I wish I was one of those put-together people who have the foresight to have a fully stocked pantry and fridge. Instead, when I open up my fridge, I’m usuallylooking at limp, forgotten lettuce and frozen peas. I’m forever heading to the grocery store before cooking. It drives Mike crazy but I’ve never been able to do crazy large grocery runs.
Of course, trips to the grocery store aside, everyone has their staples. One of mine is Chinese sausage. Essentially, it’s the one protein that I almost always have on had (aside from eggs, because I think I would seriously have some major anxiety if I didn’t have eggs in the fridge). Chinese sausagelasts FORever. Seriously, once I bought a package and forgot about it. Six months later I was cleaning out the fridge and there it was, still good to go!
If you haven’t had Chinese sausage, it’s that shriveled looking reddish sausage that you see in vacuum sealed packages in the refrigerated section at Asian grocery stores. It’s a smoked pork sausage, a bit sweet and a lot flavorful. It has a pretty distinct flavor and it’s awesome in fried rice, with noodles or even in a fusion (ugh, I’m not a fan of that word, but there it is) carbonara.
Here, the Chinese sausage basically stands in for the bacon. They have quite a few similarities: salty, porky, fatty. Render out some of that fat and you’ve got yourself a pretty stand in for bacon or pancetta. Salty crisp meat, creamy eggy sauce, and noodles–this is fall time comfort food at it’s best. And, bonus: I didn’t even go to the grocery store.
Chinese Sausage Carbonara Recipe
serves 2
- 2 links of Chinese sausage, chopped
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- freshly ground pepper
- 4 oz spaghetti or long pasta of choice
- 1 green onion, sliced
Start by boiling a pot of salted water.
In a large bowl, lightly beat the egg. Add the cheese and a liberal grinding of pepper. Mix thoroughly.
Cooking your pasta according to the package. Time it so that everything else is prepared by the time the pasta is cooked.
While the pasta is cooking, fry the chopped sausage in a large sauté pan over medium to medium-high heat until it starts to crisp at the edges.
When the pasta is cooked, drain (being sure to save some pasta water). Add the cooked pasta to the sauté pan and toss to coat each strand in the rendered fat. Pour the pasta and sausage into the bowl with the egg and toss rapidly, coating the strands well. If needed, add a bit of hot reserved pasta water to help melt the cheese and cook the egg. Serve immediately with an extra sprinkle of pepper and the sliced green onions.
49 Comments
cynthia says:
September 24, 2014 at 2:41 pm
Holy moly I LOVE Chinese sausage. As a kid I’d just dream of the days when my mom would make it. I’m so obsessed with the idea of it in carbonara — that touch of sweetness is so irresistible. YESssss to this, Steph!! You’re a genius, as always!
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J.S. @ Sun Diego Eats says:
September 24, 2014 at 3:02 pm
Almost bought Chinese sausage but I have the same problem about forgetting what I have in my fridge. Glad to know its basically not perishable :)
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September 24, 2014 at 3:03 pm
Everything that Cynthia said above. Seriously, what a great fusion. Surprised nobody has thought of this before!
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Lily says:
September 24, 2014 at 3:28 pm
I love this idea! I grew up eating chinese sausage my mother cooked, but now when I go to the Asian market, there are so many choices! I never know which one to get. Do you have any suggestions?
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steph says:
September 24, 2014 at 4:51 pm
I usually just buy the standard sweet sausage. Kam Yen Jan is a pretty standard brand. Hope that helps!
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Monica says:
September 24, 2014 at 3:50 pm
This slays me! Love Chinese sausage, having eaten tons of it growing up. Using it in carbonara is a wild and great idea! I would love to try and see how that bit of sweetness works with the cheese!
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Liz @ Floating Kitchen says:
September 24, 2014 at 4:02 pm
Never had chinese sausage before. I’m totally intrigued. I’m on the hunt for it now!
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Sarah | The Sugar Hit says:
September 24, 2014 at 4:31 pm
OH HELL YES. Put this in my mouth, I welcome all and any carbonaras into my life.
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molly yeh says:
September 24, 2014 at 4:44 pm
carbonara is the ullllllltimate comfort food. right up there with mac and cheese. i could look at these pictures all day!
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Carol at Wild Goose Tea says:
September 24, 2014 at 5:32 pm
This drives me crazy. It’s so simple!!!! Two gold stars!
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September 24, 2014 at 5:38 pm
This looks so dang silky and delicious! Love this so much!
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Tieghan says:
September 24, 2014 at 8:33 pm
I love carbonara, it is so cozy!! The Chinese twist is perfection!
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Swee says:
September 24, 2014 at 9:24 pm
lap cheung is great! whenever i get the fresh ones I will just slice them and steam with garlic and water chestnuts. Very simple but yummy
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Swee says:
September 24, 2014 at 9:29 pm
Oh no of course not water chestnut. It’s with ngah ku (chinese arrowroot bulbs) which are mostly available when it’s Chinese New Year.
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Millie l Add A Little says:
September 24, 2014 at 11:07 pm
Looks so good with the sweet n salty combo from the chinese sausage! I could eat a pot of this!
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Valentina @Hortus says:
September 25, 2014 at 12:22 am
Such a spot-on take for this Italian classic! I’ll have to shamefully admit that I discarded the sausage from bahn bao whenever I had one – but that’s because I’m not really friends with any kind of sausage. But I know what it tastes like and it’s PERFECT for carbonara! Looks beautiful! :)
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September 25, 2014 at 1:29 am
Oh gosh I have a addiction to Chinese sausage especially when it is really crispy.Speaking of eggs; My other staple from the market is salted duck eggs but then again I am a sucker for comfort.
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Bec says:
September 25, 2014 at 4:14 am
Deliciously simple which is sometimes so needed. Lovely! Love the GIF too. Bec x
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Janine (ChezJ9) says:
September 25, 2014 at 4:51 am
I am so glad you posted this as I am always in my local Asian/Chinese Supermarket and I have never heard of this. I know I will like it as i pretty like anything that goes in Pasta and all meats really! Iam going to look out for that bad boy next time I’m in there…Thanks Hun! :-)
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Bryan says:
September 25, 2014 at 5:12 am
Awesome post! Two things – 1. Only TV show cook hosts have fully stocked fridges like that. Don’t let them make you feel bad. 2. What is with no eggs making us feel anxious? :) Whenever bad weather is predicted here in Charlotte, we do a raid on the stores for eggs and milk. It takes weeks for the stores to recover.
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Kat says:
September 25, 2014 at 8:06 am
I LOVE Chinese sausage! That stuff was like crack to me when I was a kid. The idea of using it in place of bacon/pancetta in carbonara is brilliant! I will definitely be trying this.
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September 25, 2014 at 11:45 am
After living in Shanghai, I LOVE Chinese sausage! Great mash-up of Chinese and Italian flavors.
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September 26, 2014 at 6:15 am
I cannot believe I’ve never contemplated using Chinese sausage as a pancetta/lardon substitute in carbonara! This is freaking genius, lady! Can’t wait to try it out. Thanks so much for sharing. xx
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September 26, 2014 at 6:53 am
Carbonara is one of my absolute favorites! Love the Chinese sausage in here….this looks so amazing!
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Noah says:
September 26, 2014 at 8:22 am
I think this looks very delicious. This dish looks very authentic and i would like to try it. Carbonara is one of my favorites. I have to cook this sometime. Thanks for sharing
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Kasia S. says:
September 28, 2014 at 2:51 pm
What a succulent dish, looks as good as it tastes in my mind, and you can easily improvise on indigents..love the option an lunch from leftovers, nice one.
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Dakota Grizzle says:
October 1, 2014 at 7:04 am
Looks so good with the sweet n salty combo from the chinese sausage! I could eat a pot of this!
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October 1, 2014 at 2:27 pm
i might be blowing your mind steph in telling you my dad, his bro and their dad used to own a CHINESE SAUSAGE FACTORY in seattle. YESSSS to chinese sausage! or as it’s know around these parts, laup cheung!!! i’m craving it now. yikes!!
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Karrouss says:
October 8, 2014 at 4:55 pm
This slays me! Love Chinese sausage, having eaten tons of it growing up. Using it in carbonara is a wild and great idea! I would love to try and see how that bit of sweetness works with the cheese!
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Trang says:
November 26, 2014 at 7:27 pm
OMG this is just AWESOMNESS – will try this one tonight!!
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Kriti Malik says:
April 20, 2015 at 5:57 am
Hello! The recipe sounds amazing but just to be sure of one thing – will the carbonara leave an eggy taste? Also would milk be a good idea for the sauce?
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Stephanie Le says:
April 20, 2015 at 7:56 am
you’ll definitely taste the egg in the sauce but it isn’t overpowering. unfortunately milk won’t work as a substitute for the egg.
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Heather Urry says:
December 31, 2017 at 4:21 pm
This is delicious! Used a fresh Chinese sausage rather than dried; it was terrific and super easy.
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Stephanie says:
January 1, 2018 at 4:46 pm
yay! so happy you liked it :) one of my fave recipes!
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Anita says:
January 29, 2018 at 12:23 pm
Oh my gosh. So this comment is a bit embarrassing, but I just posted my first recipe yesterday, then checked Google search results to see if I was anywhere on the list (nope, I think my blog is too new!) and LO AND BEHOLD, my favorite food blog did a Chinese sausage carbonara recipe years ago! I should have known. :) Looks delicious and will add it to my list of recipes to try of yours!! This probably sounds like a shameless plug for my mediocre blog, but I wanted to share — my blog is nothing, I am aggressively humbled by your awesomeness and your uncanny ability to create the recipes that I have been seeing in my dreams. ~~fangirl~~
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Deborah Murphy says:
September 11, 2020 at 11:01 am
when do you add the parmesian
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Stephanie says:
September 11, 2020 at 7:01 pm
hi deborah,
add it to the bowl that you beat the egg in :)Reply
