Olive Garden Adds Spaghetti Pie To Menu — But No Calorie And Nutrition Facts — After Matt Lauer Raves Over Recipe [Videos]

Olive Garden has taken a hint from Matt Lauer’s praise of spaghetti pie, as seen in the below video from Today, and has decided to make spaghetti pie a menu item.

It was a segment on Today, called “Today Food,” that introduced the world to spaghetti pie. Matt began raving about how the spaghetti pie recipe sounded so good and that it was something he would like to see on his home dinner menu at least twice per week.

Chef Adam Richman noted how the spaghetti pie recipe was something he learned from his frat brothers at Emory University. After that revelation, Matt wondered aloud what kind of fraternity shared recipes like spaghetti pie. Either way, Matt loved the spaghetti pie so much that he proclaimed Adam’s spaghetti pie the best thing he’d had on the show in a month. Adam was bowled over by the praise and said that he wished he could turn Matt’s words that praised his spaghetti pie into his ringtone.

After the spaghetti pie recipe went viral via Today, Olive Garden decided to add spaghetti pie to their menu, reports Today.

Therefore, those who don’t like to cook — no matter how simple the spaghetti pie recipe might be — can head over to their local Olive Garden eatery to try three different types of spaghetti pie. There’s the “Meatball Deep Dish Spaghetti Pie,” which includes the spaghetti base along with meatballs, bacon, meat sauce, and seven different types of cheese.

The “Chicken Alfredo Deep Dish Spaghetti Pie” at Olive Garden is for those who are more in a chicken mood than a beef mood. That version of the spaghetti pie includes grilled chicken, the spaghetti base, seven kinds of cheese, bacon, and Alfredo sauce.

Lastly, the “Spaghetti Rosso with Chicken and Bacon” infuses tomato into their spaghetti pie — and like its name suggests, also has bacon and grilled chicken. With veggies like red peppers and asparagus thrown into that spaghetti pie’s recipe, mingling in the Olive Garden’s Parmesan pesto sauce, that spaghetti pie might be the healthiest of the three spaghetti pie options.

According to Calorie Count, the nutritional facts of the spaghetti pie aren’t all that bad, at least for the standard spaghetti pie recipe.

As for Olive Garden’s “New Deep Dish Spaghetti Pie,” those spaghetti pie nutrition facts have yet to appear on Olive Garden’s website.

The ingredients of the spaghetti pie are pretty simple, representing stuff that people might already have in their kitchens, reports Today.

“12 ounces spaghetti, cooked, ½ cup cooking water reserved
1 small yellow onion, chopped finely
1 pound ground turkey or sirloin beef
1 cup tomato paste, divided
3 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1½ cup shredded mozzarella
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt to taste”

The instructions for making the spaghetti pie at home, as reported by Today, are listed below in part.

“Preheat oven to 350.

In a large skillet, sauté the onions until soft. Add ground turkey or beef, and ¾ cup of the tomato paste. Add half the reserved pasta water and stir well. Season with salt, to taste. Consistency should be like a thick Bolognese sauce. Add more cooking water as needed.

In a large bowl, mix together the cooked spaghetti, eggs, parmesan cheese, 1 cup of the mozzarella, and ¼ cup of the tomato paste.

Grease a 9 or 10-inch pie pan with olive oil. Spread half the meat mixture over the bottom of the pan. Add the spaghetti mixture and press it down to level it. Top with the remaining meat mixture, then scatter the remaining mozzarella on top.

Bake the pie in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit about 10 minutes.”

[Photo by Steve Helber, File/AP Images]