Penne All’Arrabbiata Recipe

Let’s make one of the best classic pasta dishes ever: Penne all’arrabbiata. The angry pasta is super simple to make and bursts with flavour. A delicious tomato sauce and heat from chilli give the pasta its name. This pasta surely deserves to be a classic. Let’s jump right into this penne all’arrabbiata recipe. 

Ingredients for this Penne All’Arrabbiata Recipe: 

• Peperoncini
• (Red) garlic
• Penne rigata 
• Olive oil
• Salt to season 
• Canned San Marzano tomatoes

As with most classic Italian dishes, the quality of the ingredients is paramount. As this dish involves only a few ingredients, the final taste depends a lot on what kind of ingredients you choose. Firstly, you will need chillis to bring the heat! I used fresh peperoncino today, but dried chillies work fantastic as well. It helps to check the heat of your chillis and adjust the amount as needed depending on their spiciness.

Next, fresh red garlic will bring a lot of delicious mild garlic taste to the sauce. Regarding olive oil, I’d suggest a delicious extra-virgin olive oil. Finally, perhaps the most important ingredient is the choice of tomato. Try to get your hands on canned San Marzano tomatoes. They are picked at peaked ripeness, and their taste is unbeatable for this recipe. 

Penne All’Arrabbiata Recipe: 

To make this delicious penne all’arrabbiata recipe, we will start with making the arrabbiata sauce. Next, we will cook the penne and finish the pasta in the arrabbiata sauce. 

Making the Arrabbiata Sauce: 

Firstly, let’s slice our garlic and chilli. Depending on your preference, you can take the seeds out or leave them in. But remember, the sauce should have a good kick! Penne all’arrabbiata does translate to “the angry pasta!” for a reason! 

Next, get a bowl, and add the San Marzano tomatoes with the tomato liquid from the can. Break up the San Marzano tomatoes using your hand. That will leave some pieces of tomato in the sauce, giving it the perfect consistency! 

Now, you can get a pan on the heat. Make sure the pan is large enough to fit both the sauce and the cooked pasta. Add a generous sip of extra virgin olive oil to the pan, and add the garlic and chilli.

Let the oil heat and infuse with the garlic and chilli. When the garlic is turning translucent, add the tomato sauce. Give it a good season with salt. Next, let the sauce simmer for at least half an hour on medium heat. 

After about half an hour, the sauce should have nicely reduced and look something like this:

Making the Pasta:

Next, bring a pot of water to a boil. Salt generously, and cook the pasta to package instructions. You want to stop the cooking process a minute before the penne reaches al dente consistency, so you can finish cooking the pasta in the arrabbiata sauce. 

Transfer the penne to the sauce, and add cooking water from the pasta to thin the sauce. Cook the pasta in the sauce until al dente. Check for seasoning, and you are ready to enjoy this beautiful dish! 

When plating, give the penne all’arrabbiata an additional sip of delicious olive oil. Also, some vegan parmesan makes a fantastic addition! 

I hope you enjoyed this penne all’arrabbiata recipe! Let me know what you think in the comments! 

Some other recipes you might enjoy: 

• Spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino 
• Spaghetti alla puttanesca
• Wild garlic pasta 
• Simple cherry tomato pasta
• Spaghetti alla Nerano
• Bruschetta with porcini
• Homemade tomato sauce
• Bruschetta with tomato and apple
• Carabaccia (tuscan onion soup) 
• Pasta al pomodoro

Print