Like spicy tomato sauce? Looking for a quick pasta dinner recipe? Try my Rigatoni Arrabbiata pasta recipe – ready in 20 minutes and perfect for weeknights!
What is Rigatoni Arrabbiata?
Arrabbiata is a rich spicy tomato-based sauce – great for tossing through pasta or even topping a pizza with. Penne pasta is often used for arrabbiata but I like to use rigatoni because I like bigger tubes that have a nice chew, plus hold more sauce. Made with garlic and chilli, this sauce has some spice to it – arrabbiata means ‘angry’ in Italian! Traditionally this sauce is made with tinned chopped tomatoes, chilli, parsley and that’s it. How simple is that?
Why You’ll Love Arrabbiata Sauce
- Super easy and quick to make
- Uses store cupboard ingredients
- The sauce freezes well and can be made ahead
- Can serve as the base for other additions such as chicken or sausage
Is This Pasta Super Hot?
With a name like angry pasta, you may think that this is blow your head off hot. It is more of a mild kick of heat to compliment the other flavours. The great thing is if you find mine too hot, just dial back a little on the chilli flakes, or add a little cream to balance out some of the heat.
Ingredients
Rigatoni pasta – you can use your favourite pasta instead of rigatoni but this pasta gives a nice chew. It’s nice and chunky and the pasta clings to the ridges of the pasta. Look for a good quality dried pasta.
Olive oil – I like to use extra virgin olive oil and it has the most flavour but if you don’t have it, you can use regular olive oil.
Passata – I like to use passata as it is lovely and smooth and clings to the pasta better than chunky tinned tomatoes. It makes for a lovely velvety sauce.
Garlic – fresh garlic is amazing in cooking and gives such a fresh burst of flavour. If you don’t have fresh garlic, you could use garlic pasta from a tube. I wouldn’t recommend powdered garlic as the flavour is not the same as fresh.
Red Chilli flakes – pick a variety or brand you know and enjoy. Different brands are spicier than others so taste as you go to ensure you get the right spice level.
Fresh parsley and Basil – I love the fresh hit these herbs give to the final dish. Dried herbs will give you similar flavour but to get the full experience – use fresh.
How to make Rigatoni Arrabbiata
The key to a good arrabbiata rigatoni is good quality tomatoes. I have opted to use passata in my recipe which makes for a velvety smooth sauce. My brand of choice is Mutti – they are the best tomatoes for making a luscious sauce. They don’t have the acidity often found in cheaper tinned/jarred tomatoes.
This Arrabbiata Rigatoni recipe is so simple to make. Follow these steps to make a luscious quick spicy pasta sauce:
- Saute garlic and chilli in olive oil
This simple sauce starts with gently sauteing garlic and chilli in olive oil. I prefer to finely mince my garlic to get as much of that garlic flavour into the sauce – I love garlic! I also use dried chilli flakes but you could substitute fresh chilli if that’s what you have to hand.
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Add the tomatoes and cook until slightly reduced. This allows the passata to thicken slightly and helps make the sauce cling to the pasta.
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Season with salt AND sugar – a little sugar helps to bring out the natural sweetness of the tomatoes and makes a huge difference.
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The addition of chopped parsley and basil gives a hint of freshness and colour to the finished dish.
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Toss through the pasta
Cooking The Pasta
The beauty of this pasta dish is the al dente pasta, as with all Italian pasta dishes. It’s important not to overcook the pasta. Since the pasta gets tossed with the sauce, its best to undercook the pasta by 1 minute. This way you won’t overcook the pasta in the sauce as it will still be cooking while you toss it.
When cooking the pasta, make sure the water is well salted before you add the pasta. This will help to bring flavour to the pasta. Also don’t forget to stir gently at the beginning as the pasta can sometimes stick to the bottom of the pan!
Variations
Add vegetables – courgettes, red peppers
Add spicy sausage – turn this into a spicy sausage arrabbiata
Toss prawns or chicken through the pasta for a protein kick
Try different tomatoes – try using San Marzano to kick this up a notch. These tomatoes are beautifully sweet and make the best sauces
Add cream – I love spicy sauces but also love creamy sauces too. Add a touch of cream at the end of cooking to make your arrabbiata a spicy creamy one!
Hints & Tips
Adding chilli flakes to the oil in the beginning – this helps to infuse the oil with the flavour of the chilli flakes. Cooking the chilli flakes with the garlic quickly on medium heat helps to bring out the flavours without burning anything.
Reserve some pasta water – this stuff is so important to have at the ready. If you over-reduce your sauce this can bring it back to life and helps the sauce cling to the pasta. I always reserve a cup just in case.
FAQ’s
Arrabbiata means ‘angry’ in Italian and refers to the addition of chilli to make the tomato sauce nice and spicy i.e. spaghetti arrabbiata
Red sauce is normally a Marinara sauce. Both of these sauces use tomatoes as the base. Additionally arrabbiata has added chilli to give it a nice kick with some heat.
Arrabbiata sauce is most commonly paired with penne-shaped pasta. I like to use rigatoni as the shapes are larger and can soak up a bit more sauce. Also, you can pair the sauce with any pasta you like. Try making yours a spaghetti arrabbiata!
Rigatoni Arrabbiata
Ingredients
- 2 cloves garlic
- 400 g passata
- 200 g rigatoni pasta
- 1/2 Measuring tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1/2 Measuring tsp sugar (more to taste)
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- finely chopped parsley
- chiffonade basil
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of well salted water to the boil
- Add the rigatoni and give a gentle stir
- Add minced garlic and chilli flakes to the olive oil over medium heat
- Fry the garlic and chilli flakes for a couple of minutes then add the passata
- Cook the passata until reduced slightly and thickened
- Season with salt and a little sugar, then add the chopped parsley and stir gently to combine
- When pasta is al dente (around 10 minutes), combine with the sauce and finish off with chiffonade basil leaves
