Classic 5-Ingredient Bucatini all'Amatriciana Recipe

Pasta night at home can start feeling a little tired after a while. Sure, good ol' spaghetti with meatballs or chicken fettuccine are perennial crowd pleasers, but it's nice to mix things up. And with this classic bucatini all'Amatriciana recipe, you get to indulge in a different flavor profile, but with a very similar preparation method, making it an easy way to mix things up without having to intensely study a long recipe with complicated ingredients. 

And if you've eaten bucatini all'Amatriciana, one of four quintessential Roman pasta dishes, in a restaurant before, you're not going to be disappointed by this iteration. "This is a classic preparation for bucatini all'Amatriciana. A number of other preparations use pancetta or prosciutto in place of the guanciale, but this recipe is true to the original dish," says recipe developer Kate Shungu. That's exactly why she appreciates this 5-ingredient recipe so much. "I love how just a few ingredients create a restaurant-quality dish that you can make at home," she says.

Some of these ingredients may be new to you, but there are only 5 you need to check your kitchen for before heading to the store. All you need are guanciale (cured pork jowl), crushed tomatoes, red pepper flakes, Pecorino Romano cheese, and bucatini pasta. And, of course, salt to your liking. 

First up, you need to do a little prep work. Place a pot of water on your stove and bring it to a boil. As it's heating up, dice up your guanciale into cubes. "Guanciale is similar in taste to bacon, with a more pronounced porky flavor," Shungu explains. 

Once the guanciale is cubed, heat up a large skillet over medium heat and add the meat. Cook it until it's browned, which should take about 3-4 minutes.  

When the water in your pot is boiling, add some salt before dropping in the pasta. Cook the bucatini according to the directions on the package. 

Bucatini pasta is another ingredient you may not have used before, but it's not all that different from other pasta shapes. It's a little like spaghetti in that it comes in long, thin pieces, but it's actually a tube with a hole through the middle. "Bucatini is traditional in this recipe, but spaghetti or linguine work, too," Shungu says. 

When the guanciale is cooked, add the can of crushed tomatoes to the pan, using a wooden spoon to scrape off the bottom of the skillet. "As the guanciale cooks, it'll leave little brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Scraping the pan softens these flavorful pieces and incorporates them into the sauce," Shungu explains. 

Add the red pepper flakes into the sauce and stir occasionally, letting everything cook for 5 more minutes. If you like a little spice, but not too much, don't let the red pepper flakes worry you — the heat is far from overpowering. "On a scale of 1-10, the spice level is a 2," Shungu says. 

With the sauce prepared, go ahead and drain the cooked pasta. Add it to the skillet with the pecorino, then toss the sauce and pasta together, mixing it well. Add extra salt if you think the dish needs it. 

The pasta is now ready to serve! Transfer it to plates or a platter and serve it while it's hot. "I love serving this with a piece of baguette or crusty bread, plus a leafy green salad," says Shungu. "A glass of wine sure wouldn't hurt, either!" 

If you don't eat it all in one sitting, don't worry, it makes good leftovers. "It will keep in the refrigerator for several days," Shungu says, suggesting that it be reheated in the microwave or in a skillet.