Creamy gochujang beef pasta
Rigatoni in a silky, gently spicy Korean chili cream sauce with crispy beef and parmesan, a fusion dinner for two that tastes like a restaurant plate.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.07 a serving
- 800 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 6 oz rigatoni
- 8 oz 85/15 ground beef
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- ⅓ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup grated parmesan
- 2 stalks green onions, sliced
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp soy sauce
Each serving has about 800 calories, 38 g protein, 77 g carbs and 36 g fat, and costs about $3.07 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No rigatoni? Penne works.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, and bring it over high. Cook the rigatoni until , scoop out a mug of , then .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Al dente. Al dente is Italian for “to the tooth”: pasta cooked until tender but with a slight firm bite in the center. It holds up in sauce and keeps softening a little after you drain it.
How you’ll know: Bite a piece a minute before the package time: tender, with a slight firm bite in the middle and no crunch.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heat
While the pasta cooks, heat a large over medium-high and cook the beef 6 to 7 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left and it has crispy bits.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Spoon off the fat, turn the heat to medium, and stir in the garlic and gochujang for 1 minute, until the gochujang darkens a shade.
Medium heat
Dolly’s tip: Gochujang is a sweet, savory Korean chili paste. Cooking it for a minute deepens the flavor.Pour in the cream and soy sauce and let it bubble gently 2 minutes, until slightly .
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Add the rigatoni, parmesan and of , and until the sauce is glossy and coats every piece.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Low heat
Serve topped with the green onions.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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