Amatriciana sauce served with spaghetti or bucatini is a classic Italian pasta dish with guanciale, tomato passata, and pecorino romano.
With carbonara, cacio e pepe, e alla Gricia, bucatini all'amatriciana is one of the four world famous Roman pasta dishes.
Since Louise and I moved to Italy four years ago, back to my childhood town in Central Italy, we’ve embraced many traditional Italian eating habits.
One of the biggest changes has been eating pasta for lunch 😋.
It’s something I vividly remember from my childhood. Pasta was always at the center of our midday meal (pranzo).
We’d switch up the sauces and pasta shapes often: from sausage pasta (Norcina), spaghetti meatballs, minestrone, and tortellini in brodo, to truffle pasta, and the simple but perfect pasta al pomodoro.
My grandmother probably made over 300 different pasta dishes for me as a kid.
This amatriciana is one of them. My version is inspired by her cooking, and I hope you feel the touch of a loving nonna when you make it at home 👵🏼.
Buon appetito!
How to make Amatriciana (Video)
Substitutions
- Bucatini: they are a long and hollow pasta that looks like thick spaghetti with a hole. If you can't find them, substitute spaghetti, rigatoni, or mezze maniche.
- Guanciale: guanciale is Italian cured meat made from pork jowl. In Italy you'd lose your passport if you substitute guanciale in Amatriciana 😅. However, if you are not Italian, don't live in Italy, and can't find guanciale, you can try and make a similar sauce with pancetta (can't be called Amatriciana though).
- Tomato passata: try to use 100% Italian tomato passata (sometimes sold as tomato puree in the USA) because it's richer, denser, and sweeter than others. Mutti is a great brand (not sponsored, just really good). You can substitute whole canned peeled tomatoes (best if San Marzano) for passata. In this case the sauce needs to cook for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Pecorino Romano cheese: that's a hard sheep's cheese with a rich, salty, umami-packed flavor. You can substitute pecorino sardo for romano. If the flavor is too strong for you, you can cut it or substitute it with Parmigiano Reggiano (not Amatriciana though).
- Black pepper: black pepper is essential in Amatriciana. Red pepper flakes are optional. In Italy a thinly sliced red hot chili is more common than the flakes.
Tips
- Pasta water: you need to salt it less than usual because Amatriciana sauce is packed with umami from pecorino and guanciale.
- Salt: don't add any salt to the sauce! The pecorino and the guanciale add more than enough sapidity.
- Pecorino: turn the heat off before adding pecorino so that it will melt perfectly without getting stringy.
- Spiciness level: Amatriciana is NOT an overly spicy dish. You should feel a mild heat from the pepper but spiciness should not be the protagonist in this dish.
Storage
Up to 36 hours in the fridge. Reheat on a skillet with a splash of water.
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Recipe
Amatriciana
Video
Ingredients
- 12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti
- 1 pound tomato passata or whole canned peeled tomatoes
- 1½ ounces guanciale
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper + red pepper flakes to taste (optional)
- 1 cup (2.5 oz) pecorino romano grated
Instructions
- PREPARE THE GUANCIALEWith a serrated/bread knife, cut off pepper and rind from the piece of guanciale.Cut 3 to 4 slices of guanciale ⅓ inch (0.9cm) thick. Cut into strips (see video). You need about 1½ ounces guanciale pieces.Add pieces to a dry hot skillet and cook for 5-7 minutes on medium-low heat.The fat should melt and the guanciale should get crispy. Taste one piece, it's divine!Remove ⅓ of crispy guanciale from the pan, and set aside for later.
- MAKE THE SAUCEAdd ¼ cup dry white wine to the hot skillet with the remaining guanciale and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.When the wine aroma is gone, add 1 pound tomato passata ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste.Let simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Your amatriciana sauce is ready.
- COOK THE PASTAWhile the sauce simmers, cook 12 ounces bucatini in plenty of lightly salted boiling water. Also, finely grate about 1 cup (2.5 oz) pecorino romano.The pasta should be cooked al-dente, with a slight bite, about 1 minute less than instructed on the package.Fish pasta out of the water and add it to the Amatriciana sauce.Add ½ cup of pasta cooking water (or more if required) and finish cooking pasta in sauce for 30 to 60 seconds while stirring.
- SERVE AMATRICIANATurn heat off, then add half of the pecorino.Stir until it melts.Divide into portions then top with a few pieces of crispy guanciale that you set aside earlier, a twist of freshly cracked black pepper, and a sprinkle of the remaining grated pecorino.
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