Korean Spiced Orecchiette

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Korean spiced orecchiette is a delicious pasta featuring lean ground chicken, Korean chilli sauce, and sweet honey. Garlic and sesame oil add a beautiful fragrance. It’s just a bit spicy, but very robust in flavour. I serve this with one of my favourite pastas – orecchiette. It comes from Southern Italy and translates to mean ‘little ears.’ I try not to think about that too much while eating it, but they’re delicious.

Korea and Italy are both countries that I’ve had the privilege of visiting. Both of these countries boast amazing cuisines and are well worth visiting from a foodie’s perspective. This dish is a fun play on a fusion style, combining famous Korean spice with tasty Italian pasta.

how to cook Korean spiced orecchiette

Start by cooking the onion and red pepper in a skillet with some olive oil over medium heat. When they begin to soften, shift them to the side and add in the ground chicken. (If you wanted to, you could swap out the chicken for some lean ground beef. These flavours are amazing with beef too!) Cook stirring often until the chicken begins to brown, then toss the chicken and vegetables together and add in the garlic.

In the meantime, cook the orecchiette in salted water until al dente (tender but firm) according to package directions. You could substitute for another kind of pasta if you’d like. Penne or shells would be great as well.

Now you can mix the gochujang (Korean chilli paste), soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and salt into the chicken. Cook for a minute, then add the water and reduce heat to low while you wait for the pasta.

When the pasta is finished cooking, drain it well then toss it with the butter in its original pot. Pour the pasta into the pan and mix it in to get it covered in that yummy sauce. Season with more salt to taste and enjoy.

Korean Spiced Orecchiette

★★★★★ 5 from 9 reviews

• Author: Asha
• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Pasta
• Cuisine: Korean Fusion

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Description

A Korean-Italian fusion dish. Orecchiette pasta is perfect for scooping up all the delicious Korean flavours.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red bell pepper, cut into 2” long strips 

1 small Spanish onion, sliced

1 lb (454 g) ground chicken

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 ounces (227 g) orecchiette, dry

1 tbsp (14.2 g) salted butter

2 tbsp gochujang (see note)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp salt, or more to taste

1/2 cup (118 ml) water

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Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add bell pepper and onion and cook for a few minutes until it begins to soften. 

Move vegetables to a side and add in ground chicken. Stirring often cook the chicken until it begins to brown, then mix it together with the vegetables and add in the garlic.

Meanwhile, in a pot of salted water cook the pasta according to package directions. 

Stir gochujang, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and salt into the chicken pan. Cook for a minute then add water and reduce heat to low to wait for the pasta.

When the pasta is finished cooking, drain well and mix with butter in its original pot. Then pour the pasta into the chicken skillet. Mix well to cover pasta in sauce.

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Equipment

skillet

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Notes

This recipe also works great with lean ground beef.

Gochujang is Korean red chili paste. You can find it at Asian grocery stores or often in large mainstream grocery stores in the international aisle. 

Keywords: pasta, korean pasta, korean italian fusion