Pasta is always a good idea for busy weeknights. In my family, we eat pasta a few times a week, and on our rotation, we have many easy pasta recipes that I either serve as mains or sides. I have many favorites, but I’m currently obsessed with this super easy and creamy pasta alfredo where I make the sauce from scratch (much better than store-bought and it’s so easy!), another favorite is this garlic butter pasta, creamy lemon pasta, and on days when I have no time or energy to do anything I just make this one-pot pasta as it’s so easy and good! If you love gnocchi, try my gnocchi with pomodoro sauce. It’s amazing! Penne Arrabbiata is something that I usually order at a restaurant, I never thought that making it at home can be so easy. The good news is that you can make it in just 20 minutes from start to finish using a few pantry ingredients, and it tastes as good as the restaurant version!
What is Penne Arrabbiata?
Penne all’arrabbiata is an Italian dish made with penne pasta and spicy Arrabbiata sauce (sugo all’arrabbiata in Italian). “Arrabbiata” translates into “angry”, so Penne Arrabbiata means angry pasta! And that refers to the spiciness of the chili peppers used to make the sauce. PS. Many misspell the word “arrabbiata”, and write “arrabiata” instead. But it’s actually spelled with 2 b’s! The pasta sauce is made with tomato, garlic, dried chili peppers, and olive oil. Traditionally, Penne Arrabbiata is made using fresh tomatoes but to be able to enjoy it all year round, I use canned tomatoes.
The Ingredients
As I mentioned above, you just need a few simple pantry ingredients to make this recipe (scroll down to the recipe card to see a list of ingredients with the amounts), here’s what you’ll need:
Penne – or any other type of short pasta. I mean, it can be Rigatoni Arrabbiata if you like! We will cook the pasta in salted water to season it.Canned peeled whole tomatoes – You can substitute with either fresh or diced tomatoes. From my experience, canned peeled whole tomatoes seem to work better than canned diced tomatoes since they break down easily as the sauce is being cooked. Use the tomatoes along with their juices.Extra virgin olive oil – for an authentic Italian flavor.Garlic (feel free to use more garlic if you like), tomato paste, kosher salt, and pepper.Sweet paprika, and crushed red pepper – the sweet paprika will give the sauce a smoky and fruity flavor, and you’ll get heat from the red pepper flakes.Parmesan, and fresh basil leaves – to add at the end.
The Directions
How to Cook Pasta?
Always follow the instructions written on the package as it depends on what type of pasta you’re using. But the general rule is to boil 1 quart of water with 1 tablespoon of salt, for every 1 pound of pasta. For this recipe, you need to make sure that you’re cooking the pasta until just “al dente” since it will cook further with the sauce, otherwise, you will end up with overcooked pasta. It is also important to choose high-quality ingredients for recipes that use just a few ingredients, like this one here.
Top Tips
This recipe uses 3 types of pepper, ground black pepper, red chili, and paprika. This gives you a moderate amount of heat, it’s warm but not overpowering. But if you prefer a really angry pasta, you can make it as furious as you’d like by adding more red chilies!Feel free to add more garlic, I usually use just 1 or 2 large cloves, but adding more will give a garlicky flavor which is also great.Many versions of Arrabbiata sauce use pureed anchovies in the sauce. I don’t usually have anchovies on hand so I don’t add them, but you can add 3-4 pureed fillets to add an umami flavor.You can use other shapes of short pasta in this dish, but I don’t recommend long shapes such as spaghetti or linguine as the sauce won’t be captured very well and will simply slide off the pasta.The pasta water is starchy and perfect to thicken pasta sauces, and sometimes to thin out sauces when they dry out. Best to use it instead of normal water, it’s a traditional Italian technique used in cooking pasta.Avoid buying pre-shredded parmesan, it’s always recommended to buy a block of parmesan cheese and freshly grate it on your own.Serve with extra grated parmesan cheese, a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil if you like, and garnish with freshly chopped/chiffonaded basil leaves or parsley leaves (or both!).
What to Serve Penne Arrabbiata With
Pasta is usually served as a first course, and some type of protein is served as a second. The two dishes don’t have to be connected, so you can serve a juicy steak for a second course. Sheet pan chicken thighs also go so well, or keep it simple and get your grill pan out to make these grilled chicken tenders. For a veggie option (omit the parmesan cheese), and serve it with grilled portobello mushroom steaks!
Storing Tips
Fridge – store pasta arrabbiata in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.Reheat – pasta with sauce always dries out when refrigerated overnight. For the best reheating option, add a splash of water to the pasta then microwave, toss well.Freeze – I don’t recommend freezing the pasta, but you can make a batch of arrabbiata sauce and freeze it in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Reheat it in a small saucepan on low heat, and toss it with pasta to serve.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
