A spicy, slow-simmered red sauce made with tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes and tossed with penne pasta. Here I've added a few additional seasonings, some chopped sweet onion and finished it with fresh Parmesan cheese and parsley.
Spicy Arrabiata Sauce with Pasta
The word arrabiata (ah-rah-BYAH-tah) literally translates into the word "angry" and it's the heat from the addition of red pepper flakes here that earned the sauce the name, setting it apart from other more traditional Italian sauces.
If you enjoy a little heat in your sauce, start with the lesser amount of red pepper flakes. If you are already a lover of super spicy, increase that according to your personal taste.
While you can use fresh tomatoes, this sauce is often made using shelf-stable canned tomatoes, whether home canned or commercially bought, so it's an easy pasta sauce that can be prepared from the pantry anytime.
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Traditionally tossed with penne pasta, this sauce is welcome in many different pastas as well as other dishes, from pizza sauce to dipping sauce.
I researched a few of the older Italian cookbooks I own by Marcella Hazan, Biba Caggiano, even The Silver Spoon in addition to Lynne Rossetto Kasper's The Italian Country Table and The Italian Collection by Food and Wine magazine.
Not a single one of them included a recipe for Arrabiata Sauce!
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So, I went to a few of the more modern Italian-American cookbook authors - Rachael Ray (#ad), Valerie Bertinelli (#ad) and Teresa Giudice (#ad) and found recipes there to guide me.
Here's what you'll need to make my version of Spicy Arrabiata Sauce with Pasta:
- 3 cups uncooked pasta (like penne, mostacciolli, rotini, shells, linguine, spaghetti)
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 cup chopped sweet or yellow onion
- 3 tablespoons minced garlic (about 4 large cloves)
- 1/2 to 2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes, to taste, depending on spice level desired
- 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 (10.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chilies (like Rotel), undrained
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 1/4 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Shaved or shredded Parmesan cheese, for garnish
Here's how to make it!
For the pasta, bring a large pot of water with a large pinch of kosher salt to a boil. Add pasta and cook al dente according to package instructions. Set aside a cup of the pasta water, drain remaining water and set aside. Although this is typically served with penne, pretty much any pasta will work, even spaghetti or linguine!
Gather up your ingredients.
Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic.
Sauté until tender, about 5 minutes.
Stir in red pepper flakes and sauté with the onion for 3 minutes. This is also a good place to use a Spicy Chile Crisp, (#ad) Calabrian chilis(#ad) or a Nduja Sauce (#ad) (a spreadable paste made with chiles and pork fat) if you already have any of those on hand!
Add tomatoes, bay leaf, seasonings, dried herbs and lemon juice.
Stir and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until thickened and reduced, although if the sauce gets a little too thick, use some of the reserved pasta water to thin it. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
Add the cooked and drained pasta to the sauce.
Toss.
Transfer to a pasta bowl. Garnish individual servings with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and parsley and serve immediately with a salad and fresh bread.
For more of my favorite pasta recipes, check out the collection on my Pinterest page!
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