In Italian, Arrabbiata literally means angry. It refers to the spiciness of the sauce which is obtained from the red chilli peppers used in it. This sauce is prevalently used in pasta which is originated around Rome. It’s again a tomato-based sauce seasoned with garlic, red chilli peppers sautéed in butter or Extra virgin Olive oil (EVOO).
Marinara sauce is a tomato-based sauce with garlic, basil cooked in olive oil. Marinara sauce is an indispensable sauce in the Italian food realm. Arrabbiata sauce / Red sauce is a spicy version of Marinara sauce. It’s loaded with red chilli peppers which gives it the name ‘’angry sauce“. Sautéing garlic and chilli flakes in butter brings out the aroma of garlic and the hotness of chilli flakes which renders the intense flavour to the sauce. Later you can top with onion, tomato, herbs and other condiments which adds exquisite flavour and texture to the sauce.
I actually added a twist to the authentic arrabbiata sauce / Red sauce with the inclusion of carrots, olives, roasted bell pepper, other dry herbs apart from fresh basil. Inclusion of these ingredients actually turns this sauce to Napoletana sauce. It’s also called Neapolitan sauce or Napoli sauce. In Naples, Italy, this Napoletana sauce is simply referred to as la salsa, which literally translates to the sauce. My Arrabbiata is a fusion sauce with the inclusions of most of the ingredients from Napoletana sauce. Also, I roast the fresh tomatoes and bell peppers which yields a depth to the sauce. Apart from fresh bunch tomatoes, I included store-bought chopped tomatoes for deep colour and tomato paste for the vinegary punch. Though my ingredients list is lengthy, it’s worth adding as each ingredient offers an unique flavour and aroma.
I like my Arrabbiata this way, as it’s loaded with a mix of ingredients and all delivers a blast of flavours. This sauce forms the base for Arrabbiata sauce / red sauce pasta and also for Italian baked pasta / pink sauce pasta.
Authentic sauce has red chilli peppers as the spice, alternatively, you can replace it with red chilli flakes. Just pulse red chilli peppers in a blender to get red chilli flakes, or simply go with store-bought red chilli flakes. Actually, I used a tbsp of red chilli flakes for this sauce, felt bit on hotter side, so I suggested you to go with 1 tsp in the recipe. If you can handle the spiciness, the angriness of the sauce, go ahead with 1 tbsp in the place of 1 tsp red chilli flakes.
It proves to be a Dairy Free, Vegan friendly (replace butter with EVOO), Vegetarian, and Gluten free recipe.
If you are craving suddenly Mexican, then try my authentic Mexican Salsa and Instant salsa.
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Wash the big bunch tomatoes and red bell pepper, wipe it and poke holes randomly.
Spray cooking oil on it. Place them in the air fryer and roast it for 20 – 25 minutes, till its evenly roasted on all sides. Keep turning the sides as it gets roasted.
Alternatively, if you don’t have air fryer you can roast them in the microwave or OTG oven. If you don’t have any of them, you can still roast it on the gas top. Pierce through the centre of the tomato with a lengthy fork and hold it on the flame.
Keep rotating till it gets evenly roasted. It may take roughly up to 10 minutes. Do the same for all remaining tomatoes and bell pepper.
Once cooled down, peel the skin of roasted tomatoes and bell pepper. Deseed the bell pepper and discard the stalk, then finely chop the pulp.
Similarly, chop the tomatoes and try to remove the seeds portion separately. It yields roughly 1 cup of chopped tomatoes.
You can strain the seeds and reserve the juice for later, while preparing the sauce.
Finely chop the carrot, onion, black and green olives, garlic, fresh basil and keep it aside. Heat a skillet with 3 tbsp butter, once it melts, add red chilli flakes finely chopped garlic, sauté for 2 minutes till it turns slightly brown.
Immediately, add finely chopped carrot. Sauté for 2 minutes till it turns soft and is cooked. Now, add the finely chopped onion, sauté for 2 minutes with a pinch of salt till it turns soft and brown.
Then, add store-bought tomato paste and sauté for a minute till the raw smell goes off.
Then, add the roasted red bell pepper, store-bought chopped tomatoes, roasted bunch tomatoes. Then, add the remaining salt, sugar, dried mix herbs, pepper powder, and sauté well for a minute.
Now, add the cup of strained tomato juice (step 4) from the roasted tomatoes. Let it simmer for 2 -3 minutes.
Finally, add the chopped olives and fresh basil. Mix well and switch off the flame.
Spicy Arrabbiata sauce with a twist of Napoletana is ready to serve. Once cooled down, it can be refrigerated in an airtight container and stored for a week. This sauce goes well with pasta, lasagne, pizza and even in the Mexican dishes to replace Mexican salsa.
Recipe card
Preparation time: 25 minutes (includes roasting time)
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Cuisine: Italian, International
Category: Accompaniment / Sauce
Serves: 4 -5
Author: Manimala
Ingredients:
Butter / EVOO – 3 tbsps
Garlic chopped – 2 tbsps
Red chilli flakes – 1 tsp
Carrot chopped – ½ cup
Onion chopped – 1 cup
Tomato bunch big – 5
Store-bought chopped tomatoes – 1 cup (optional)
Store-bought tomato paste – 3 tbsps
Red bell pepper / Capsicum – 1
Mix dry herbs – 1 tsp
Fresh basil – 2 tbsps
Black pepper powder – ¼ tsp
Sugar – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Instructions:
- Wash the big bunch tomatoes and red bell pepper, wipe it and poke holes randomly. Spray cooking oil on it. Place them in the air fryer and roast it for 20 – 25 minutes till its evenly roasted on all sides. Keep turning the sides as it gets roasted.
- Alternatively, if you don’t have air fryer you can roast them in the microwave or OTG oven.
- If you don’t have any of them, still you can roast it on the gas top. Pierce through the centre of the tomato with a lengthy fork and hold it on the flame, keep rotating till it gets evenly roasted. It may take roughly up to 10 minutes. Do it same for all the remaining tomatoes and bell pepper.
- Once cooled down, peel the skin of roasted tomatoes and bell pepper. Deseed the bell pepper and discard the stalk, then finely chop the pulp. Similarly, chop the tomatoes and try to remove the seeds portion separately. It yields roughly 1 cup of chopped tomatoes. You can strain the seeds and reserve the juice for later, while preparing the sauce.
- Finely chop the carrot, onion, black and green olives, garlic, fresh basil and keep it aside.
- Heat a skillet with 3 tbsp butter, once it melts, add red chilli flakes finely chopped garlic, sauté for 2 minutes till it turns slightly brown, immediately, add finely chopped carrot. Sauté for 2 minutes till it turns soft and is cooked.
- Now, add the finely chopped onion, sauté for 2 minutes with a pinch of salt till it turns soft and brown.
- Then, add store- bought tomato paste and sauté for a minute till the raw smell goes off.
- Then, add roasted red bell pepper, store-bought chopped tomatoes, roasted bunch tomatoes.
- Add the remaining salt, sugar, dried mix herbs, pepper powder, sauté well for a minute.
- Now add the cup of strained tomato juice (step 4) from the roasted tomatoes. Let it simmer for 2 -3 minutes.
- Finally, add the chopped olives and fresh basil. Mix well and switch off the flame.
- Spicy Arrabbiata sauce / Red sauce with a twist of Napoletana is ready to serve.
- Once cooled down, it can be refrigerated in an airtight container and stored for a week.
- This sauce goes well with pasta, lasagne, pizza and even in the Mexican dishes to replace Mexican salsa.
Notes:
- This sauce forms the base for Arrabbiata sauce / red sauce pasta and also for Italian baked pasta / pink sauce pasta
- Adding carrots reduces the acidity of the tomatoes which balances the flavour of the sauce.
- Bell pepper / capsicum can be optional. Roasting and adding the bell pepper zips up the taste of the sauce.
- Roasting adds a notch to the flavour. I would recommend you to do it, though it’s laborious; but its worth it.
- After chopping all the roasted tomatoes (try to deseed as much as you can), you’ll get a pool of tomato juice with seeds. Strain the tomato juice through a strainer and use it while preparing the sauce.
- Store bought chopped tomatoes can be optional, if you don’t get it in the market. I added for its deep colour and taste. In that case, you double up the bunch tomatoes to 12 (if store bought chopped tomatoes is not available).
- Strain the excess juice from the store-bought chopped tomatoes by running it through a strainer. Either you can use it in the sauce (if you want thin consistency) or use it for any curry or gravy within 2 days.
- Store-bought tomato paste can be optional. If it’s available in stores as tetra packs, please do try it. It has a sharp vinegary punch which enhances and kicks the flavour of sauce.
- I used bottled olives in brine available in stores. You can skip it if it’s not available.
- I used big 6 bunch tomatoes (refer pic and video).
- Try to get this variety or Roma or Beef tomatoes which are red, ripe and firm. In India you can try the hybrid tomato varieties 🍅 🍅 🍅
- Pick the tomatoes which are ripened, deep red and chunky in nature.
- Any dry herbs are fine, I added mixed dried herbs of oregano, thyme, parsley. You can try adding any one dry herb, if you don’t get all the three. If you can’t manage to get any of these dry herbs, feel free to skip.
- Similarly, I added fresh basil, if you don’t get the freshones, go for the dried basil. But make sure you add any one dry herb at least to obtain an earthy flavour.
- If none of these dry herbs are available, substitute with fresh coriander/ cilantro or parsley