Makarony Po Flotski (Russian Navy Style Pasta)

Makarony Po Flotski or Russian Navy Style Pasta is a quick, budget-friendly pasta dinner that you can make even on a weeknight. With just a few simple ingredients, you will be able to whip up this delicious dish in under 30 minutes.

What is the Russian Navy Style Pasta?

Russian Navy Style Pasta is a simple, comforting, and filling dish made with pasta, ground meat, onion, and a few seasonings. 

It’s also known as Navy Macaroni, Fleet Macaroni, and Sailors Macaroni.

The History Of Makarony Po Flotski

Macarony Po Flotski is a true Soviet classic that will take you back to USSR.

The legend has it that in the beginning, this dish was served for crews of navy and fishing ships.

The news about this inexpensive dish spread fast, and it became so popular that it was served practically at every canteen from kinder-gardens to factories.

Since it was very easy to make, Macarony Po Flotski became a favorite dish among college and university students who were living in dorms and had to cook for themselves.

Eventually, it made its way into the kitchens of Soviet home cooks.

My Experience with This Dish

In my family, only my Grandfather cooked Makarony Po Flotsky. He wasn’t a great cook and only knew how to cook about five or six dishes.

My Grandfather and I loved all things noodles. So, whenever I stayed with him, he always made it for dinner.

Ingredients for Russian Navy Style Pasta

This Navy Macarony is made with basic ingredients that most people have on hand in their fridge and pantry.

In addition to onion and some kind of fat or oil for frying, all you need are pasta and meat.

You can use all kinds of pasta for this dish. Thick pasta shapes that are medium in size, such as fusilli, penne, rigatoni, rotini, tagliatelle, etc. are best.

Usually, Macarony Po Flotski is made with beef or a mix of beef and pork. You can cook the meat yourself from scratch or use Tushonka, which is a canned stewed meat product popular in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union. Tushonka was often used to make Navy Macarony in remote locations where fresh meat wasn’t available.

To make the dish more flavourful, you can add a little bit of garlic, red paprika, and tomato paste.

How to Make Russian Navy Style Pasta

There are three ways to make this Russian pasta dish:

1) With Tushonka. To make the dish with Tushonka, cook it first on a skillet over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Since Tushonka is usually seasoned, adjust the seasonings to taste.

2) With boiled meat.  Do you want to make Macarony Po Flotski and prepare some homemade beef broth at the same time? Then this method is for you. This is a frugal way to cook when one product is used to prepare two different dishes.

For this method, you can use meat on the bones which is often cheaper. To make the Navy Pasta with boiled meat, cook the meat and bones first in some water. 

When the meat is done, scrape it from the bones and process it in a food processor. Mix the meat with pasta and use the broth to make a soup.

3) With ground beef. Another popular method to make the Russian Navy Pasta (and the method I prefer) is to cook it with ground beef. To prepare the Navy Pasta this way, cook the ground meat first with some onion and seasonings and then mix it with pasta.

You will find the detailed recipe for this method below in the recipe card.

Now It’s Your Turn

So, what do you think about this popular Soviet dish? Have you tried it before? Is it something you would like to recreate at home?

Please let us know in the comments below.