Amatriciana pasta recipe: the best recipe from Italy

Author: Veruska Anconitano, Award-Winning Food Travel Journalist, Sommelier & Outdoor LoverAuthor information
Veruska
About the author
Veruska Anconitano
Veruska is a a food travel journalist with awards to her credit, such as World Best Food Travel Journalist. She holds a certification as a sommelier and she is also an ardent lover of the outdoors. Aside from this, Veruska is a Multilingual SEO and Localization Consultant and co-owns multiple websites that cater to a global audience.
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Amatriciana pasta or pasta all’amatriciana, together with the famous pasta alla carbonara, is one of the most famous recipe from Rome. It’s originated from a town called Amatrice in North-East Lazio which has also deposited the original recipe so every sauce called Amatriciana has to follow the rules.

It’s a tasty pasta, easy to make and usually helpful when you want to prepare a very Italian meal with friends and family, trying to serve a dish that satisfies everyone because has plenty of flavors and ingredients that go wonderfully well together.

This is the original recipe for a perfect amatriciana sauce to add to your spaghetti: remember not to use the onions because they’re not an ingredient of this recipe (there’s another similar recipe which included onions but it’s not called amatriciana) and try to use spaghetti or bucatini; if you don’t have spaghetti, use rigatoni or always striped short pasta because this is the only kind of pasta able to perfectly absorb the sauce.

This is a classical recipe, something people from Lazio know very well even if there are different ways to make it.

In Rome we use “guanciale” (cured pork cheek) and not pancetta; you should not use simple bacon because it’s usually smoked and the dish changes completely.

Amatriciana pasta: ingredients for 4 people

  • 500 grams of spaghetti
  • 125 grams of pork cheek
  • 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 drop of dry white wine
  • 400 grams of San Marzano tomatoes
  • 1 piece of chili
  • 100 grams of pecorino cheese
  • salt

Amatriciana pasta: recipe

  1. In a frying pan put chili, oil and the pork cheek cut in strips. Allow to flake alive and then blend with the wine.
  2. Remove the browned cheek from the frying pan and put it aside.
  3. Add the tomatoes, adjust with the salt and let it cook for a few minutes. Remove the chili pepper, put the cheek back and let it flame low for a few minutes.
  4. Cook the pasta al dente, drain, season with the sauce, add the cheese and mix.
  5. Serve hot if necessary by adding another grated pecorino.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Spaghetti all'Amatriciana

Video recipe of the Amatriciana pasta from Italy

A while ago Edward Schneider from the Huffington Post has dedicated an entire post to my amatriciana and he has tried to make this recipe at home… if you’ve tried my recipe and you want to share tips and posts with me just let me know!

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