You’re probably thinking, “Did I just read that right? Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese?!!”
Yep, that’s right–Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese. The name popped into my head as I was making this dish for the family. It’s ground beef in a silky Chinese-style brown sauce with plenty of delicious Asian flavors. Cooked until fragrant, mixed with green peas, and tossed with your favorite pasta, it’s similar to a traditional beef “Yook Soong,” but instead of serving it over rice, it’s tossed with spaghetti! (Of course, I’m definitely using the term “bolognese” here very loosely. Wouldn’t want to offend any of our Italian readers!)
This recipe is so satisfying and easy to make, it will wow your family (especially the kids). Plus, this comes together much more quickly than a traditional Italian Spaghetti Bolognese. It’s definitely an original one-of-a-kind dish, so don’t worry about the strange looks you first get when you approach the table with a plateful of spaghetti, noticeably absent of tomato sauce. Once your family digs in, you’ll know what I mean. Give this original dish from our family recipe archives a try!
(QUICK SIDE NOTE: Hey everyone, this is Sarah. I’m interrupting my dad’s post here to say that this “Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese” idea is one of my favorite recipes to come out of the blog in a long time. Suffice it to say, I demolished an embarrassingly large bowl of this spaghetti. Props to dad on this one.)
Recipe Instructions:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions, undercooking it by about a minute (it will finish cooking in the sauce). While the pasta is cooking, start the sauce.
Heat a wok over high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add the ground beef and cook until slightly browned, breaking up any large chunks of beef.
Add the onion, garlic, and Shaoxing wine, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the onion is transparent, and then add the chicken stock.
Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Stir in the oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sesame oil, and white pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, add the peas, and stir for one minute.
Stir up the cornstarch slurry (since the starch will separate from the water when left to sit), and drizzle the slurry into the sauce while stirring constantly. The sauce should thicken until it coats a spoon.
Drain the pasta, and add it directly to the wok. Toss until the pasta is coated in sauce. Feel free to add some of the pasta cooking liquid if the sauce is too thick, and add more cornstarch slurry if the sauce is too thin.
Serve your Chinese spaghetti bolognese hot!
If you like pasta dishes, Asian or otherwise, you must try some of Sarah’s other favorites like Roasted Pasta Ratatouille , Thai Basil Pesto Pasta with Spicy Shrimp, or Soy Sauce Butter Pasta with Shrimp and Shiitakes. Take your pick and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed!
Chinese Spaghetti Bolognese
Ingredients
- 8 oz. dried spaghetti (225g)
- Salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 12 oz. ground beef (340g)
- 1 medium onion (finely diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine (or dry cooking sherry)
- 2 cups chicken stock (475 ml)
- 3 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons water)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the spaghetti. Cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions, undercooking it by about a minute (it will finish cooking in the sauce). While the pasta is cooking, start the sauce.
- Heat a wok over high heat and add a tablespoon of oil. Add the ground beef and cook until slightly browned, breaking up any large chunks of beef. Add the onion, garlic, and Shaoxing wine, and turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the onion is transparent, and then add the chicken stock.
- Bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Stir in the oyster and soy sauces, sesame oil, and white pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the cover, add the peas, and stir for one minute.
- Stir up the cornstarch slurry (since the starch will separate from the water when left to sit), and drizzle the slurry into the sauce while stirring constantly. The sauce should thicken until it coats a spoon.
- Drain the pasta, and add it directly to the wok. Toss until the pasta is coated in sauce. Feel free to add some of the pasta cooking liquid if the sauce is too thick, and add more cornstarch slurry if the sauce is too thin. Serve!
nutrition facts
Delicious recipe. My mom loved minced beef over rice with egg. Tried this with the egg on top…. Mixed it in with the hot noodles so it cooked the white and the yolk added to the richness of the “gravy”. Home Run!!
Been reading your blog for over a year now. Recipes and stories are great and remind me of my family and growing up. I can totally relate.
Love you all on the Food Network, hope there is more to come!
Thanks Casey, love that you’re enjoying both the recipes and our stories :)
super j,adore vos recettes , merci beaucoup
salut Yves, merci pour votre commentaire
We tripled the recipe and really enjoyed the flavours but it turned out extremely watery (soup-like) when made as directed. I had to add double the corn starch slurry to get it even close to looking like the picture and even then it wasn’t what I expected. 6 cups of stock seems like it could have been too much, otherwise Im not sure what I did wrong. Any insight?
Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Brice, it sounds like tripling the recipe was the culprit. Making a triple batch requires a lot of heat which home stoves don’t have. Liquid evaporates much quicker in small batches and a large batch “cools” the wok and it takes a whole lot longer time to heat which allows liquid to pool.
Hi! Can I make this using lo mein noodles instead? Or does the sauce stick/go better with spaghetti?
Hi themolene, you can use lo mein noodles for this recipe.
Fast and yummy weeknight meal. Only used light soy sauce and low sodium chicken broth. I also doubled the recipe.
Glad you enjoyed this one Holly!
I made this tonight and doubled the recipe and used the measurement adjustments accordingly…it came out pretty salty tho, not sure where I went wrong but any ideas on how to fix that? It’s delicious and I love this kind of fusion food. Thanks for posting Bill.
Hi Christina, it could be the soy sauce brand – Kikkoman and some Thai soy sauces are quite a bit saltier. It also could be a saltier chicken broth or more liberal measuring when doubling the recipe? Adding a bit off sugar will help or adding more pasta. Try using less next time as everyone’s tastes differ ;-)
CHINESE SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE
thank you for sharing this which looks nice yummy and easy to make. but can i replace beef with other meats like pork? (i dun eat beef hehe). if pork is possible, how do i prepare? many thanks!!!
Hi Elise, you can use ground pork, chicken or turkey – just prepare it the same way as written in the recipe
I remember spaghetti with peas. The peas were my favorite part…the sweetness and color. I made lasagna with peas. People made faces at it. But peas had always been a favorite of mine.
Hi irene, I think green peas are a nice addition too ;-)
Bill!!!!!!!! I mean Woow!!! This is the besttttt spaghetti I’ve ever had(and apparently my father feels the same way). So delicious, the flavours compliment each other so well in this dish. Where can I find more of your recipes?
Hi Natalie, woohoo – so happy to hear you and your dad enjoyed this one! Just go through our blog and I’m sure you will find more delicious recipes that you’ll want to make :)
I didn’t realize I was on your blog when I made that comment lol. I was reviewing more recipes and I’m exited to try them out.
This was delicious! We had failed soup dumpling stuffing (too outside hot for the gelatin!) and so I turned it into spaghetti like this one! It was pork and we added mushrooms instead of peas… but the inspiration was perfect and flavors delicious. Had to eat it outside because still in the heat wave, but this is a house full of happy bellies.
Hi Sidrah, nice save on transforming your soup dumpling filling for this Chinese bolognese dish!