Arrabbiata Sauce is a light marinara or red Italian sauce that is given an extra spicy flavor by adding hot peppers to the sauce. Arrabbiata can loosely translate to “angry mood,” or in slang to the state of being “p o’ed.” It’s unlikely the sauce will accomplish this for anyone, and the name is inspired by its piquant taste. In other words, it’s an angry sauce that is likely to delight your taste buds.

Arrabbiata Sauce will go well with any plain pasta, and it is often best enjoyed with penne, which are small ridged tubular pasta. The ridges help hold the sauce, and the tubes can also fill with the sauce creating fiery mouthfuls with each bite. If you do use tubular pasta like penne, or one of the many others, always make more sauce then you’ll need to have adequately coated pasta. Since Arrabbiata Sauce and others like it will be readily absorbed by the pasta, you may need more sauce than you think to cover pasta.

There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of Arrabbiata Sauce recipes on the Internet. It appears the most authentic do not add chili peppers, but instead rely on adding crushed red pepper or red pepper flakes. If you like a little more heat on your sauce, it’s absolutely fine to introduce hotter chili peppers like habeneros or jalapenos to the mix. Some also like to use smoked chili peppers or fire roasted crushed tomatoes to evoke an earthier, smoky taste in the finished product.

Most recipes for Arrabbiata Sauce are fairly quick to cook, making them attractive alternatives to red sauces that simmer for several hours. You can additionally make a sauce with minimal preparation time—just a few moments to chop onions, garlic, parsley and peppers. Using canned tomatoes rather than chopping your own can save a lot of time. The advantage of taking the extra time to chop tomatoes is usually that they yield a fresher taste.

The principle ingredients of Arrabbiata Sauce are tomatoes, tomato paste or sauce, chopped parsley (Italian variety if you can get it), garlic, onions, Italian seasonings and of course chopped red pepper and/or red pepper flakes. Garlic and parsley are simmered first in a little olive oil, and then the lengthiest cooking process is cooking onions. They should be sauteed over medium heat for about ten minutes, allowing them to soften and sweeten up.

The rest of the ingredients are added when the onions are properly cooked, and cooking time in recipes varies greatly. Some cooks suggest simmering the sauce for about 45 minutes, while others suggest only 10-15 minutes of cooking the Arrabbiata Sauce when all ingredients are combined. There’s also some dispute regarding whether or not to add cheese to these ingredients. Some recipes suggest a cup or more of Parmesan be added.

Traditionally, Arrabbiata Sauce does not contain meat, but many recipes add smoky or spiced sausage to make a more hearty meal. To find your favorite recipe, you may want to try out a few to see which one is tastiest to your palate. Without cheese and with cooking spray rather than oil used, the dish can be a very low fat one, and also a vegetarian dish. Spicy foods can tend to provide a feeling of fullness sooner. Thus you may enjoy the food more because of its heat, but eat less of it.