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Chinese Sausage Carbonara Recipe

Posted September 24, 2014 by Stephanie
chinese sausage carbonara recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

chinese sausage carbonara recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

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 usually looking 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.

chinese sausage carbonara recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

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 sausage lasts 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 - www.iamafoodblog.com

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.

chinese sausage carbonara recipe - www.iamafoodblog.com

49 Comments

  1. cynthia says:

    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!

  2. 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 :)

  3. Everything that Cynthia said above. Seriously, what a great fusion. Surprised nobody has thought of this before!

  4. Lily says:

    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?

    1. steph says:

      I usually just buy the standard sweet sausage. Kam Yen Jan is a pretty standard brand. Hope that helps!

  5. Monica says:

    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!

  6. Never had chinese sausage before. I’m totally intrigued. I’m on the hunt for it now!

  7. OH HELL YES. Put this in my mouth, I welcome all and any carbonaras into my life.

  8. molly yeh says:

    carbonara is the ullllllltimate comfort food. right up there with mac and cheese. i could look at these pictures all day!

  9. This drives me crazy. It’s so simple!!!! Two gold stars!

  10. This looks so dang silky and delicious! Love this so much!

  11. Dave says:

    Sounds delicious

  12. Tieghan says:

    I love carbonara, it is so cozy!! The Chinese twist is perfection!

  13. Swee says:

    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

    1. Swee says:

      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.

  14. Looks so good with the sweet n salty combo from the chinese sausage! I could eat a pot of this!

  15. 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! :)

  16. 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.

  17. Bec says:

    Deliciously simple which is sometimes so needed. Lovely! Love the GIF too. Bec x

  18. 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! :-)

  19. Bryan says:

    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.

  20. Sophie says:

    Woah! THE SILKINESS of that sauce

  21. Kat says:

    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.

  22. After living in Shanghai, I LOVE Chinese sausage! Great mash-up of Chinese and Italian flavors.

  23. julie says:

    this is brilliant! i must try this immediately!

  24. 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

  25. Carbonara is one of my absolute favorites! Love the Chinese sausage in here….this looks so amazing!

  26. Noah says:

    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

  27. Kasia S. says:

    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.

  28. Dakota Grizzle says:

    Looks so good with the sweet n salty combo from the chinese sausage! I could eat a pot of this!

  29. 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!!

  30. Karrouss says:

    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!

  31. Trang says:

    OMG this is just AWESOMNESS – will try this one tonight!!

  32. Kriti Malik says:

    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?

    1. Stephanie Le says:

      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.

  33. Heather Urry says:

    This is delicious! Used a fresh Chinese sausage rather than dried; it was terrific and super easy.

    1. Stephanie says:

      yay! so happy you liked it :) one of my fave recipes!

  34. Anita says:

    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~~

  35. Deborah Murphy says:

    when do you add the parmesian

    1. Stephanie says:

      hi deborah,
      add it to the bowl that you beat the egg in :)

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