Spaghetti Napolitan Japanese Style (Print Version)

Japanese-style Spaghetti Napolitan: sautéed veggies and sausage in a sweet ketchup-tomato sauce, ready in 30 minutes.

# What You'll Need:

→ Pasta

01 - 6.3 oz dried spaghetti

→ Meat & Protein

02 - 2 chicken sausages (or pork or vegetarian sausage), sliced

→ Vegetables

03 - 1 small onion, thinly sliced
04 - 1/2 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
05 - 1/2 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
06 - 4 white mushrooms, sliced

→ Sauce

07 - 4 tbsp tomato ketchup
08 - 2 tbsp tomato paste
09 - 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
10 - 1 tbsp unsalted butter
11 - 1 tsp olive oil
12 - Salt and black pepper, to taste

→ Garnish

13 - Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
14 - Chopped parsley (optional)

# How to Make It:

01 - Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the spaghetti and cook according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1/4 cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.
02 - While the pasta cooks, warm the olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat until the butter is fully melted and lightly foaming.
03 - Add the sliced sausage to the skillet and sauté until golden brown on the edges. Toss in the onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms, and continue cooking until the vegetables have softened, about 4 minutes.
04 - Stir in the tomato ketchup, tomato paste, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix thoroughly to coat all the ingredients and let the sauce simmer for 2 minutes to develop flavor.
05 - Transfer the drained spaghetti into the skillet along with the reserved pasta water. Toss vigorously so every strand is evenly coated. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
06 - Serve immediately while hot. Finish with a generous shower of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and chopped parsley if desired.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It uses pantry staples you probably already have, which means no emergency grocery runs on a tired weeknight.
  • The ketchup based sauce sounds wild until you taste it and realize it is basically a foolproof sweet and sour tomato sauce that never separates or breaks.
02 -
  • Do not skip the pasta water because that starch is what binds the ketchup sauce to the noodles instead of pooling at the bottom of the pan.
  • Let the ketchup cook for the full two minutes or the sauce will taste like you just squeezed condiment onto plain pasta, which is a very different experience.
03 -
  • Slice all your vegetables and sausages before you turn on the stove because the actual cooking moves fast and you do not want to be chopping onions while the sausage burns.
  • Taste the finished sauce before adding salt because ketchup brands vary wildly in sodium and you can always add more but you cannot take it away.

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