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Naporitan (Japanese ketchup spaghetti)

This strangely comforting pasta dish has sliced hotdogs and a sweet-sour sauce made with tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar and milk.
Naporitan (Japanese ketchup spaghetti)
Pasta recipe by Connie Veneracion | Last updated: 01.11.2026
Prep: 5 minutes mins
Cook: 18 minutes mins
Total: 23 minutes mins
Servings: 4 people
Course: Main Course, Snack
Cuisine: Japanese
Label: Spaghetti
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Connie’s notes

A yoshoku, or Western-style dish, Naporitan was invented in 1945 by Shigetada Irie, head chef of Hotel New Grand in Yokohama, to please Gen. Douglas MacArthur who occupied the hotel as his headquarters and, later, as residence for American military officers.
The original Naporitan had canned tomato puree for its sauce and bacon for the meat. As it evolved over the years and adapted for Japanese home cooking, ketchup and sliced hotdogs, both cheaper than tomato puree and bacon, became standard ingredients.
As you can imagine, there are so many versions of this simple dish. This recipe was inspired by a tutorial in an episode of Izakaya Bottakuri, a show on Netflix about two sisters who run a diner that they inherited from their parents.

Ingredients

  • 180 grams spaghetti (6.3 oz)
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium yellow onion peeled and thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic peeled and chopped
  • 1 large bell pepper julienned
  • 300 grams hotdogs (10.5 oz) thinly sliced
  • Sauce
  • ½ cup ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  • Dump the spaghetti in plenty of boiling water.
  • While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a pan.
  • Saute the sliced onion, chopped garlic and julienned bell pepper until a bit softened.
    Sauteeing garlic, bell peppers and onion in butter
  • Add the sliced hotdogs and cook until heated through.
    Adding sliced hotdogs to sauteed onion, garlic and bell pepper
  • Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
    Steps in making sauce for Naporitan (Japanese ketchup spaghetti)
  • Pour into the pan with the sausages. Stir and cook until boiling.
    Pouring Naporitan sauce into pan with hotdogs and vegetables
  • Drain the spaghetti and dump into the sauce. Toss well.
    Tossing pasta in sauce to make Naporitan (Japanese ketchup spaghetti)
  • Serve your Naporitan sprinkled with grated Parmesan.
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About Connie Veneracion

Home cook and writer by passion, photographer by necessity, and good food, coffee and wine lover forever. I create, test and publish recipes for family meals, and write cooking tips and food stories. More about me and my umami blogs.

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