The 3-Ingredient Pasta Recipe I Can’t Stop Making

I grew up frequenting Olive Garden for its breadsticks, salad, and, most of all, pasta dishes. And, I’ll be honest, the Five Cheese Ziti and Fettuccine Alfredo still hold up. However, becoming an adult is realizing that you don’t actually have to go to an Italian restaurant to have delicious pasta. In fact, you don’t even have to make anything from scratch to have a scrumptious pasta dish. That’s what we have jarred pasta sauce for.

Personally, I always have at least one jar of pasta sauce and a box of noodles in my pantry at all times for emergency meals or whenever that pasta craving strikes—which happens pretty often. We know that Rao’s Homemade’s jarred pasta sauce is good enough to pass off as, well, homemade, which is why it’s my go-to for easy dinners.

Even though I love the traditional Marinara and Roasted Garlic sauces, the one I buy most frequently is Rao’s Homemade Arrabbiata sauce. It’s similar to the classic marinara but with a bit of a kick, thanks to crushed red peppers. 

Typically, I’ll add the jarred arrabbiata to any pasta recipe in place of whatever red sauce it calls for. However, Rao’s Homemade recently shared a three-ingredient recipe using the spicy sauce that is going to join my weekly rotation.

How to Make Rao's Homemade Spicy Rigatoni with Arrabbiata and Burrata

For the first time ever, Rao’s Homemade will have a float in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade to promote its sauces and meals during the holiday season. The Pasta Knight float features a knight in shining armor come to banish boring dinners by offering simple recipes that use store-bought shortcuts. 

One of those recipes—and the one that I can’t stop dreaming about—is a three-ingredient arrabbiata pasta with burrata. It features rigatoni pasta, spicy marinara sauce, and a big ball of burrata, and comes together in 10 minutes but tastes like something you’d order at a fancy Italian restaurant. 

The burrata splits into a creamy mixture of fresh mozzarella, cheese curds, and cream to give the pasta sauce a luscious texture and cut the arrabbiata's heat just a bit. However, the recipe has the option to include extra crushed red pepper flakes if you want more of a zip. 

Rao’s Homemade’s recipe is very simple. “All you need is Rao’s Homemade Rigatoni, Rao’s Homemade Arrabbiata Sauce, burrata, and some red pepper flakes, if you want an extra kick,” it reads. 

The Spicy Rigatoni with Arrabbiata and Burrata is the perfect easy weeknight meal to make when you don’t know what to cook. However, it also makes for a great dish to serve at dinner parties and holiday gatherings because the sauce tastes high-quality and the burrata adds a touch of fanciness without spending hours in the kitchen—or breaking the bank. No one even needs to know the sauce came from a jar. Mission accomplished, Pasta Knight.