This is the simplest, most delectable recipe for Arrabbiata Sauce. It’s a spicy tomato sauce bursting with sweet San Marzano tomatoes, butter, garlic, flakes of crushed red pepper and parsley.
A classic Arrabbiata Sauce (also called Sugo all’arrabbiata in Italian) is one that every home cook should have in their back pocket! This recipe is ready in 15 minutes and can be served over your favorite pasta or protein for a filling meal.
It’s incredibly simple to make for a weeknight dinner and oh-so-popular– with good reason.
Arrabbiata. Doesn’t it just sound special? The great news is that while it sounds incredibly rich and fancy to our ears, it’s actually as simple as it gets.
San Marzano tomatoes make this sauce a little different than your average American red sauce. These tomatoes are grown in the volcanic soils of the San Marzano region of Italy, making them super sweet and delicate instead of acidic like many canned tomatoes.
Arrabbiata (also spelled Arrabiata, depending on where you look) is the spiced up version of a sweet and savory marinara sauce. It brings the heat, but it’s easy to customize and create the flavor profile your family will love.
Much like the pomodoro sauce I recently shared, it’s created with very simple ingredients that you likely already have in your pantry. Your weeknight pasta dinner couldn’t be any simpler!
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What is Arrabbiata?
This is a simple, spicy red sauce. Much like a classic marinara, it’s made with oil or butter, sweet juicy tomatoes, garlic, and herbs and spices.
What sets it apart from other sauces? The heat. Crushed red pepper flakes create a perfect balance of heat vs sweet in this sauce. However, if you’re not a fan of heat, don’t worry!
It’s so easy to customize this one. Often, we’ll serve it with very little spice for the kids and then turn up the heat for the adults.
Why You’ll Love this Sauce
- Just Five Ingredients + Pasta
- Smells So Good
- Easy Enough for a Weeknight
- Pantry Ingredients
Arrabbiata Ingredients
- Butter – Choose salted or unsalted butter, whatever you have on hand. Just watch your additional salt in the recipe based on that choice. You can also sub with a high quality extra virgin olive oil.
- Red Pepper Flakes – For the important layer of heat.
- Garlic – A hit of garlic adds robust flavor to many of your favorite pasta dishes. Mince the garlic for the most flavor or purchase minced garlic from the produce section of your grocer. That’s an easy shortcut and I’ll never tell!
- San Marzano Tomatoes – This type of tomato is of utmost importance in this recipe. For true Italian flavor, choose these sweet canned tomatoes.
- Parsley – For a fresh bite of flavor and color at the end of the recipe.
Do you live for garlic as much as we do? Don’t skip this handy Garlic Conversion Guide, as well as How to Peel and Mince Garlic.
Variations
- Onion – Add a diced onion and sauté it alongside the pepper flakes in this recipe.
- Pecorino – This Italian cheese can be mixed into the sauce for an additional vibrant layer.
- Basil – Add fresh basil to this recipe for an extra layer of herbal flavor. You can also replace the parsley with basil.
- Salt and Pepper – Surprisingly, extra salt and pepper aren’t necessary in this recipe thanks to the flavorful ingredients. However, season as you see fit with thick flakes of salt and pepper to taste. To achieve thick flakes, adjust a grinder to the largest setting.
How To Make
- Prepare Pasta – Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and prepare pasta al dente.
- Begin Sauce – In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter or warm your olive oil. Add red pepper flakes and sauté for three minutes. Add garlic, sautéing for one minute more, stirring frequently.
- Add tomatoes – increasing temperature to medium heat. Crush tomatoes, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, up to an hour.
- Stir in parsley, pecorino (if desired) and salt and pepper to taste.
To Serve
- Pasta – Of course, you can consider making homemade pasta on this occasion, or pick up any of your favorite noodles. This is a really versatile sauce and can easily be served with any of your favorite pastas. Spaghetti, Rigatoni and Penne all work really well.
- Pecorino – Fresh grated Pecorino cheese is authentic to the Lazio region of Italy for this sauce, and finishes it beautifully.
- Chicken Spiedini – Serve this pasta sauce alongside your favorite Italian inspired chicken dishes, like spiedini, Rosemary Chicken or classic Baked Chicken.
Tips
- As with all pasta dishes, hold back a cup of your starchy pasta water to add to the sauce to thin it out if necessary.
- Prefer a thicker sauce? Mix one tablespoon of water with one tablespoon of cornstarch and stir it into the sauce towards the end of cooking.
- Customize spice level to your tastes. While you can always add more red pepper flakes later, you can’t remove them. Add slowly and decide when to say when!
Frequently Asked Questions
Technically, this sauce is spelled with two b’s – arrabbiata. Often, though, it is spelled arrabiata. No matter how you spell it, it’s delicious!
Both of these sauces have a tomato base, but arrabbiata sauce includes red pepper flakes for a spicy finish. Arrabbiata actually translates in Italian to angry, which makes sense once you’ve enjoyed the spice!
Pomodoro translates directly to tomato in Italian. Arrabbiata sauce is a spicier tomato-based sauce that is made with garlic, red pepper flakes, and butter or olive oil.
How to Store
- Room Temperature – Leave this pasta sauce out at room temperature for up to two hours while serving.
- Refrigerate – You can make this sauce ahead of time and keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat on the stove top before adding it to your cooked pasta.
- Freeze – This sauce freezes well. Let the sauce cool to room temperature and transfer to a freezer safe container. It will keep for up to three months. Thaw at room temperature or overnight in the refrigerator.
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More Pasta Inspiration
Arrabbiata Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons Butter or olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Red Pepper Flakes or to taste
- 4 Garlic Cloves minced (approximately 4 teaspoons)
- 28 ounces Canned San Marzano Plum Tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons Fresh Parsley chopped
Instructions
- Prepare Pasta – Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and prepare pasta al dente.
- Begin Sauce – In a large saucepan over low heat, melt butter or warm your olive oil. Add red pepper flakes and sauté for three minutes. Add garlic, sautéing for one minute more, stirring frequently.
- Add tomatoes – increasing temperature to medium heat. Crush tomatoes, stirring occasionally for 10 minutes, up to an hour.
- Stir in parsley, pecorino (if desired) and salt and pepper to taste.
Julie’s Tips
- As with all pasta dishes, hold back a cup of your starchy pasta water to add to the sauce to thin it out if necessary.
- Prefer a thicker sauce? Mix one tablespoon of water with one tablespoon of cornstarch and stir it into the sauce towards the end of cooking.
- Customize spice level to your tastes. While you can always add more red pepper flakes later, you can’t remove them. Add slowly and decide when to say when!
Video
Estimated nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is not guaranteed.
