Classic Mentaiko Spaghetti Recipe (2024)

To clarify the tip's incomplete clarification, tarako and mentaiko turn out to be forms of roe from Alaskan pollock, a type of cod. So where these are unavaible, other fish roes could perhaps serve as substitutes.

Let the mentaiko speak for itself - this recipe contains a lot of strong additional flavours in my opinion - mentaiko has it's own particular special and lovely flavour - olive oil, lemon zest and especially the lemon juice cloud the flavour palette unnecessarily - as does the crème fraiche - I would use a nice normal heavy cream instead - the shiso leaves are of course a wonderful addition - keeping it simple here makes a huge difference :)

Left out the roe, but replaced it with Rao's marinara. I also didn't have crème fraîche, lemon or miso, and someone in my family has an egg allergy. Decided on basil as the herb and added meatballs at the end. I think we may try this again!

Despite being in a Japanese American family, no one is familiar with Mentaiko. A google search reveals it to be very expensive. Anyone know affordable quality options?

Online purchase of the roe is expensive. Try a local Asian supermarket instead. We have moderately priced here at an H-Mart in Mesa, Arizona. Hence, it's possible.

I’ve never seen miso used for this dish before. Most recipes in Japan call for either soy sauce or mentsuyu for umami. I would also scale way back on the lemon — just a tiny drizzle at the end should suffice.

This recipe has way too many ingredients for a mentaiko pasta… and unnecessarily complicated. Let the mentaiko speak for itself.

I regularly make mentaiko pasta and have found cream in any form to be actually pretty unnecessary (akin to how cream is unnecessary in carbonara). Instead I use butter to give it the richer texture that lets the mentaiko's flavor shine more instead of drowning it in cream or creme fraiche or god-forbid sour cream. Agree with the poster that said they haven't seen miso in this dish before. Seems like this is a completely different dish at this point. Probably tasty, but not really mentaiko pasta

I wouldn't use bottarga in place of mentaiko. They are not the same. Mentaiko is fresh and bottarga is dried. You can find spicy cod roe in your local H-Mart Korean market. You can also find it in the frozen section of H-Mart if you can't find it in the fresh section. I would also skip the crème fraîche, olive oil, egg yolk, miso and lemon juice/zest. I recommend using mentsuyu and butter.

There is almost never any need to reserve pasta water and then drain the pasta. Just transfer the spaghetti with tongs or a pasta spoon directly from the water into the sauce. Your pasta water remains in the pot, hot and ready to use. Here in Italy, colanders gather dust.

This is tasty but not as good as other recipes I've made because the other ingredients completely drown out the tarako. Disappointing

Totally agree with those who say leave out the miso, lemon and olive oil. A very disappointing recipe. Will definitely look for another and simplify the process as this was not at all what mentaiko spaghetti should be like.

Has anyone tried this with Taramosalata instead of roe and crème freche? It seem like it might be a similar consistency

It will be interesting to try the readers' suggestions for omitting lemon, cream, etc., but I found this recipe to be absolutely delicious using parsley, except you need to double the sauce. The flavor of Mentaiko is special, but I plan to experiment with other more available roes like salmon and tobiko in this same basic recipe. The sauce provides a nice counterbalance to very briny flavors.

For all of you struggling and considering spending an arm and a leg on the mentaiko: You can find roe in Asian supermarkets such as H Mart, for an attainable price. H Mart specifically has had several varieties of roe in the frozen Japanese foods section. Best of luck.

I was really excited to make this dish. So much that I waited weeks to get Roe. But it was indeed a disappointment. I am not sure if it was the taste or texture. But neither my nor my friends could finish our plates. In fact, It wasn’t terrible. But after a bite we were all done.

Any ideas for online sources? I only found one product, pricey, on Amazon, and tried several Asian markets and online sites with no luck. Lots of packaged Mentaiko pasta sauce mixes, however!

I bought the mentakio and was a excited to taste this dish but honestly the dish tasted like nothing much ; pretty sure adding some butter to pasta would have given a very similar dish for 1/4 the price . The Japanese student staying with us said this is how it’s supposed to taste. I don’t get the appeal! Won’t be making again.

A new favorite. I’ve made this several times and omitted the egg, cream and miso paste based on the comments here. Added melted butter as seen in online videos for mentaiko pasta. Latest twist was to grate some bottarga di muggine (cured grey mullet roe) I had on hand into the mentaiko sauce. I liked the result. The mentaiko and bottarga were distinct but complementary.

I suggest Kalles Kaviar (also cod roe) from IKEA.

Does anyone know if I can use canned pollock roe? I can only find ikra mintaya, which seems like it might work?

Can I find tarako and mentaiko at WalMart?

There is almost never any need to reserve pasta water and then drain the pasta. Just transfer the spaghetti with tongs or a pasta spoon directly from the water into the sauce. Your pasta water remains in the pot, hot and ready to use. Here in Italy, colanders gather dust.

To Helen—Tarako is cheaper than mentaiko and has a similar umami-ness. You could get about 5 oz (145 gr) of mentaiko for about $16, vs $11 for tarako.

It’s not a good recipe. The ingredients synergize in an unpleasant way. It’s not clean-tasting. I’ve never had a mentaiko pasta I didn’t like - until now.