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Thick bucatini noodles are coated in a rich spicy fra diavolo sauce! Recipe bonus: This meal is ready in 30 minutes and cooked in one-pan! Pasta lovers go crazy over this!
Bucatini Fra Diavolo
Happy Sunday! I hope you’re all having a great weekend. Did you remember to spring your clocks forward this morning? I think for the most part our advanced technology takes care of the time adjustment on its own, but our sweet old oven needed to be manually tuned into the new time zone today, and while doing this I was pretty giddy daydreaming about the warm, sunny Spring days to come. I even did a little impulse Spring dress shopping (Ladies, Anthro is having a 20% dress sale – and I am NOT being paid to say that!)! Bring on the balmy afternoons and Spring showers. I’m ready!
Now, for this pasta! Bucatini. My new favorite. We discovered it in Sicily last year, and I’ve been slurping it down on the regular ever since. If you’ve never had bucatini before, you HAVE to track it down and try it asap. I know it’s just pasta… but if you’re serious about your noodles (like me!), you’re just going to love this thick, tube-like noodle. I also find bucatini holds sauce wonderfully. Even better than spaghetti (gasp – I know!). That said, if you can’t find bucatini, good old spaghetti will make a fine stand-in. So ya know, options! 😉
Time for the saucy sauce details! Fra diavolo (Italian for “Brother Devil”) is a spicy tomato-based sauce that gets its kick from a hearty dash of chili flakes. I’ve been making a very simple spaghetti fra diavolo for years now, and this recipe is sort of a bucatini makeover of that wonderful dish.
Here are the main changes I’ve made to the recipe:
1) I ditched the spaghetti in favor of the thicker (and in my personal opinion, more fun to slurp) bucatini.
2) I adapted the cooking method to transform this into a one-pan situation. One-pan meals are a life-saver if you’re not big on washing dishes all night long… and really, who is? Ain’t nobody got time for that, na mean?
3) I reduced the oil by a 1/4 cup. This works because the pasta is actually cooking in the sauce, meaning we can use less fat and still achieve a rich, silky sauce. Win!
If you’re cooking this for kiddos or for folks who can’t handle the heat, feel free to cut the pepper flakes down to 1/2 teaspoon and the garlic down to 6 cloves. This will result in a very flavorful but less spicy fra diavolo, and then you can just pass the crushed red pepper flakes around the table for those who want an extra kick. Other than those changes, I highly recommend sticking to this recipe step-by-step. It’s very simple and straightforward, and all of the measurements have been tried and tested to ensure your results will be amazing.
Now, go grab some bucatini and get cooking! xoxo
More Pasta Recipes:
- Baked Rigatoni Fra Diavolo with Sausage and Zucchini
- Quick and Easy Bucatini all’Amatriciana
- One-Pan Tomato Basil Pasta
- Stuffed Shells Fra Diavolo
- One-Pan Cacio e Pepe
Sunday Suppers: One-Pan Bucatini Fra Diavolo
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 10 cloves garlic, sliced very thin or minced
- 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes (add a little more if you really like the spice!)
- (1) 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
- (1) 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 pound bucatini (this is a very thick noodle with a hole in the center; see link in post for reference)
- 4 cups vegetable stock
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Bring oil to a low simmer over medium-heat. Add garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for about 2 minutes, or until garlic is fragrant and barely golden. Add tomato puree and tomato paste, stir well to combine. Allow this mixture to cook for 5 minutes – stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and breaking up the tomato paste. Add the bucatini into the pot, then pour in the vegetable broth and water. Increase the heat to high and allow the mixture to come to a rapid boil.
- Boil mixture, stirring and turning pasta frequently, until pasta is cooked and the sauce has reduced to just a generous coating; about 14 minutes. Remove pan from heat, stir in the basil, mint, and parsley; cover and set aside for 5 minutes.
- Divide pasta among large bowls and serve at once, with cheese, if desired.
Tried it out and my family were so proud of me. I thank you very much for the recipe
This recipe looks delicious! I was wondering how well this reheats? My mister eats dinner after the rest of the family and I’m always looking for meals that will be good as leftovers. Thanks 🙂
Hi Sara. I find this reheats quite well. My mister unfortunately has to eat without me most nights too, and he usually just adds a little splash of water (if needed) to get this nice and saucy again.
Yum! I made this for dinner tonight, with a few alterations:
-cooked some turkey sausages in the pot before all the sauce, set aside, then cut into slices and added in about halfway through the pasta
-sautéed mushrooms and onions, then added garlic and chili flakes (and I added extra chili flakes too – I love my spice!)
-used beef base and extra water instead of veggie stock (just what I had on hand)
-used diced canned tomatoes instead of crushed
-added a splash of milk at the end
So delish! If/when I make this again I think I would use less tomato paste, just personal preference. This was the perfect dish for a stormy evening – hot, nice bit of spice, and total comfort food. I agree – bucatini over spaghetti every time!
Fabulous recipe, thanks for sharing!
omg, bucatini is my favorite noodle! i love that it’s thick and chewy but has that little hollow center. The perfect pasta. And this sauce….Yes please!
This looks delicious. I love pepper flakes on pasta!
mmmmm I can almost taste this bucatini just looking at the photos!