Chinese Sausage Spaghetti for 2

I was watching something online where they were making carbonara, and the idea came to me to do a variation on this dish with Chinese sausage. That’s how I came up with this recipe for Chinese sausage spaghetti. What I love most about this dish is how easy it is to make. It only has 7 ingredients, and they’re almost all pantry staples. I personally love the addition of Chinese sausage because I think it goes with almost anything.

What is carbonara?

I really wanted to talk in detail about carbonara since it is the inspiration behind this dish. Carbonara is a pasta dish from Rome made with eggs, hard cheese, cured pork, and black pepper. Pecorino or parmigiano-reggiano is used for the cheese. Guanciale or pancetta is used for the cured pork. Fettuccine, spaghetti, or bucatini is used for the pasta. The preparation of this dish is pretty simple. Pasta is first cooked in salted water. It is then combined with the cheese, eggs, cured pork, and pepper, tossed together, and served just like that! The egg and cheese combine to create the basis for a creamy sauce. It might sound crazy to use raw eggs for the sauce, but the trick here is to toss everything together while it’s hot, so the heat from the pasta cooks the egg.

In my dish, I used pretty much the same ingredients and technique. The only difference was I substituted Chinese sausage for the cured pork. Chinese sausage or lap cheong is a dried, hard sausage from China seasoned with rose water, rice wine, and soy sauce. I thought the salty, umami flavor of lap cheong would pair well with the other flavors in this dish.

Ingredients, Substitutions & Adjustments

• Spaghetti – One of the pastas traditionally used in carbonara. You can also use fettuccine or bucatini.
• Chinese sausage – A cured pork sausage native to China. It is a little salty and full of umami flavor. This is the centerpiece of the dish, but if you want to revert back to traditional carbonara, use guanciale or pancetta.
• Eggs – Eggs compose a core part of the sauce. No substitutions for eggs.
• Pepper for seasoning
• Pecorino cheese – Pecorino cheese is one of the traditional cheeses used in carbonara. A good substitute for pecorino cheese is parmigiano-reggiano.
• Parsley for garnish (optional)

Making my Chinese sausage spaghetti

First boil your pasta! Boil some salted water. Add the spaghetti and cook until al dente. While the spaghetti is cooking, cook the Chinese sausage until brown on the outside. Set aside. Whisk the eggs and egg yolk together. Set aside. Once the spaghetti is done, reserve a cup of the pasta water and drain the rest of the water. Add the spaghetti to a mixing bowl. Follow that with the whisked eggs, pepper, and grated cheese. Toss together. Add some pasta water if you feel like the sauce needs to be thinner. Lastly, add the Chinese sausage on top and toss everything together. Serve with a garnish of minced parsley.

Tips on how make the perfect bowl of Chinese sausage spaghetti

1. 100 grams of pasta is the perfect amount of pasta – I know it’s weird to weigh your pasta before you cook it, but a chef once told me that this is perfect amount of pasta for an individual. So who am I to argue with a chef?! I’ve been using this amount of pasta, and it works for me. Definitely feel free to use more if you want to!
2. Use pasta water to thin out the sauce if it gets too creamy – I use mostly the eggs for the sauce which makes it pretty creamy. If you want a thinner sauce, add more pasta water.
3. Use as much cheese as you want – Cheese will make the sauce creamier, and in my opinion, the cheese is the best part!
4. Make sure to toss everything together while it’s hot – This is important because the heat from pasta cooks the raw egg.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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