This homemade Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce recipe had really upped my meal planning game this year!
If you’ve seen any of my meal plans on Meal Planning Made Easy for the last couple of weeks then you’ll probably have seen that a new regular on our meal plan is Prawn Pasta with a spicy arrabbiata sauce. It’s a bit of a twist on my homemade tomato sauce recipe which I’ve been making in bulk for years now as it’s so versatile and brilliant to batch cook and freeze so you always have some in the freezer.
Basically, spicy arrabbiata sauce is just tomato sauce with a kick! It originated in Italy and is made with garlic, tomatoes, and dried red chilli peppers cooked in olive oil so the amount of kick is entirely up to you. I’m not going to lie, I often add in way more garlic and some extra chilli for an even spicier version! 😂
I batch cook this at least once a month and we use it for everything from pasta bakes to a sauce for meatballs – we even blend it to make the tomato base for a pizza sometimes. It’s a great base for so many meals that I always try and have batches of this and it’s less spicy plain tomato sauce cousin in the freezer on hand.
It is one of those recipes that you don’t need to follow exactly but it does always turn out brilliantly! Today, for example, I opened five tomato sauce tins (well, two cartons and three tins) which is actually one more than the recipe really needs so I just added it in anyway and upped the rest of my measurements a little bit to compensate.
Homemade Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce Recipe
This amazing spicy arrabbiata sauce recipe is a kitchen staple in my house as it's so versatile and is brilliant to batch cook so I generally make a big batch at least once a month.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- 3 - 4 teaspoons crushed dried chilli flakes
- 2 small onions, finely diced
- 5 large cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 - 5 tins of chopped tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons of basil or mixed herbs
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
Instructions
- In a large pan, gently fry off the onion and garlic until the onions are softened.
- Add in the tomatoes and chilli and give it a good stir until it starts to bubble.
- Turn down the heat to low so your sauce is just gently simmering away in the pan and give it 30 minutes or so to let all the flavours come together.
- After half an hour, add in the season and the herbs and stir gently for another couple of minutes.
- This is great if you're serving it straight away but works just as well if you're reheating it from the fridge where it will live happily for a couple of days or from the freezer where I've kept it for a month before. It could probably last longer but it never gets the chance here.
Notes
I promise I'll take better photos next time I make it!
Honestly, I guarantee if you try it once then you’re going to be batch cooking this every month from now on!
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Do your future self a favour – Pin my homemade Spicy Arrabbiata Sauce for later:
