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Spaghetti all’Assassina is unlike any other spaghetti recipe I make. Instead of gently boiling the pasta and adding sauce afterwards, the spaghetti cooks directly in a punchy tomato, garlic and chilli mixture until the sauce reduces right down and parts of the pasta become deeply caramelised and charred.
Nicky’s Notes
This pasta really surprised us. With such a short ingredient list, I wasn’t expecting quite so much flavour and texture, but those deeply caramelised tomatoey strands and crispy, charred edges make it seriously moreish.
You get tender, tomato-soaked spaghetti alongside chewy edges and little crispy edges, with plenty of chilli warmth running through it. It feels slightly wrong while you’re cooking it but that’s exactly where the magic happens.
Your instinct will probably tell you to keep stirring. Resist it.
The spaghetti needs a little uninterrupted contact with the hot pan so the tomato can concentrate, caramelise and catch around the pasta. You don’t want a whole pan of blackened spaghetti, of course, but those mahogany-red and almost-black patches are what give this dish its distinctive smoky flavour.
Table of Contents
📋 Ingredients for Spaghetti all’Assassina
***Full recipe with detailed quantities in the recipe card below***
The Spaghetti
This is probably the most important ingredient choice in the whole recipe.
Bronze-cut pasta is brilliant for most pasta dishes because its rough surface releases plenty of starch and helps sauce cling to it. For Spaghetti all’Assassina, that can work against us.
We want the spaghetti to move around the pan without the strands becoming excessively sticky. We also want plenty of direct contact between the pasta and the base of the pan so those dark, crisp patches can form. A smooth, standard dried spaghetti does that beautifully.
Look for ordinary dried spaghetti with a fairly smooth surface rather than a very rough, floury-looking artisanal pasta. And yes, for once the cheaper packet may actually give you a better result.
🧑🍳 Abbreviated Recipe
***Full recipe with detailed steps in the recipe card below***
Toast the dry spaghetti in garlic, chilli and olive oil, then gradually add hot tomato liquid as it cooks. Let the sauce reduce between additions so the pasta can catch and char against the pan. Cook until tender, deeply tomatoey and caramelised, then finish with olive oil, black pepper and Parmesan if you like.
Pro Tips
- Use standard dried spaghetti rather than bronze-cut pasta so the strands don’t become overly sticky as they cook in the pan.
- Let the sauce reduce until you hear the pasta sizzling before adding more liquid, that’s when the caramelisation starts.
- Don’t stir constantly; give the spaghetti time in contact with the hot pan so those dark, crispy edges can develop.
Rich, concentrated tomato coats every strand, with smoky caramelised edges, chewy spaghetti and little crispy patches throughout. Then the chilli comes through, warm, punchy and just fiery enough to explain the Assassina name.
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Pin ItWhat is Spaghetti all’Assassina?
- Spaghetti all’Assassina or assassin’s spaghetti is a spicy tomato pasta originally from Bari, Italy, where the spaghetti is toasted in garlic chilli oil then cooked directly in the sauce rather than boiled separately.
- As the tomato liquid reduces, the pasta is left to ‘catch’ against the hot pan, creating its signature dark, caramelised and slightly crispy edges. The result is rich, smoky, spicy pasta with loads of texture and a much more intense tomato flavour than a traditional spaghetti dish.
- Assassina translates roughly as “assassin” or “killer”, hence the English names assassin’s spaghetti and killer spaghetti.
- There are several stories behind the name, including its fiery chilli heat and stories connected with the dish’s early cooks, so I wouldn’t get too hung up on one definitive explanation. What’s certain is that it’s a wonderfully dramatic name for a fairly dramatic bowl of pasta.
Spaghetti all’Assassina Recipe
Ingredients
- 700g (24 oz) jar of Passata (I like Mutti or Cirio)
- 600 ml 3 cups water
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic peeled and minced
- 2 tsp chilli flakes
- 170 g (6 oz) dried spaghetti (use standard, inexpensive pasta, not bronze/artisanal pasta)
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
To Serve:
- extra virgin olive oil
- Black pepper
- Grated Parmesan
- Finely chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Add the passata and water to a saucepan. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and let it simmer gently.700g (24 oz) jar of Passata, 600 ml 3 cups water
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once hot, add the garlic and chilli flakes and allow to cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly, so the garlic doesn't burn.4 tbsp olive oil, 3 cloves garlic, 2 tsp chilli flakes
- Add the dry spaghetti to the pan and toss in the garlic and oil to coat. Cook for 1 minute, to lightly toast the spaghetti.170 g (6 oz) dried spaghetti
- Add 3 ladles of the passata-water over the pasta (it will sizzle a lot, so be careful). Add the salt and pepper. Use a set of tongs to move the pasta around and mix the sauce.3/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Increase the heat a little and cook for around 5-6 minutes. We want the pasta to absorb most of the liquid, the sauce to caramelize slightly and the pasta to char a little on the bottom.
- Use a spatula to turn the spaghetti over, then add three more ladles of liquid. Continue to cook, allowing the sauce to reduce and the pasta to catch on the pan so we get some nice charred bit.
- Repeat again with the pasta turning and passata water. We want to cook the pasta for about 18-20 minutes altogether (it takes longer to cook this way than in boiling water). The aim is for the sauce to have reduced right down and look very dark red.
- Once the pasta is cooked, you can add half a ladle of the passata water if you want to loosen the pasta a little.
- Turn off the heat and divide between two bowls. Drizzle over a little olive oil and sprinkle on black pepper. You can also add a little parmesan and fresh basil if you like.Black pepper, Grated Parmesan, Finely chopped fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil
Notes
Why use cheap (standard) pasta for all’assassina?
Standard spaghetti is less starchy, so won’t go as sticky or weld itself to the pan as much as artisanal pasta. Usually bronze-cut, artisanal pastas’ rough, starchy surface is better, as it helps sauces cling to the pasta, but for this dish, it would cause the pasta to glue-up, stick together and stick to the pan more than we want it to. It’s also more delicate, so trying to unstick-it causes it to break.Scaling the recipe
You can double the ingredients to serve four using one large frying pan, but make sure the spaghetti has plenty of room to sit against the base of the pan, and expect the cooking time to increase slightly as the extra sauce reduces.Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This spaghetti all’assassina recipe was first posted in Oct 2026.
🍽️ What to serve it with
Spaghetti all’Assassina is rich, spicy and full of intense tomato flavour, so I like to keep the sides simple.
A crisp green salad with a sharp vinaigrette is perfect for cutting through the richness.
You could also serve it with roasted vegetables or a simple tomato and mozzarella salad for a lighter side.
For more ideas, have a look at my easy garlic bread, butter lettuce salad or browse through my pasta recipes for more inspiration.
🍲 More Spicy Pasta Recipes
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