Spicy Rigatoni is the easiest and best weeknight meal! It's the perfect restaurant-style dinner you can quickly make at home for your family. All you need is 25 minutes and a few ingredients!
There's just something about a creamy tomatoey pasta dish that is so good. And I love it, even more, when it's easy to make and takes minimal effort.
This spicy rigatoni is made with simple ingredients for a delicious spicy sauce that is served over big rigatoni noodles that soak it all up! Pasta will always be my favorite and this meal is one you will want to keep coming back to.
Ingredients
Most of the ingredients in this recipe, you will probably already have at home. Grab what you need and let's start cooking! A few ingredient notes:
- Pasta- this recipe is a rigatoni recipe but you can also use penne or ziti.
- Calabrian chili peppers- I highly recommend using these if you can find them. They are spicy but add lots of flavor to this pasta dish and can also be used on pizzas, sandwiches and on bread. You can get them at Whole Foods, Amazon and other stores. If you can't find the chilis, you can use red pepper flakes instead.
- Cream- I've used heavy cream and canned coconut milk in this recipe and both work great. Use coconut milk if you prefer to make this dairy-free, you can't taste the coconut.
- Pork- I love the flavor ground pork adds to this sauce, but you can also use ground turkey, ground chicken or ground beef. If you prefer to make this vegetarian, omit the meat altogether.
Instructions
- Making this pasta dish is super easy and takes less than 30 minutes!
- Cook the pasta to al dente according to the directions on the package.
- You'll begin by melting butter in a large skillet. Once melted add the onion and cook until soft. Next, you'll add in the garlic and ground pork, if using. Cook until the meat has browned.
- Then, add in the tomato paste, chili peppers, salt and pepper. Cook until the tomato paste has browned slightly, this will add more flavor.
- Deglaze the pan with the cream and allow it to simmer for a few minutes. Add the pasta to the pan with some reserved pasta water and mix together until creamy. Serve and top with parmesan cheese if desired!
Storage and Reheating
This dish can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
When it's time to reheat, you can simply microwave it for 1-2 minutes. If you don't like using the microwave, you can reheat the pasta in a skillet for a few minutes until warm.
More Pasta Recipes
Simple Creamy Tomato Pasta Sauce
🍳Recipe
Spicy Rigatoni Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 (16 ounce) package of rigatoni
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound ground pork, or ground turkey, chicken, beef
- ½ cup tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon Calabrian chili peppers or red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ⅔ cup heavy cream or canned coconut milk
- 1 cup reserved pasta water
Instructions
- Cook the pasta to al dente according to package directions in a pot of boiling salted water.
- Melt butter over medium heat in a large sauté pan then add diced onion and cook 3-4 minutes until softened. Add in the minced garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
- Add in the pork and crumble while it is browning about 5 minutes. Pour the tomato paste, chili peppers, salt and black pepper to the pan, stir and cook for 5 minutes.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and pour in the cream or coconut milk and let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.
- Add in the al dente pasta and a ¼ cup of the reserved pasta water. Stir everything until the sauce is smooth and creamy. If it looks dry, add in more pasta water little by little until it is creamy.
- Turn off the heat and serve. Top with some parmesan cheese if desired.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
Nancy says
Made this tonight, excellent!
I used ground chorizo! Nice and spicy
Sarah Holt says
Such a great idea to use chorizo!
Laura says
Excellent weeknight meal! Made it as written and we both loved it. I shared this recipe with my daughter, as she’s always looking for a good quick meal. Thanks!
Sarah Holt says
Hi Laura, really happy you enjoyed this! It's one of my favorites and great for weeknights 🙂