Slightly sweet and savory Japanese-style spaghetti napolitan. Super easy and delicious!
「一度食べたらやみつき！」 “If you eat it once, you’ll get addicted,” is a common phrase used to describe food that’s really, really good. If I had to think of one food that suits this phrase, I would say it’s this spaghetti napolitan recipe! I am always craving this, so I’m lucky that the ingredients are common household staples. Spaghetti napolitan is a Japanese-style spaghetti with a ketchup-based sauce. It usually has sliced sausages, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and green bell peppers, all topped with parmesan cheese and parsley to garnish. Great for dinner or pack it in a bento for the perfect lunch. It’s a simple and delicious meal that’s also great for kids!
ABOUT SPAGHETTI NAPOLITAN
Spaghetti napolitan, or naporitan (ナポリタン), is a famous kind of youshoku (洋食). Youshoku means “Western food” and refers to a type of Japanese cuisine that is influenced by Western foods. It originates from the Meiji period because Emperor Meiji declared that Western ideas would be helpful for Japan’s progress. Of course, cuisine was included in this. These dishes are primarily Japanese styled European dishes and are often recognizable by the katakana names. More examples of youshoku include deep-fried foods such as katsu (カツ), croquette, and aji fry. The historical context is quite interesting, so if you’re interested, I recommend reading up on it! I’d love to have more historical discussions with you as well, hehe.
INGREDIENTS (+ SUBSTITUTIONS)
This is a basic list and explanation of the key ingredients. For full list and measurements, please scroll down to the recipe below!
- ☆ Spaghetti
- If you don’t have spaghetti, any other pasta will work as well.
- ☆ Ketchup
- If you don’t want to use ketchup or don’t have any, you can use tomato sauce with a little vinegar and honey to add sweetness and tanginess. Tomato sauce has a similar consistency to ketchup, so I recommend using that over tomato paste.
- ☆ Mushrooms
- Usually spaghetti napolitan has button mushrooms, but I used baby bella because I think that kind is tastier. However, this is optional! If you do not like mushrooms, don’t have, or are allergic, you don’t need to add any. I’m actually allergic to mushrooms, so I usually don’t add any. I only added this time to match the source material.
- ☆ Green bell pepper
- This is optional! I actually dislike piman so I usually omit it hehe. Green bell peppers are considered the most disliked vegetable by children in Japan. I think a yellow, orange, or red bell pepper would work well as a substitution.
- ☆ Japanese-style sausage
- Arabiki sausages are best for this, but you can use any sausage you like! You can also use slices or small cubes of ham. You can also omit this!
- ☆ Parmesan cheese
- For spaghetti napolitan I, and many others, use powdered parmesan cheese. I believe this is because of the convenience of it, but I know a lot of people are against powder cheese from the green bottles. You can use freshly grated parmesan if you prefer! It may taste even better.
- ☆ Unsalted butter
- You can use salted but taste to make sure it doesn’t get too salty!
TIPS FOR MAKING SPAGHETTI NAPOLITAN
- ☆ Make sure to cook down the ketchup as cooking it down enhances the flavor. The pasta water will help prevent the sauce from getting too dry and helps the sauce bind to the spaghetti.
- ☆ Make sure the butter added at the end is cold. Mixing the cold butter in with the pasta until it melts helps the pasta and sauce come together.
- ☆ For a sweeter, richer taste, cook the onions low and slow until caramelized! You can do this before adding the garlic so that it does not burn.
MORE SAVORY JAPANESE RECIPES! ♡
MORE PASTA RECIPES! ♡
- ☆ Gnocchi di Patate
- ☆ Gratin
- ☆ Spaghetti Carbonara
If you recreate this Spaghetti Napolitan recipe, please let me know by tagging me or leaving a comment on Instagram @maruryouri or TikTok @atsuryouri. I’d love to see your creations and hear your feedback!
Spaghetti Napolitan
Ingredients
- 150 g spaghetti dried
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3-4 large garlic cloves
- ½ onion
- 5 baby bella mushrooms
- ½ green bell pepper
- 5 Japanese-style sausages arabiki sausage
- 75 ml tomato ketchup
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese powder
- ½ tablespoon unsalted butter
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables and sausage. Mince the garlic, and thinly slice the other vegetables. You can thinly slice the sausages as well or cut to your liking.
- Boil spaghetti according to package instructions. Reserve about 4 tablespoons of pasta water, drain the spaghetti, and set aside.
- In a large pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the garlic and onions, and cook until the onions start to get translucent and the fragrance of the garlic comes out.
- Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, and sausage. Stir fry together for a bit until the mushrooms and bell peppers have cooked.
- Add the ketchup and reserved pasta water and stir fry until the sauce has cooked and reduced a bit. Let the sauce coat all the ingredients.
- Add the drained spaghetti to the sauce and toss to evenly combine.
- Once the sauce has evenly coated the spaghetti and the vegetables have been evenly distributed, sprinkle the parmesan cheese powder and add the cold butter into the spaghetti. Stir until fully incorporated and the butter has melted. Top the spaghetti napolitan with more parmesan cheese and parsley to serve, and the spaghetti napolitan is done! 完成です！
Notes
- Feel free to add more or less ketchup as you like or as needed to make the sauce. You should have enough to evenly coat all the vegetables, meat, and pasta.