Rigatoni Alla Zozzona Recipe (2024)

In the history of Italy no cook has ever removed guanciale fat from a pan. That’s the sauce!

Wow!! Delicious!!! We tried "zozzona" a while ago, and enjoyed. But the addition of red wine to deglaze the sauce adds a *lot* of flavor. We aren't novice cooks. Nonetheless, we love the egg/water emulsion. We enjoy cooking together and our chatting every now and then is a distraction. This technique prevents our inadvertently scrambling the eggs. If "the proof of the pudding (and the zozzona) is in the eating, then these two tweaks on a traditional recipe make for even greater eating.

Please stop starting pasta recipes with "cook the pasta" followed with " in the meanwhile...". The recipe gives 15 minutes of actual cooking, and at that point the Rigatoni are way past the stage off "al dente". Moreover, having to work fast with an eye to the clock is stressful, and whenever tomatoes are concerned, cooking them a bit longer ist way better than stopping too soon.

We followed the recipe as is but when making it again would add more tomatoes. The sauce is very rich and would benefit, we think, from more acid from more tomatoes. I would also simply add canned diced tomatoes; the cherry tomatoes left their skins behind.

I made mine with a side of statins. Delicious!

It took 20 minutes, not five to render and crisp the guanciale. I needed 2 cups of red wine for enough sauce. The recipe is great. Maybe one anchovy would add to the umami.

I made this as written and it is DELICIOUS! 10/10!!

" Alla zozzona" means " the dirty way"

This was absolutely fabulous. My Italian mother in law said “This tastes like something I would eat at home in Italy” which truly is the ultimate compliment. I used 3 cans of organic diced tomatoes (instead of fresh cherry tomatoes) after reading comments that said it needed more tomato sauce, and it came out perfect. I can’t wait to make this again. I would recommend cooking the pasta before al dente and then finish cooking in the sauce. If you over cook they will split and not look as nice.

This was a hit. I used pancetta and a mix of Pecorino and Parmesan. I also added about half a jar of Raos marinara that I had sitting in the fridge, since the grape tomatoes I added didn't seem to add enough tomato punch to the sauce. Definitely going into the rotation.

Looks humble, tastes exceptionally high end. Absolutely stellar texture and flavor. The spicy Italian sausage is best. Another cook recommended doubling the wine and I can’t imagine it otherwise.Be warned, the sauce will look watery up til you add the egg emulsion. Only after is the dish transformed to its wonderfully complex final form.

I made this recipe just as written and it was really awesome. I used sweet Italian sausage, othewise I stuck to the recipe. It wasn't greasy or oily, I think it's important to pour off most of the fat from the guanciale.

Can’t wait to try what looks like an upgrade for my not-Italian Granny’s rigatoni, a staple in her house and thus ours - couldn’t leave a visit to her home without a Corning ware casserole dish to go. The sauce was merely one onion, a stick of oleo (!), a can of tomato paste, water, and pound of ground beef. Still. I sometimes crave it. Bet this will become my new nostalgia trip.

The kosher salt is used for boiling the pasta. Always cook pasta with salted water.

Yes—the eggs cook almost instantly when combined with the hot pasta and sauce.

I made this per the recipe (pancetta). It was really good. My daughter AKA food snob called it “restaurant quality” I think that means good. Made my family happy. This one is a keeper. Thanks!

Followed recipe, better the second time. Delicious

I cheated and more or less followed the recipe but rather than use tomato paste and cherry tomatoes I used a really good prepared tomato sauce. Just let it simmer with the sausage and then added the guanciale, egg yolk etc after stirring in the pasta. Could not have been better.

Used bacon instead of guanciale, used ground Italian sausage, used the cherry tomatoes and used the whole egg and it was still delicious. I’ll be making this again.

Used leftover prime rib instead and no guanciale.. was delish.

I bookmarked this recipe a while ago but only just made it last night. Delicious! I'm Italian and pasta is on a pretty constant rotation in our kitchen...made the sauce per instructions and wouldn't change a thing. My daughter, home from college for for holidays, essentially just ate it straight from the pan. As my Nono would say "Mangia, Mangia!"

This was delicious. Versatile for playing around. Used bacon instead of guanciale bcause thats what i had. I dialed back on the oil/fat a lil bit. Added leek with onion cuz I had it to use up. Used abt 2/3 cup pasta water; could have gone a full cup, as sauce thickened up pretty fast. Could add spinach if you like too. Served with simple lemon-parm salad.

Pancetta is wasted in this recipe, it’s already so rich, you can’t taste it. I’d leave it out next time.

Wow. Excellent. I used a potato masher to mash up the cherry tomatoes in the pot. They disintegrated and mixed in well with the sausage. Loved it!

Yum! Rich, hearty, silky, comforting on a cold night. Total time took closer to 50 minutes, but won’t keep me from making it again. Topped with freshly grated Parmesan and chiffonade basil.

Excellent. The egg emulsion really makes this sauce. I cooked as written, except that I substituted 2 1/2 cups fresh tomato sauce that I made previously for the tomatoes.

Absolutely delicious. The only change I made was to add an anchovy along with the onion. Cannot believe it doesn’t have 5 stars.

I made this has written and it was very good, though I found the sauce a bit rich. Also, The pasta sauce thickened as it sat. I will follow others suggestions to add a some canned chopped tomatoes the next time which should take care of these small issues. The big plus, super easy to make.

Made with Mutti Cherry Tomatoes and tomato paste and served with polenta rather than pasta. Very good (I drained the guanciale fat and I am an Italian citizen but with an Irish wife!)

This is a great recipe and a creative homage to the tastes of Rome. I've made a few changes over time:- Use two full eggs instead of four yolks; the difference is negligible. - Skip the sausage, which otherwise overwhelms the other (lovely) flavors. (This also probably prolongs one's life by a few minutes.)- Instead of rigatoni, I usually use shorter mezzi rigatoni or other fun, shorter shapes for a better pasta-to-sauce ratio.