7 Popular Red Sauces for Pasta in Italy

Pasta is one of the main food staples in Italy and it usually is cooked with different types of sauces and some of the most cooked are the red sauces which have a tomato base, and generally the type of pasta (penne, spaghetti, fusilli, pappardelle, fettuccine etc.) is commonly matched with the sauce according to different factors such as consistency, easiness of eating and flavor of course. Each region has typical sauces and foods but most likely you can find them all over Italy.

Tomato sauce: This sauce is one of the most common in the entire peninsula, which consists of skinned tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and fresh basil.

Ragu' alla Bolognese: This sauce is typically eaten during the winter months because of its consistency and typical of Bologna. The ragu' alla Bolognese is a tomato sauce soffritto (partially fried in olive oil or similar to being sautéed) with chopped onions, celery, carrots and seasonings with the chunks of ground meat added to it and it also had diced bacon bits, red wine and meat broth.

All'arrabiata: This sauce which means "mad" is with tomato sauce, garlic, olive oil and one whole red chili pepper cut in pieces to make it spicy.

Amatriciana: This sauce is typical from the Latium region and precisely from the city of Amatrice, and it is made with tomato sauce, diced guanciale (which is a part of the pig's cheek, but diced bacon can be used also), pecorino cheese, white wine and red chili pepper.

Puttanesca: The name of the sauce literally stands for "prostitute style" and an urban legend says that this dish was served in a brothel in the middle of the 20th century. This sauce has a variety of ingredients always with a tomato sauce base which are chopped plus a chopped onion, garlic, chopped anchovies, red chili pepper and parsley, capers, black olives cut in four parts and ground black pepper.

Vodka: This sauce is a simple one and it is made with tomato sauce, half a glass of vodka and heavy cooking cream.

Tomato and ricotta sauce: Another favorite is a variation of the original tomato sauce, and in this sauce you have tomatoes, olive oil, garlic and ricotta cheese and with added fresh basil at the end.