Spaghetti amatriciana
The Roman pasta of crisp bacon, a little onion and chile in a quick tomato sauce, glossy with parmesan and made mostly from the pantry.
- 35 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.84 a serving
- 630 calories
Dolly says: Read the steps once before you start. Everything goes smoother after that.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 6 slices bacon
- ½ yellow onion, finely chopped
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 12 oz spaghetti
- ½ cup grated parmesan, plus more to serve
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt, for the pasta water
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- ¼ tsp black pepper
Each serving has about 630 calories, 23 g protein, 82 g carbs and 24 g fat, and costs about $1.84 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No spaghetti? Fettuccine works.
- No grated parmesan? Parmesan wedge works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, cover, and bring it .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cut the bacon into ½-inch strips and the onion.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Cook the bacon in a large over medium for 7 to 8 minutes, until and crisp at the edges.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Food safety: Cook bacon until it’s crisp and no longer translucent.
Add the onion and pepper flakes and cook 4 minutes, until the onion is soft and .
Translucent. Translucent means onions have cooked until they turn from white to slightly see-through. It shows they’re soft and sweet but haven’t started to brown.
How you’ll know: The onion looks glossy and a little see-through, bends easily, and has barely any color.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min
Pour in the tomatoes and 10 to 12 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce a little.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Thicken. Thickening means cooking a sauce or soup until it’s less runny, by simmering it down or adding something like cornstarch. A thicker sauce clings to food instead of pooling on the plate.
How you’ll know: It coats the back of a spoon, and a line drawn through it with your finger holds its shape.
Low heatTimer: 11 min
Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti 1 minute less than the package says. Scoop out a mug of , then .
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Add the spaghetti, parmesan and pepper to the sauce with of pasta water and over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, until glossy and clinging.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Low heatTimer: 2 min
Dolly’s tip: Tongs make this easy. Lift and drop the noodles until the sauce coats every strand.Serve with more parmesan at the table.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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