The 3-Ingredient Italian Sauce That Makes This Classic Pasta Dish A Staple

Pasta preparations run on a wonderfully broad spectrum. On the elaborate end, you have the tomato Sunday sauce or gravy that might simmer on the stove all day. On the simpler side, you have your easy aglio e olio, your quick cacio e pepe, and your classic pasta alla gricia. Like those other two satisfying weeknight slayers, pasta alla gricia uses no more ingredients than you can count on one hand to create a sauce that hits above its difficulty class, and a dish worthy of household staple status.

Depending on your regular shopping list, you might still have to plan ahead to make this otherwise unfussy dinner. You probably already have the requisite dried pasta base alongside the sauce's compulsory black pepper in your pantry (some instructions call for spaghetti, others specify rigatoni; it's a pretty forgiving recipe). The crucial pecorino Romano cheese is also fairly common across refrigerators. 

But pasta alla gricia sauce's third critical component, its guanciale, is not quite an everyday protein. You should be able to buy the cured pork jowl at your local specialty store or even online if it doesn't happen to be in stock at your local supermarket. Some folks have even been known to swap it with pancetta. The pasta water that ties it all together can come straight from the tap. And it all finishes faster (and cheaper) than you can click through all of your delivery platform options.

It is highly likely that you already know how to execute each step of pasta alla gricia, even if you haven't performed them in precisely this order before. You can probably boil your preferred pasta shape on muscle memory alone. For pasta alla gricia, you just need to be extra careful to save about a cup of that starchy, salty pasta water before you drain the noodles. If you've ever cooked bacon on the stovetop, you'll also be comfortable frying the diced guanciale until its silken fat has rendered to create golden, crispy bits.

That's the bulk of your cooking, and that reserved water, the pasta, and grated cheese all ultimately join the guanciale pan to coalesce for a few more minutes. The beauty of pasta alla gricia is largely its low ingredient count, but a bit of fresh basil is also an excellent addition. The red pepper flakes that you likely already have on your spice rack can add some dynamic heat as well. But pasta alla gricia is also, of course, still just as lovely without these little crowning touches.