Makaroni Po Flotski – Macaroni Navy Style (Макароны По-Флотски) Russian Macaroni With Braised Meat and Onions

Makaroni Po Flotski has been part of the Russian kitchen since the age-old Soviet years. It is said that men in the Navy would prepare this dish quite often, hence the name. Out at sea, there weren’t many options or variety in the available ingredients, so they used what what they had, canned meat and pasta.

There are two different variations of this that I’ve seen and actually, I grew up with both. The first option is using ground meat, browning it in a skillet with onions, adding a bit of tomato sauce or paste and then mixing it with cooked pasta. The second is to use cooked braised meat, often times it was canned, called Tushenka. I don’t can meat, so I use a simple pulled pork. Pork is the most common meat that was used for Makaroni Po Flotski, but you can use beef or chicken too. I often use chicken that I used to make chicken broth for this recipe.

It’s a dinner on the fly option, especially since you use meat that has been cooked ahead of time. The whole family will enjoy this comforting and simple meal. The juicy and flavorful meat is paired with caramelized onions and a simple sauce and tossed with elbows. My husband absolutely loves this dinner and I’m more than happy to make it, since it makes dinner prep a cinch for me.

Yields: 8 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb elbows pasta

2 cups cooked pork, Pulled Pork

1- 2 onions, chopped

1 Tablespoon butter

1/3 – 1/2 cup broth or reserved cooking liquid

1 1/2 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced

Instructions:

Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook 1 pound of elbows pasta according to the package instructions or however you like them.

Place 1 cup of cooked pulled pork in a food processor. Pulse until the meat is nicely ground. You don’t want it to be a puree, but it should definitely be on the smaller size. You can also use a meat grinder instead of the food processor.In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the minced onion, season with salt and cook on medium heat until the onions are tender and slightly golden in color. The caramelized onions will give a lot of really great flavor to the dish. Add the flour, mixing to incorporate into the onions.Adding flour is optional, but I really like that it gives this dish a subtle, velvety sauce. The sauce is barely noticeable, but it helps to coat the pasta with extra flavor and smoothness.

Add the meat to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium high heat and continue cooking until the meat is heated through. You can cook it slightly longer, so that the edges of the meat get golden around the edges. The meat should still be tender for the most part, with nicely browned bits here and there. This also improves the overall taste of the dish.
Add the broth and cook for another 3-5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the skillet to get all the brown bits from the bottom. Mix until the broth thickens. Use more or less broth, depending on how “saucy” you want it to be. 

You can use chicken broth or reserve some of the cooking liquid that was used to cook the meat before you reduce the rest of it for the Pulled Pork.

Add the meat to the pasta. Mix and garnish with fresh herbs. 

Makaroni Po Flotski - Macaroni Navy Style
 
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Author:
Recipe type: Entrée
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • 1 lb elbows pasta
  • 2 cups cooked pork, Pulled Pork
  • 1- 2 onions, chopped
  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • ⅓ - ½ cup broth or reserved cooking liquid
  • 1½ Tablespoon all purpose flour
  • 1 Tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
Instructions
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook 1 pound of elbows pasta according to the package instructions or however you like them.
  2. Place 1 cup of cooked pulled pork in a food processor. Pulse until the meat is nicely "chopped". You don't want it to be a puree, but it should definitely be on the smaller size. You can also use a meat grinder instead of the food processor.
  3. In a skillet, melt the butter. Add the minced onion, season with salt and cook on medium heat until the onions are tender and slightly golden in color. The caramelized onions will give a lot of really great flavor to the dish.
  4. Add the flour, mixing to incorporate into the onions .Adding flour is optional, but I really like that it gives this dish a subtle, velvety sauce. The sauce is barely noticeable, but it helps to coat the pasta with extra flavor and smoothness.
  5. Add the meat to the skillet. Increase the heat to medium high heat and continue cooking until the meat is heated through. You can cook it slightly longer, so that the edges of the meat get golden around the edges. The meat should still be tender for the most part, with nicely browned bits here and there. This also improves the overall taste of the dish.
  6. Add the broth and cook for another 3-5 minutes, scraping the bottom of the skillet to get all the brown bits from the bottom. Mix until the broth thickens. Use more or less broth, depending on how "saucy" you want it to be.
  7. You can use chicken broth or reserve some of the cooking liquid that was used to cook the meat before you reduce the rest of it for the Pulled Pork.
  8. Add the meat to the pasta. Mix and garnish with fresh herbs.

19 Comments

  • Asghar Mehdi

    Bolshoi spasibo for introducing me to the favorite dish of the Russian Navy.( I got the link from Moscow Times). I spent quite a lot of time going through the bolgsite. I have been visiting Russia/CIS for regularly since 1988, and enjoy some local dishes, especially the common dishes and soups. I tried the Makaroni PF just now (being originally from India I usually add some spices, flavoring the cooking oil with cumin/mustard and coriander as well as the meat with ginger/garlic and green chilli)Today I scored big kisses from my wife of 37 years for the MPF so thank you. I look forward to trying the Plov and some seafood and soups. I love the easy to follow text and stimulating pictures. Wish you all the best.
    Asghar Mehdi, Montreal

    • olgak7

      Welcome, Asghar Mehdi!
      I’m so glad you stopped by and tried out the recipe. It sounds delicious with the addition of all the spices. So glad that your wife enjoyed it too:).
      I’d love to hear what you think about any other recipes you try.

      • jacob averbookh

        THANK YOU!!!! i was looking for a quick snackck to make and was craving this my mom makes it all the time just a little differently
        no broth or flour and just salt pepper oil celery and what ever herds/veggies we have
        also Asghar just for a little more background plov is actually originally an Uzbek cultural dish but a lot of russians know how to make it because Uzbekistan was part of the soviet union its very comparible to fried rice accept a lot more spices and within the culture food is made very similar to that of middle eastern and south asian cultures and other Muslimcultures lots of lamb lots of currey is used lots of coriander and mustard seed salt and pepper also paprika are by far the most common spices also i greatly recommend to try a soup called lagman its reallllllyyyyy good i just dont know how to make it but its soooo good.

  • Natasha

    I’ve been raised in Ukraine, so MPF was on our table quite often. After moving to US and having other ingredients handy I started making this dish, but adding mushrooms to it. When I cook my onions I also add diced mushrooms, 1-2 pressed garlic cloves, broth, and a Tbsp of mayo or Alfredo sauce ( depending on my mood). Then, I put it all along with meat to the food processor and add to macaroni. Oh, and forgot to mention: I make it with cooked chicken meat as well. My picky son loves this dish so much he always asks for more! ( he hates mushrooms, so don’t tell him it’s there, shhhhh!)

  • rambo

    This is my modified version that uses ground beef.

    Navy noodles

    Ingredients

    elbow macaroni 1 pound
    onion pre cut 2 packs
    ground beef 1 pound
    salt 1 tsp.
    caraway seeds 1/2 tsp.
    butter 1/2 stick
    parsley semi dry 1/4 cup
    flour 1 tbsp.
    chicken broth unsalted cooking 2 cups
    water 1 cup

    Directions

    1. Cook ground beef with 1/2 tsp. of salt and water on medium heat when done
    remove from pan and drain grease.

    2. In the same pan add onion, butter and caraway seed cook on medium heat until onions are
    golden.

    3. Add Ground beef to dish mix together lightly brown beef.

    4. Add flour and stir in meat mixture.

    5. Add chicken broth, parsley and 1/2 tsp of salt mix together and cook for 5 minutes.

    6. Add meat to pasta mix together add the rest of the chicken stock mix together cook
    on medium for 20 minutes stir constantly.

  • Evelina

    Wow! I completely forgot about this dish. Finding it on your blog brought back a strong nostalgia of my childhood. Thank you! I can’t wait to try it

  • Tanya

    Hi Olga! I made pulled pork in Instant pot yesterday (your recipe) and made this macaroni today using the pulled pork – came out absolutely delicious! Thank you so much for both recipes!

  • Oma Nory

    Probably tasty, but that’s not Makaroni Po-flotsky. Real Navy-style pasta is much more simple: fry onions, add minced meat, pepper & salt to taste, (sometimes 2 tbsp tomato paste) and just add cooked pasta and mix it in the sauce pan.

  • Jenn Fell

    I tried this for the first time in the Stolovaya in St Petersburg over ten years ago… I am so happy to find this recipe today! Спасибо!

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