Napolitan Recipe: Make Japanese Ketchup Spaghetti

Napolitan is a salty, sweet, and tangy Japanese fusion dish all at once. The sausages add saltiness to the dish, whereas the ketchup contributes to the sweet and tangy taste. Some people have described this dish as the pasta version of omurice. 

It's a must-try Japanese fusion dish for both pasta and ketchup lovers. As weird as it sounds, the combination does work. It's as comforting as the Japanese chicken rice.

We always think Italian whenever we crave pasta, but try our napolitan recipe the next time you need a spaghetti fix. Who knows, it might become another go-to meal to satisfy your hunger pangs ASAP.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Napolitan (Japanese Ketchup Spaghetti)
• Cooking Tips
• Variations
• Other Japanese ketchup dishes

Ingredients

Napolitan is a Japanese pasta dish made with sausages, bell peppers, mushrooms, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. While it isn't an Italian dish, it is an authentic Japanese yoshoku. In other words, Japan's take on Western-style food. So, don't let its name fool you into thinking it is an Italian dish.

Here are the Naporitan ingredients you'll need for our recipe.

• 150 g spaghetti
• 2 garlic clove
• ½ onion
• 4 sausages
• ½ green bell pepper
• ½ red bell pepper
• 4 mushrooms
• 2 tbsps extra-virgin olive oil
• 6 tbsps ketchup
• 1½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ tablespoon sugar
• 15-45 ml reserved pasta water
• 4 tbsps milk
• 2 tbsps parmesan cheese
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

Pasta

A typical Spaghetti Napolitan recipe calls for the classic spaghetti. Thicker spaghetti will take longer to boil, but it will better hold up to all the other ingredients. However, you can use any other pasta, such as fettuccine, if you wish. 

Cured Meat

Cocktail sausages, bacon, and ham slices are the most common for the dish. However, you can use Japanese Kurobuta (black pork) sausages to make the dish more Japanese. We'll use chicken sausages for our recipe as the fattiness is just nice.

Vegetables

Bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms are common additions to Japanese fusion dishes. Our recipe is versatile, so you can throw in whatever hardy vegetables you like. You might also want to use them as meat substitutes to make the dish vegetarian-friendly.

We suggest avoiding leafy vegetables as the texture doesn't work well in spaghetti dishes. 

Ketchup

Ketchup is the main component of the dish. So you can't forget this one. We're sure you already have a bottle of it at home. But if you don't, you can make a makeshift version. To do this, you can prepare your sauce with the following:

• 1 can of tomato puree or tomato paste
• 2 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon mustard
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ½ teaspoon cayenne
• ½ teaspoon onion
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Milk and Cheese

Milk adds richness to the dish. Meanwhile, it's not a complete pasta dish without parmesan cheese. The hard cheese adds a grainy texture and a zingy salty flavour to the pasta. We don't recommend plant milk unless you have to. Whole-fat dairy milk is best for adding creaminess and richness to the dish.

Spices

Spices can help enhance the flavour of the dish. The most common ones are salt and pepper. Salt and pepper are simply the best. They help enhance the ketchup-based sauce and allow you to enjoy the natural flavours of the other ingredients.

But if you want something herby, you can add basil and oregano. If you prefer a spicy pasta dish, you can also add chilli peppers or hot sauce. This yoshoku is a simple pasta dish that requires simple and accessible ingredients. The ingredients generally used are pantry staples in your kitchen. Therefore, you probably won't have to hit the grocery stores to start making it.

Cooking Tips

Make sure to salt your pasta water properly, as it will affect the taste of the sauce.

Cook the pasta slightly past al-dente for an authentic Japanese Napolitan. To do this, cook the pasta based on the instructions and add 1 minute to the cooking time. You can also let the cooked pasta rest for a few hours before cooking for a softer texture.

If your spaghetti starts sticking to one another when you add it to the pan, add some pasta water as you mix it with the ketchup sauce. Doing so will help untangle the spaghetti and thin the sauce out so the flavour can soak into the noodles. It will also help the sauce coat the noodles better.

Combine the sauces (ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and sugar) in a separate bowl before pouring them into the pan. This will help incorporate the flavours more consistently.

Cut the sausages diagonally to increase the surface area to help it cook quickly. Cook the sausages until browned first before mixing them in with the vegetables.

Add more milk to the sauce to make it creamier and milder.

If the peppers and mushrooms take a long time to cook, you can add ¼ cup of water to the hot pan and cover it with a lid. Allow the water to steam and cook the ingredients for about 1 to 2 minutes. This will help cook the vegetables faster and prevent the other ingredients from burning. 

Variations

Thanks to the nation's love for the dish, Napolitan has several variations. Here are some of the common and popular variations you can try.

Make it with other pasta. In addition to spaghetti, you can enjoy the dish with different types of pasta. Yes, nothing is stopping you from making Macaroni Napolitan! You can enjoy it with angel hair, fettuccine, penne, or rotini.

Napolitan-style Udon is a variation that replaces Italian pasta with udon. This version is softer and chewier, which makes the dish even more authentically Japanese. 

Spaghetti Pan is a must-try. Japan is famous for stuffing food into bread; the ketchup pasta is no exception. This variation lets you enjoy spaghetti like your favourite Subway sandwich or hotdog. 

Napolitan Pizza: You can also enjoy the tasty ketchup sauce, sausages, and veggies on pizza dough.

Spaghetti Napolitan History

A chef named Shigetada Irie at Hotel New Grand in Yokohama invented the iconic dish after World War II. The hotel accommodated American troops during the Japan Occupation for seven years from 1945. The chef was inspired to recreate the dish after seeing the soldiers eating plain spaghetti with ketchup. 

The essence of this dish is not to make it al-dente on purpose. Instead, Shigetada Irie let the cooked spaghetti sit for a few hours to soften it. He did this to adapt to the Japanese palate, which is more accustomed to soft noodles. He named the creation after the Italian city of Napoli, known as Naples in English.

Neapolitan Vs Napolitan 

Italian Neapolitan pasta uses pureed tomatoes and herbs, whilst Japanese Napolitan uses ketchup. Therefore, this Japanese fusion dish is called 'Ketchup Pasta' and 'Ketchup Spaghetti'.

One should not mistake this Japanese dish for the Italian Neapolitan pasta.  

Napolitan Spaghetti Vs Bolognese

A significant difference between Napolitan and Bolognese is the sauce. As mentioned before, the wafu pasta has a ketchup-based sauce. On the other hand, Bolognese sauce is meat-based and rarely incorporates tomatoes. 

You can even tell the difference by the types of meat used for the dishes. For example, ketchup pasta uses cured meat like sausages, whereas Bolognese uses finely chopped meat.

Other Japanese ketchup dishes

Japanese fusion dishes are prevalent in Japan due to the uniqueness of the ketchup-based pasta sauce. Ketchup is so famous that it is a part of many other yoshoku dishes. Some other dishes include:

• Omurice (Ketchup rice wrapped up in an omelette)
• Hambagu or Hamburg Steak (Thick meat patty served with a steak sauce made of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce)
• Hayashi rice (rice with hashed beef stew)
• Kare raisu (Japanese curry rice)

The dish is also inexpensive yet filling. Due to that, it has become the go-to meal for many people. You can even get instant Naporitan in Japan nowadays.

Besides that, it is a standard lunch menu in many schools across Japan. Undeniably, the love for the dish remains even when the kids turn into adults. This explains why the wafu pasta is widespread among young and old. 

This dish has penetrated Japanese manga and anime series such as Shokugeki no soma (or "Food Wars! Shokugeki no soma" on Netflix). The Food Wars recipes are a way for the anime series to highlight Western-Japanese fusion recipes, including this Napolitan recipe, Chaliapin Steak recipe and more.

You can also have it with spicy kani salad as a side dish to entertain your palate with more flavours. We love finishing this meal with a serving of Japanese coffee jelly.

Have we inspired you to create more Japanese fusion pasta dishes? If the answer is yes, we recommend trying our Mentaiko pasta recipe next.