Red Wine Spaghetti

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: red wine pasta, red wine spaghetti

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 40

Total Time: 45

Servings:

Calories: 661kcal

In this indulgent, but-oh-so simple recipe, the pasta noodles finish cooking in a red wine sauce with butter, garlic, and just a hint of heat from crushed red pepper flakes.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

1 pound spaghetti noodles DeCecco or other high quality brand
1 750 ml bottle dry red wine such as Sangiovese or Chianti
8 tablespoon unsalted butter
6 garlic cloves
1.5 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 oz grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
kosher salt

Instructions

Finely chop the garlic cloves. Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoon olive oil, the chopped garlic, 1 tablespoon of butter, and the crushed red pepper flakes. Cook until the garlic is fragrant and becomes translucent, but not browned.
Add the wine to the pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Allow to simmer uncovered until the wine has reduced by two-thirds, about 25 minutes. Season the red wine pasta sauce with salt, cover and keep warm.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, salt it generously, and add the spaghetti noodles. Cook until very al dente, 3 – 4 minutes less than the package instructions.
Just before the pasta is done, bring the sauce back to a simmer over medium heat.
When the pasta is about 3 minutes away from being perfectly al dente, drain it and add it to the red wine sauce along with the remaining butter. Keep tossing it in the sauce frequently to coat the noodles and let them absorb all of the wine, about 2 – 3 minutes, then remove from heat. You don’t want the noodles to go past al dente and become mushy. The noodles will be a deep burgundy color and glossy with all that butter!
Serve topped with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano cheese and more red pepper flakes if desired.

Notes

It’s very important to get good quality pasta. Look for noodles that are good and yellow. That’s the good, good semolina flour in there. That’s what makes the pasta sturdy enough to hold up to sauces and cooking, and keep from turning into a mushy, texture-less mess. Don’t use that 99 cent stuff that you can practically see through. I like DeCecco pastas. They are very high quality, affordable, and found in most grocery stores.
Never cook with a wine that you wouldn't drink. But don't use an expensive wine in this sauce, either. You can find a lot of affordable Italian dry red wines. I used Sangiovese for this recipe and it cost about $7 for the bottle.
I used my Lodge enameled cast iron Dutch oven to cook down the sauce. All of that red wine just wipes cleanly off of the enamel when you're done.
I like to freshly grate my parmigiano cheese on the small side a box grater for this type of dish. Grating the cheese this way adds a nice texture and you get that extra bit of crunch from the salt crystals in the cheese. Yum.

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I am a part of the Lodge Cast Iron Blogging Partners Program. The Dutch oven I used was provided to me free of charge by Lodge Cast Iron. All opinions are my own.

Nutrition