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Make Authentic Italian Amatriciana Sauce in less than 30 minutes. This Bucatini all’Amatriciana is a classic Italian pasta to add to your favorites.
What is Amatriciana Sauce?
Amatriciana sauce is a simple peasant dish. Sugo all’amatriciana, or alla matriciana, also known as salsa all’amatriciana, is a traditional Italian pasta sauce with a few simple ingredients: guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, and tomato sauce.
Any other ingredients added are simply not in the authentic recipe. This recipe is a simple peasant sauce that dates back centuries. For example, you won’t find garlic in this recipe. If you love it- you can certainly add it!
This classic sauce takes its spiciness from black pepper and its depth of flavor from guanciale, Italian salt-cured pork. If you can’t find guanciale cured pork, use pancetta, or bacon. The San Marzano tomatoes create a rich, deep, and flavorful sauce. It’s a perfect match to serve with crusty bread.
More Roman pasta dishes you will love: traditional carbonara, pasta alla zozzona, cacio e pepe, and pasta alla gricia.
Table of Contents
Simple Ingredients
This simple pasta dish only requires a few pantry staples.
- Tomatoes in pulp
- Guanciale, pancetta, or thick cut bacon
- Spaghetti or bucatini pasta
- Pecorino Romano Cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Red pepper flakes (optional)
See quantities on the recipe card.
How To Make Bucatini all’Amatriciana
Making amatriciana sauce with pasta is simple and requires little effort and time.
Heat a large pan over a high heat. Add guanciale/pancetta or bacon pieces and red chili flakes (if using).
Fry until all the fat has been rendered out and the meat is very crisp. Scrape the bottom of the pan often to prevent food from sticking.
Add the canned tomatoes to the pan. Stir everything through, then reduce heat to low and simmer for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and add to skillet with sauce.
Place the drained pasta on top of the sauce in the pan.
Stir to combine pasta water, the sauce, and pasta. Add the rest of the cheese.
Add half of the cheese and stir the pasta with the cheese without mixing with the sauce, yet.
Serve the pasta in serving bowls and top with plenty of freshly grated pecorino romano cheese. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil if you wish. Mangia! (eat!)
Recipe Variations
Every traditional recipe has many variations, and this happens also for this traditional recipe of pasta Amatriciana.
- Different Cheeses: Replace the pecorino with parmigiano cheese or use half parmigiano and half pecorino romano.
- Use Bacon: Amatriciana sauce is often made with bacon, as is the case with Authentic Italian Pasta Carbonara (no cream). To learn more about the Carbonara recipe, read this article! If only for the easy availability of the ingredient, which is indeed also less expensive than guanciale.
- Garlic and Onion: Many people like to cook the cured meat with a clove of garlic or a small onion. This is used a lot in Rome and surrounding areas. The traditional Amatriciana recipe doesn’t approve, but in the end do what you love!
- Pasta: The classic shape of pasta for amatriciana sauce is bucatini, a sort of long-shaped pasta, rounded with a tiny hole in the middle.
- You can also use spaghetti. Spaghetti derives its name from the Italian word “spaghetto”, which means thin string. You can also use short pasta varieties such as rigatoni, if you prefer. For more suggestions on what pasta shapes go well with what sauce read this article.
Top Tips
- Make your own Pasta – Make a full night of it by making your own pasta to pop into the dish!
- Al Dente Pasta—For the perfect al dente pasta, cook the pasta for a couple of minutes less than the packet recommends. For precise instructions, read this post.
Storage Instructions
Save your leftovers by storing them in an air-tight plastic or glass container in the fridge for 3-5 days or in the freezer for a few months.
History
Amatriciana originated in the green pastures on the hills overlooking Amatrice. Shepherds used to bring cheese and pieces of pork jowl with them during long days away from home. They would cook them in an iron pan, and add the pasta and cheese to make a simple and fast meal.
This is the original dish now known as white amatriciana. Since that time period, the recipe developed and changed a bit to add tomato sauce, making it a red base.
I prefer it with the red sauce, but I’ve always been curious to try it the other way. In a way it reminds me of Authentic Cacio e Pepe Recipe (Best Tips).
According to officials in Amatrice, there are six ingredients that make up a real amatriciana: guanciale (pork jowl), pecorino cheese, white wine, tomatoes from San Marzano, pepper, and chili.
You won’t find extra olive oil in the pan, onions, garlic, or other types of cheese. This recipe stays true to the true Roman Amatriciana way!
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FAQ
Guanciale and pancetta are different sections of pork meat. Guanciale is from the jowl and pancetta is from the belly.
Amatriciana and arrabbiata are tomato-based sauces. Amatriciana has guanciale or pancetta. Arrabbiata typically includes garlic and parsley and not meat, an authentic amatriciana sauce does not.
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Bucatini all’Amatriciana Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 28-ounce can chopped tomatoes in pulp , crushed tomatoes also work
- 12 ounces guanciale, pancetta, or thick cut bacon (if using bacon add a little oil to pan)
- 1 pound bucatini pasta , any long pasta will work
- 1 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, 8 oz
- salt and pepper to taste
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
- Cut the guanciale, pancetta or bacon into chunks less than one-half inch thick.
- Heat a large pan over a high heat. Add guanciale/pancetta or bacon pieces and red chili flakes (if using), and stir fry until all the fat has been rendered out and the meat is very crisp. Scrape bottom of pan often to prevent from sticking.
- Add the canned tomatoes to the pan. Stir everything through then reduce heat to low and simmer for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of cold water to a boil and add salt to taste. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Drain pasta and add to skillet with sauce.
- Place the drained pasta on top of the sauce. Add half of the cheese and stir the pasta with the cheese without mixing with the sauce, yet. Add pasta water and stir to combine the sauce and pasta. Add the rest of the cheese.
- To serve, portion out the pasta into serving bowls, top with plenty of freshly grated pecorino cheese.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I grew up eating and loving this dish my mom made often us, but this version is even better, and simpler to make which is a huge plus in my book!
So happy you loved it! Thank you. Yes, Italian cooking is simple at the core!
Delicious! Easy! Authentic! Tastes exactly like the Amatriciana we had in Rome. I’m going to double it for family coming over and I hope it tastes just as good. Elena, you are my go to Italian chef!
Yes! So happy you loved the recipe! You can totally double the recipe.
This has become one of our families go to recipes. It’s quick enough for weeknights and delicious enough for dinner parties! So simple and yummy!
Thank you, Molly. It is a family favorite in out house too. Enjoy!
This recipe is so delicious! It is an easy recipe that comes together so quickly. I didn’t make any adjustments to the recipe and it turned out perfect.This meal puts the biggest smile on my face. I love the simplicity of Elena’s recipes and how comforting they are. I really hope she will come out with a cookbook soon.
Hi Rae! So happy you loved the recipe! Yes, I hope to write a cookbook in the future :).
Simplicity is the true sense and heart of Italian cooking 🙂
Good morning Elena, do you have a sauce for ravioli, from the Genoa area? Thank you. Rich.
Hello, yes, you can try my classic pesto Genovese.
My wife and I spent a month in Italy over the summer and I ate sugo all’ Amatriciana 2-3 times a week while we explored central Italy. I was sad to come home thinking I would have to wait till next summer when we returned to Italy till I could enjoy one of my favorite meals. I then discovered you and all your delicious recipes and it took me back to all those authentic family restaurants we visited during our travels. Thank you and your Nona’s for sharing a little bit of Italy with those of us that wish we were still in Italy and were a little bit Italian.
Hi Michael, it sounds like you had a fantastic summer in Italy! It is a pleasure to share my Italian recipes with you. I hope to bring a taste of Italy to your home with many classic Italian recipes. Enjoy!