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Rigatoni con Polpette and Arrabbiata Sauce – no doubt one of the best pasta dinners you can have. Casual yet sophisticated, this pasta dish is sure to please the entire family.
Back to my love of meatballs. I really am a sucker for a good meatball and I really don’t need an excuse to make them. Here I wanted to pair these meatballs with one of my favorite sauces, Arrabbiata which really means angry in Italian, meaning it’s very spicy. And spicy it is! So this recipe is for all the spicy food lovers out there, you know who you are.
But this Arrabbiata sauce is the bomb and you won’t believe how simple it is. Onions, garlic, red wine, hot sauce and crushed tomatoes, that’s basically it. And I’m not talking a splash of wine, I added a whole cup of wine in this sauce so you end up with this dark and rich very flavorful sauce.
Because this was a labor of love I did simmer this sauce for a bit, and for the last 10 minutes I added the meatballs so they can cook a bit more and soak up some of the yummy sauce. It’s all about love.
Polpette means meatballs in Italian and these meatballs are made with ground beef and ground pork. I always like to mix ground meat when I make meatballs. I know some of you are going to ask if you can buy store bought meatballs and the answer is yes of course. If you want to save time you can always use store bought meatballs.
Ingredients
Meatballs
Ground beef and pork – Use lean or regular beef, any kind you’d like, though the more fat in the meat the juicier your meatballs will be. You can substitute the pork for uncooked sausage out of the casing.
Egg – You’ll need 2 large eggs as the binding agent in the meatballs.
Spices – Garlic and onion powder.
Herbs – Dried dill, basil, and oregano. Dried herbs are concentrated flavor so if using fresh keep in mind that 1 tablespoon fresh equals 1 teaspoon dried.
Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
Breadcrumbs – Any kind you like, I prefer to use panko as it results in a way juicier meatball.
Arrabbiata sauce
Olive oil – We want something nice and neutral tasting to saute our onion in.
Onion – We want something like white or yellow onion, it has a mild flavor and cooks down well.
Garlic – Use as much or little as you like.
Seasoning – Salt and pepper to taste.
Tomatoes – 1 full can of crushed tomatoes.
Herbs – Dried oregano because it won’t burn as it cooks down in our sauce and fresh basil to be roughly chopped up. If fresh is all you have on hand just keep in mind that 1 teaspoon dried equals 1 tablespoon fresh.
Broth – Low sodium to control the salt content of our dish. This will pack some more flavor into our pasta.
Wine – A rich red wine like merlot is perfect for this red sauce.
Spice – Use some of whatever hot sauce happens to be your favorite as well as some red pepper flakes.
Seasoning – Salt and pepper.
Looking To Cook Without Booze?
This will give us lots of depth of flavor in our sauce but it isn’t crucial if you’d rather cook without! Just substitute it for an equal amount of low sodium broth.
How To Make Rigatoni con Polpette and Arrabbiata Sauce
Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Place parchment paper over a baking sheet or spray it with cooking spray.
Combine the meatballs: In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together well. Form the meatballs into small 1 inch balls. Mine were pretty small so I got about 60 meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until done.
Saute the sauteables: In a Dutch oven or a large pot heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is soft and starts to brown a bit, make sure you don’t burn it though. Stir in the dried oregano and red chili flakes. Add the wine and cook for another 5 minutes until the alcohol burns off a bit.
Combine the dish: Stir in the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, hot sauce, basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let this simmer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes you can start cooking the rigatoni according to package instructions. If you like your pasta al dente cook it for 2 minutes less than indicated on the package.
Finish the dish: Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes. Pour the sauce and meatballs over the rigatoni, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and basil over and serve.
Can I Fry My Meatballs?
I baked these meatballs, but you can fry them, in all my meatball recipes here you’ll see that sometimes I fry my meatballs and sometimes I bake them. Totally up to you. If you want to go healthier then obviously bake them. And don’t worry about them being dry or anything because we will cook these with the sauce later on so they’re going to be plenty moist.
Do I Have To Use Rigatoni?
Rigatoni was my pasta of choice here, but really use whatever you want, I just love rigatoni with these small meatballs because you can take a rigatoni and a meatball all in one bite. So feel free to throw in whatever shaped pasta you have lying around!
I encourage you to use a shaped pasta as it ill provide ridges, nooks, and crannies for our sauce and stick to.
What Can I Serve With These Meatballs?
While this dish can be served on its own, a nice crusty bread would be perfect. Simply slice it, drizzle it with some olive, some Parmesan cheese and lightly toast. Serve this with a great simple salad such as greens mixed with olive oil and some balsamic vinegar.
Storing Leftovers
MEATBALLS
They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days or up to 3 months in the freezer.
SAUCE
This spicy, fiery tomato sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days and in the freezer for up 3 months. Pull the sauce from the freezer the day before you’d like to use it to allow it to thaw fully before reheating on the stove.
Rigatoni con Polpette and Arrabbiata Sauce – no doubt one of the best pasta dinners you can have. Casual yet sophisticated, this pasta dish is sure to please the entire family.
Preheat oven to 375 F degrees. Place parchment paper over a baking sheet or spray it with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl mix all the ingredients for the meatballs together well. Form the meatballs into small 1 inch balls. Mine were pretty small so I got about 60 meatballs. Place meatballs on prepared baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes or until done.
In a Dutch oven or a large pot heat the olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes or until onion is soft and starts to brown a bit, make sure you don’t burn it though. Stir in the dried oregano and red chili flakes. Add the wine and cook for another 5 minutes until the alcohol burns off a bit.
Stir in the crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, hot sauce, basil leaves and season with salt and pepper. Turn the heat down to medium-low and let this simmer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes you can start cooking the rigatoni according to package instructions. If you like your pasta al dente cook it for 2 minutes less than indicated on the package.
Add the meatballs to the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.
Pour the sauce and meatballs over the rigatoni, sprinkle some Parmesan cheese and basil over and serve.
Recipe Notes
The meatballs can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 – 4 days or up to 3 months in the freezer.
This spicy, fiery tomato sauce will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days and in the freezer for up 3 months. Pull the sauce from the freezer the day before you’d like to use it to allow it to thaw fully before reheating on the stove.
Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
I’m Joanna (Jo for short) and this is my blog where I share with you my culinary adventures. Here you will find a variety of recipes using simple everyday ingredients and creating wonderful, delicious and comforting meals, including some decadent desserts.
No matter what household we have all grown up in, there is something that has brought us all together here and that is a love and appreciation of food. Food that is from cultures and cuisines across the world has always been a staple of the blog. I'm excited to bring you all a taste of each corner of the earth, every last bite seasoned to perfection and served up with love - from my kitchen to yours.
