This $5 pasta dinner will transform your weeknight family meals!

It's quick, easy and cheap

November 04 2018

This four-ingredient cheap, quick and easy pasta dish will transform your weeknight dinners!

The recipe, created by mum-of-two Chantelle Ellem on her Fat Mum Slim blog, has sent the internet into meltdown and it's all thanks to a very unique (and Aussie) ingredient!

Chantelle uses Vegemite in her signature budget pasta dinner, and it's become a firm family favourite.



And while it may seem like a bizarre combination, Chantelle promises that the mix of Vegemite and parmesan is a real winner. 

'Don't click away,' she writes on her Fat Mum Slim blog. 'I know you're thinking this recipe is absolutely not for you. I thought the same. I thought it wasn't for me either, but I made it (it's inspired by a recipe that I saw Nigella once make with Marmite). I ate it and I LOVED it. The Vegemite does something with the Parmesan, and it's just comforting and delicious.'


Image: Courtesy of

Image: Courtesy of



400g Woolworths spaghetti
50g butter
1 teaspoon of vegemite
2 tablespoons of grated parmesan (or more if you're into cheese!)

1. Fill a large pot with water, and bring to the boil.
2. Place the spaghetti into the pot and cook for 8 minutes. Turn off the heat. Drain water, and return the spaghetti to the pot, toss in the butter and Vegemite and stir until the butter has melted.
3. Serve onto plates and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Tuck in!

Visit for more of Chantelle's recipes