‘I Tried the Carbone Spicy Rigatoni Dupe Recipe for Only $5 a Plate vs. $32—and I'm Already Craving More’
If you could get intoxicated from a pasta dish, this would be the one.
Think of everything that comes to mind when you hear the words “old-school Italian”: spaghetti, family, romance, and, of course, Sunday sauce. Not on your list is probably a $32 pasta dish that has been turning heads on the internet. Enter Carbone's Spicy Rigatoni Vodka recipe, the pricey pasta dish from the famed celebrity-filled hotspot.
Carbone is dripping with opulence—low lighting, larger-than-life floral arrangements, and jewel-toned velvet banquette seating—total old-school glam. And if you’re lucky enough to score a reservation, you’ll probably follow the It crowd (and celebs like Rihanna and Bella Hadid) and order their most popular dish, the spicy rigatoni: a silky circus of buttery onions, creamy tomatoes, and al dente rigatoni with a hint of heat.
At $32, it’s maybe one of the most expensive plates of pasta you’ll ever have. Reviews say it’s worth it—when diners make it into the exclusive Sopranos-esque space for dinner, they say the rigatoni is on almost every table there. But even if you manage to score a reservation in NYC or at one of their outposts in Dallas, Miami, Las Vegas or Hong Kong, you may not want to shell out over $30 for a plate of pasta, so let’s talk about how to make their signature dish at home for a fraction of the cost—thanks to this copycat recipe.
Here at Parade.com, we're all about sharing products we love with our audience. When you make a purchase on an item seen on this page, we may earn a commission, however, all picks are independently chosen unless otherwise mentioned.
Related: Melissa Gorga Shows Fans How to Make Her Family’s Favorite Pasta Recipe
What is the Carbone Spicy Rigatoni?
TikToker Mary Coldsnow (@mccsnow_) developed her copycat recipe back in 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown. She says she was trying to recreate dishes from the restaurants she missed going to since everything was closed.
“I’ve made it a handful of times and every time it’s a little bit different,” she says. “Since posting it, I have had so many great tips flooding in through the comments. I live with a southern Italian who is a natural chef and of course, he had a lot to say about the entire thing, especially the cream content!”
The dish consists of rigatoni, onions, garlic, butter, cream, whole peeled tomatoes and the star ingredient, Calabrian chili paste (which Mary says you cannot skip!). The sauce ingredients are blended together and poured over the al dente pasta, which is served with (of course) a sprinkle of nutty Parmesan cheese.
Related: Stanley Tucci Made Mouthwatering Pasta for Breakfast & Now We're Hungry
View the original article to see embedded media.
How do you make the Copycat Carbone Spicy Rigatoni?
Mary’s recipe is quite simple and doesn’t require too many complex ingredients. The toughest ingredient to find was the Calabrian chili paste, but I found a jar at World Market. Mary says Amazon and Williams-Sonoma also carry it. Everything else can be found easily at your local supermarket.
Delizie Di Calabria Calabrian Chili Peppers Crushed in Oil 9.87oz (280g)
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Ingredients:
1 ½ medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced
5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
28 oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, drained and finely chopped or blended
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 Tablespoons Calabrian chili paste
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound rigatoni, cooked al dente
Grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Heat a medium saucepan over low heat. Add the butter, half a cup of water and onions to the pan. Cover and continue to simmer the onions over low heat, stirring occasionally until they are tender (about 1 ½ hours).
Season with salt then set aside. In a large sauce pot over medium heat, add the olive oil and heat through. Add the garlic and saute briefly. Then add the tomato paste, tomatoes and sugar, stirring to combine. Let simmer for 15 minutes then season to taste with salt.
Add the onion mixture to the pot and stir to combine. Whisk in the cream, chili paste and chili flakes.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the salt and bring it back to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente—about eight minutes.
Reserve one cup of the pasta water then drain and return the pasta to the pot. Ladle the sauce over the top and toss to combine cooking for an additional minute.
If the sauce is too thick, add 2 tablespoons of pasta water at a time to thin the sauce. Serve the spicy rigatoni hot in warm bowls. Add Parmesan cheese to taste.
Courtesy of Jessica Wrubel
Tips from Mary:
Feel free to double the garlic or the chili flakes. You can also add an extra 2 tablespoons of butter to the onions to make it even creamier.
After learning to blend the sauce before adding the heavy cream (through a comment I received on the app), it made my version taste and look a lot more like Carbone’s version. Definitely creamier! I will always blend it from now on.
Do not overcook or undercook the onions!!! This changes the taste completely!! It may take a while but trust me, it’s key and it makes your entire place smell like HEAVEN for hours. We call the onions sautéing in butter the “What is cooking?! It smells SO good” starter pack.
What does the Carbone Spicy Rigatoni taste like?—Here's my review
Truthfully, this was one of the most delicious kinds of pasta I’ve ever made (and I’m half Italian). The onions, since they’re cooked down in butter, melt seamlessly into the rich tomato sauce, coating every forkful of rigatoni in a delicate jacket of feathered onions. As far as pasta shapes, rigatoni is the way to go, with the ridges catching every glistening morsel of silky sauce. You’ll refrain from licking your bowl.
Adding a salty punch of Parmesan over the top is a must, as is adding enough salt. Pro tip: taste as you go to make sure the finished dish is seasoned to your liking. I did not blend my sauce as it was listed as optional, but because the onions are sliced so thin, you really don’t even notice they’re there.
The pasta left me almost intoxicated; it was heavy but not sick-to-my-stomach heavy, but rather left me content and craving more, with a spicy reminder swirling around my lips and tongue from the Calabrian chilies. My house smelled of sweet onions and tomatoes the next day which was a pleasant reminder of all the leftovers I had going on in the fridge (which were just as delicious the next day).
So turn down the lights, get your Italian classics playlist going on Spotify, and enjoy a dinner that’s sure to impress guests. Mary says that she has a few other copycat dishes up her sleeve too that haven't been perfected quite yet (but we’ll be watching her TikTok!).
“As my Italian best friend says: ‘Cooking is one of the purest acts and forms of love.’ I’m no pro, but if it made one person smile, I’m happy!”
Next up: This Quick Lemon Pasta Will Be Added to Your Weekly Dinner Rotation for a Long Time—Guaranteed
