BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA
Romans have a way with pasta, making so many incredible recipes. But one of my favorites is Bucatini all’Amatriciana. Amatriciana is cooked with the amazing flavors of guanciale, tomato sauce, pecorino romano cheese, and the bucatini pasta is perfect for it. This pasta noodle has a hole running through the middle to soak up all the flavors of the sauce from the inside out.
This recipe is authentic but with one small twist – do you think my added ingredient takes this to a new level?
Watch the Bucatini all’Amatriciana video recipe:
How to make BUCATINI ALL’AMATRICIANA Like an Italian
Vincenzo’s Plate Tips
Cooks For Three People
If you’re looking for a dish perfect for a family dinner, this is the one for you! This recipe cooks for three people. If you have more than three people at the table, add 100 grams more pasta for each additional person and adjust the recipe accordingly.
The Secret Ingredient
My twist on this recipe is cherry tomatoes! Some people will argue that this goes against the traditional way of making Bucantini all-Amatriciana, but cherry tomatoes add so much fresh flavor to the dish and provide fantastic texture. I had to resist adding basil to the sauce, but I couldn’t resist throwing cherry tomatoes in!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil is Optional
When you’re ready to cook the guanciale, it’s up to you if you want to add some extra virgin olive oil to get the cooking started. If using a good quality guanciale, the fat will render down and provide plenty of oil to cook the meat and tomatoes. Plus, the guanciale oil will add so much incredible flavor to your sauce.
Removing the Guanciale Before Making the Sauce
Optional: If you want a little more crunchy texture to the pasta when you plate it, you can remove the crispy guanciale from the saucepan before adding the peeled tomatoes. Set them aside on a plate covered with paper towels and add them as a garnish at the end for a crunchy bite.
I like to leave them in the sauce because as the sauce renders down, the guanciale will continue to add flavor throughout the cooking process and make the sauce out of this world!
Knowing When the Sauce is Ready
When you’re cooking the sauce, there’s an easy trick to help you know when it is ready for the pasta to be added. Take your wooden spoon and scrape a straight line into the pan, kind of like you’re parting the red sea! If the sauce slowly comes back together, it’s thick enough and ready! However, if it doesn’t spread apart and is still runny, it must be cooked longer.
How to Serve Bucatini all’Amatriciana
If you want to serve Bucatini all’Amatriciana in a fancy way, you can twirl the pasta around your tongs and carefully slide it onto a plate. Top with the cherry tomatoes and guanciale from the pan. If you removed the guanciale before adding the sauce to keep it extra crispy, garnish it on the pasta for a crunchy texture.
Of course, don’t forget to sprinkle a little pecorino romano and black pepper on top before serving.
Bucatini all’amatriciana
Print Recipe
Equipment
- large pot
- Large aluminum pan
- wooden spoon
- knife
- fork
- Cutting board
- Small bowls
- Immersion blender
- Tongs
- Measuring spoons
- Mug
Ingredients
- 300 grams bucatini pasta, 11oz
- 800 grams peeled tomatoes, 28oz
- 250 grams 250g cherry tomatoes, 9oz
- 200 grams 200g guanciale , 7oz. with skin removed
- Finely grated pecorino romano
- Black pepper, as much as required
- Sea Salt, as much as required
- Extra virgin olive oil, optional
Instructions
- Start by slicing the guanciale into thin slices and then into strips so each strip has fat on the outside and meat in the middle.
- Next, cut the cherry tomatoes into halves or even quarters if you want them smaller.
- In a bowl, gently crush the peeled tomatoes using an immersion blender until you have a smooth sauce.
- Heat an aluminum pan on the stovetop on medium-low heat. Once hot, add your guanciale strips and cook until it turns crispy (about 5 minutes).
- Add cherry tomatoes to the pan and turn the stove down to low heat. Cook for 5 minutes and continue to stir.
- Add the peeled tomato sauce to the pan and mix everything. (Optional: Remove the guanciale before adding the peeled tomatoes)
- Increase the heat and add a pinch of sea salt then let the sauce cook for 20 minutes.
- Add water to a large pot and put it on the stove to boil. Once boiling, add one tablespoon of sea salt.
- Then add the bucatini pasta and cook by following your packet instructions. It should take about 11 minutes.
- Add a generous amount of freshly cracked black pepper to the sauce before mixing through some grated pecorino romano cheese too.
- Using a mug, scoop out some pasta water and set aside. Remove the pasta from the pot with tongs, place it into the saucepan, and mix everything together.
- Begin to toss the pasta. If the sauce is still a little runny, add pasta water to help thicken it up and toss it again.
- Add more pecorino romano to the pasta and toss again, then it’s time to plate.
- Plate the pasta and top with the cherry tomatoes and guanciale from the pan. Sprinkle a little bit of pecorino romano and black pepper on top.
Video
E ora si mangia, Vincenzo’s Plate….Enjoy!
Do you want to try other Roman Recipes?
- Try my CACIO e PEPE That it’s Easy for Everyone to Make
- My PASTA ALLA GRICIA recipe is a must try!
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Amatriciana is one of those dishes where every cook in Rome has their own approach, their own rhythm, their own small adjustments passed down through generations. Below, I want to share something very special – a behind-the-scenes look inside Trattoria Lilli, one of Rome’s beloved trattorias, where Chef Mike opened his kitchen and shared the family method he has been making for years. Watch carefully. There is a lot to learn.
Inside a Roman Trattoria – Chef Mike’s Bucatini all’Amatriciana at Trattoria Lilli
Watch: Bucatini all’Amatriciana – Inside Trattoria Lilli with Chef Mike
Walking into Trattoria Lilli and watching Chef Mike make Bucatini all’Amatriciana feels less like following a recipe and more like witnessing something that has been repeated thousands of times, until every movement becomes instinct.
The dish is the same four ingredients – guanciale, Pecorino Romano, San Marzano tomatoes, bucatini – but the way a professional kitchen moves through them reveals details that are easy to miss at home. The way the guanciale fat slowly coats the pan. The moment the chili goes in. The careful deglaze with white wine. The final mantecatura that pulls everything together into something silky and unified.Watch the video above closely, then read through the notes below.
The Guanciale Cut and the Slow Render
Chef Mike slices the guanciale into slightly thicker strips than you might expect – thick enough that you get a satisfying contrast of tender meat and rendered fat in every bite. The key is cooking it over low heat with patience, allowing the fat to melt gradually rather than frying the meat aggressively. As the fat renders, it coats the pan and builds the foundation of the entire sauce. This step cannot be rushed. The moment you turn the heat up to speed things along, you lose the depth that slow rendering creates.
Sfragnare – Crushing the Tomatoes by Hand
In Rome, crushing San Marzano tomatoes by hand is known as sfragnare. Chef Mike is firm on this point – blending the tomatoes completely smooth removes the texture and character that makes Bucatini all’Amatriciana sauce feel alive. Crushing by hand leaves small irregular pieces that cook down into a rustic, textured sauce with far more personality than a smooth puree. Do not worry about uniformity. Those uneven pieces are exactly what you want.
The White Wine Deglaze – One Important Safety Note
Once enough fat has rendered from the guanciale, Chef Mike turns the heat off completely before adding the white wine. This is important – pouring wine into a very hot pan can cause dangerous flare-ups. Let the pan cool slightly first, add the wine, then return to heat. The wine lifts all the flavour from the bottom of the pan while cutting through the richness of the guanciale fat. Without it, the Amatriciana sauce can taste heavy and oily. After about 40 seconds the alcohol evaporates and what remains is a cleaner, more balanced base for the tomatoes.
The Mantecatura – How the Sauce Becomes Silk
Mantecatura is the final Italian technique where the cheese, pasta starch and sauce are tossed together off the heat until everything becomes silky, creamy and unified. No cream. No butter. Just the Pecorino Romano, the starchy pasta water and the movement of the pan. Chef Mike finishes with a generous amount of aged Pecorino Romano DOP – 12 months aged, sharp and salty – and the result is a sauce that clings to every strand of bucatini rather than sitting underneath it. This is the step that separates a good Amatriciana from an extraordinary one.
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