Spaghetti Napolitan (Japanese Ketchup Pasta)

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Spaghetti Napolitan — also informally known as Japanese Ketchup Pasta — is one of my favourite yōshoku dishes! Ketchup hits so many of our taste senses: sweet, tangy and umami. Cooking it thoroughly unlocks a deeper flavour, transforming it from a basic condiment to a delicious component of the sauce along with smokey bacon, earthy mushrooms, sweet bell peppers and onions.

Spaghetti Napolitan is a nostalgic dish invented in Japan in the 1950s that still enjoys popularity in Japanese restaurants and home kitchens in the present day. It is a dish under the category of “yōshoku” which translates to 洋 yo western, 食 shoku meal/cuisine, or Western cuisine. But as we have already established, it isn’t Western cuisine that we know here in North America! Hence, yōshoku is more precisely a category of foods invented in Japan that were inspired by Western cuisine. It stands as a cuisine entirely its own. Other popular yōshoku dishes you may know include curry rice (kare raisu), omelette rice (omuraisu), hamburger steak (hambagu) and croquette (korokke).

You can make Spaghetti Napolitan in 30 minutes with fairly basic ingredients found in the fridge and pantry. This recipe is adapted from the one in The Gaijin Cookbook by Ivan Orkin and Chris Ying. I’ve made it so many times that I’ve adapted proportions of ingredients to how we like it and added soy sauce to balance ketchup’s sweetness.

Ultimately, the most important step is to let the ketchup cook in the pot for a good 5 minutes to deepen its flavour and take the straight-out-of-the-squeeze-bottle-ketchupy-ness out of it.

🎥 Watch video for Spaghetti Napolitan

This isn’t the ketchup pasta you give a picky toddler and it certainly isn’t a pasta you’ll find at any Italian restaurant. Ketchup pasta sounds sacrilegious but don’t knock it til you try it! Let me know what you think of this Spaghetti Napolitan recipe. If you have any questions, drop it in the comments below - I’m always happy to help!

Eat well and be well,

Sonia

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What you’ll need:

Ingredients for Spaghetti Napolitan:

• Bacon - crisped bacon bits add smokiness and a textural component. Some versions call for sausages instead of bacon

• Mushrooms - make sure not to crowd the pan when browning the mushrooms (I do it in 3 batches) and salt them only at the end to avoid drawing liquid out

• Red or green bell peppers - this dish is made with either red or green bell peppers. Red ones are sweeter while green ones are less sweet with a grassy flavour. They both have their merits in this dish. Sweeter red ones are more kid-friendly but some might prefer a less sweet, “vegetal” green pepper for cooking, especially in this dish to balance the sweetness of ketchup. I’ll let you decide.

• Ketchup - the defining ingredient in this dish! My hot take is that ketchup offers so many flavours that it’s a fantastic shortcut (think marinades, BBQ sauces, meatloaf, baked beans, etc). Make sure to cook the ketchup thoroughly at least 5 minutes in the pan to cook off the bottled taste and bring out the flavour complexities it has to offer

• Soy sauce - adds saltiness and umami

• White onion and garlic - aromatics to provide depth of flavour

• Dried spaghetti

• Parmegiano Reggiano - traditionally this dish was served with Kraft parmesan - so retro!

• Tabasco sauce (optional) - to finish; can use dried red chili pepper flakes

• Salt - for seasoning and for pasta water

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You may also like these other 30 minute recipes:

• Mushroom and Egg Rice Bowl

• Simple Kale and Sausage Pasta

• Tomato Prawn Wafu (Japanese-style) Pasta

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Recipe Notes for Spaghetti Napolitan:

1. Red or green bell peppers: Green bell peppers are also often used in this dish so feel free to sub if you prefer their taste over the red variety. The final dish will be a little less sweet as well.

2. Ketchup: I use organic Heinz (not sponsored) because it uses organic cane sugar rather than High Fructose Corn Syrup.

3. Pasta amount: If you need to stretch this recipe to feed more, use up to a full pound (454g) of dried pasta. The sauce is tasty enough to do that!

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Spaghetti Napolitan

Yield: 3-4

Author: Sonia Wong | saltnpepperhere

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Spaghetti Napolitan

Ketchup cooked thoroughly develops a richer, deeper flavour that transforms it from a basic condiment to a delicious component of the sauce along with smokey bacon, earthy mushrooms, sweet bell peppers and onions. Spaghetti Napolitan is one of my favourite yōshoku dishes!

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Ingredients

• 5 strips bacon, cut into 1” pieces (~125g)
• 2 small red bell peppers, thinly sliced (~200g or 2 cups) - see note 1
• ½ white onion, thinly sliced (50g or 1 cup)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 large cremini or white mushrooms, thinly sliced (~325g or 4-5 cups)
• ½ C ketchup - note 2
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• ¾ lb (340g) spaghetti - note 3

To serve:

• Tabasco sauce
• Grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Kraft parmesan)

Instructions

1. Fill a large pot with 3 quarts of water for cooking pasta and start bringing to a boil.
2. Separately, place bacon pieces into (unheated) Dutch oven or heavy-bottom pot and set it over medium heat to slowly cook the bacon, stirring occasionally. When bacon is crisped and most of the fat rendered out, scoop bacon out and drain on paper towels. Pour off some of the bacon fat, leaving about 3 tablespoons in the pan.
3. Add sliced onions to bacon fat and sauté for a minute. Add garlic and sauté another 30 seconds. Add mushrooms (all at once or in two batches if pot is crowded) and sauté to cook down, increasing heat to evaporate if a lot of water is drawn out of the mushrooms. Once softened and moisture has mostly evaporated from the mushrooms, season with salt and stir.
4. At around this point, I start cooking my pasta for 10 minutes (time yourself based on your specific package directions for al dente). Add 2 tablespoons of kosher salt or amount needed for water to “taste as salty as the sea”. Cook pasta according to package direction for al dente.
5. Add peppers along with sprinkle of salt and sauté briefly until they just lose their crispness but are not soggy (we prefer the red peppers to still have a bit of firmness rather than being mushy at the end).
6. Add ketchup and soy sauce. Allow mixture to cook a good 5 minutes to deepen the flavour of the ketchup. Don’t rush this part as it makes all the difference to the final taste! Stir frequently since mixture is on the drier side at this stage.
7. Add 1 cup of pasta water to the pot. Use tongs to transfer cooked pasta directly over into sauce and mix thoroughly to coat. Cook one minute more to absorb the sauce and thicken a bit. Add splashes more pasta water if needed to adjust consistency. Add reserved bacon and give everything a final toss. Serve with sprinkles of cheese and tabasco sauce, to taste.

Notes

1. Red or green bell peppers: Green bell peppers are also often used in this dish so feel free to sub if you prefer their taste over the red variety. The final dish will be a little less sweet as well.

2. Ketchup: I use organic Heinz (not sponsored) because it uses organic cane sugar rather than High Fructose Corn Syrup.

3. Pasta amount: Use up to a full pound (454g) of dried pasta to stretch the meal out to feed more. The sauce is definitely tasty enough to do that!

Nutrition Facts

Calories

695

Fat

19 g

Sat. Fat

7 g

Carbs

104 g

Fiber

6 g

Net carbs

99 g

Sugar

16 g

Protein

27 g

Sodium

1115 mg

Cholesterol

31 mg

Disclaimer: nutritional information is auto-generated and should be used as an approximation.

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