🍝 Bucatini all'amatriciana
Bucatini all'amatriciana is a Roman classic of thick, hollow spaghetti in a tomato sauce built on crisp guanciale, the cured pork cheek. A little chili gives warmth and grated pecorino romano adds a sharp, salty finish. The sauce clings inside and around each strand, making the dish savoury, tangy and filling. It is served straight from the pan with extra pecorino.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g bucatini
- 150 g guanciale, cut into strips
- 400 g canned peeled tomatoes, crushed
- 60 g pecorino romano, grated
- 1 small dried chili, crumbled
- Salt
Method
- Cook the guanciale in a cold dry pan over medium heat until the fat renders and the edges crisp.
- Add the chili, then the tomatoes and a pinch of salt; simmer for 12–15 minutes.
- Boil the bucatini in salted water until al dente.
- Drain the pasta, toss it in the sauce with a splash of cooking water.
- Take off the heat, stir in most of the pecorino and serve with the rest on top.
How to make it lighter
- Use 100 g guanciale for four and pour off part of the rendered fat — 1 tbsp of fat is about 120 kcal.
- Serve 80 g of dry pasta per person and add a green salad on the side.
- Grate pecorino finely: a small amount covers more pasta and still gives full flavour.
History
The sauce takes its name from Amatrice, a mountain town in Lazio, and is often said to have reached Rome with shepherds from the area. The tomato-free pasta alla gricia is usually described as its older relative. Bucatini is the shape most associated with it in Roman trattorias.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →