salt the pasta water. That took care of the seasoning problem, the other problem I had was the macaroni got mushy when I simmered the dish to thicken the tomato juice. I fixed that by under cooking the macaroni in the water and letting it finish cooking in the tomato juice.
A bonus is that it is a very inexpensive dish since all you have to buy is a package of macaroni noodles and a can or bottle of tomato juice. I have always been a little picky with the brand of tomato juice that I would use. For some reason the store brands never seemed to taste right, I actually have always preferred Campbell tomato juice. I tried the tomato juice from Aldi about a year ago and liked it, so that is what I buy now. If you like saving money, you might like my post about What’s the Deal at Aldi?
So now that I have solved the problems, I can share this recipe for my favorite old fashioned comfort food. My husband likes to add cheese, but not me, I want it just like Mom made it. Just 4 simple ingredients if you count the salt and pepper. Since I am the only one home, I have leftovers for next week which will come in handy since we have a busy week planned with VBS and a babysitting course for my daughter. I love having leftovers, do you?
Macaroni with Tomato Juice
Ingredients
12 oz macaroni
46 oz tomato juice
2 tbsp salt
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Place cold water in a large pot and bring to a boil, add 2 tbsp salt and pasta to the boiling water, stir to make sure pasta doesn’t stick together. Cook pasta a little less than al dente. Drain off the water and add tomato juice, 1 tsp of salt and the pepper. Bring back to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the sauce has thickened and the macaroni is al dente, about 15 minutes.
Did you grow up eating macaroni with tomato juice? What is your comfort food? Leave a comment and let me know.
You might like a couple of other recipes from my childhood like Simple Tuna Salad and Sweet Rice.
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10 Comments
Dan M Smith
I can’t wait to try this, thank you!! I remember sweet rice but not this. YUM!!
Amy A
My mom used to make this for us all the time. I love it. It is now my daughter’s favorite…she asks for it for her birthday dinner haha.
Karen Catron
Hello!
This simple dish was what I grew up with too! And still have it occasionally.
I fixed it for my husband as a newlywed. When I sat it down in front of him, he replied “what’s this?” I stated it was macaroni and tomato juice! He then asked, “where’s the meat?” I was stunned that he had to ask, I thought it was common, and that everyone ate macaroni and tomato juice!! Several years went by before I ran across someone else eating it, I was convinced they had to be long lost relative.
Kathy
My Mom’s of German parents. She was raised during the depression. So one or both could be the reason this was her comfort food. We add a pat of butter, a pinch of sugar, a pinch of Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to our Campbell’s tomato juice and elbow macaroni.
I could make this a few times a week and not grow tired of it.
Deanna
My grandma used to make this for us growing up and she called it macaroni and hot dogs. I was looking for a similar recipe (or actually the story behind it, where it came from, did she just make it up?) when I found this! I wondered if I was the only one who loved it!
Heather
I add a pat of butter and lemon pepper!! Delicious
Sheila
I grew up eating this. Sometimes it was home canned tomatoes and sometimes home canned tomato juice. My dad was an avid gardener and we always had canned tomatoes or juice on the shelf. Being a Southerner, ours was finished off with a pinch of sugar, salt, pepper, and the ever-popular southern staple, bacon grease. Still love it today. It was a staple when my kids were growing up too, and now they prepare it for their own families. And as someone commented previously, my girls have been known to request this for their birthday dinner — even as adults! What’s better than an inexpensive AND tasty dish!
Julie
Has anyone ever cooked the macaroni in the tomato juice? I can a lot of tomato juice and I have been looking for different ways to use it up before our next batch of tomatoes are ripe. I make the veggie soup, chili and tomato soup but could use some other ideas if you have any. Thanks!
Janet
I was wondering the same thing?
Susan S.
Been eating this since I was young! Still eat it now but I use tomato sauce, a little butter and s&p!! Looove!