Or you can bake meatballs separately with melty mozzarella!
My kids absolutely adore meatballs. So when I suggested spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, it was received with an overly enthusiastic YAY! However, when I reached for spaghetti in my cupboard, I came back with a pack of bucatini instead. No matter, my kids actually prefer bucatini. According to them it’s “fun and slurpy”. And the best sauce, that comes with this type of pasta, is Amatriciana. Bucatini all’Amatriciana it is. Plus meatballs of course!
What is Bucatini?
Although very similar to spaghetti, bucatini is thicker and hollow inside. So they behave slightly differently when you try to suck them in like you would with spaghetti. They wriggle and slurp. Bucatini is slightly divisive as far as pasta shapes go. There are diehard fans, who adore the slurpy pasta. And those, who steer clear of it. As predicted, our family is also divided! In which camp are you? Whether you love bucatini or not, this recipe is a keeper. You can easily substitute it with spaghetti if bucatini is difficult to find or it’s simply not your favourite pasta shape!
Amatriciana Sauce
Bucatini pasta is very popular in the Rome region of Italy, and the most famous sauce that goes with this spaghetti-like pasta is Amatriciana! Thick, tomato based sauce, that starts off with fried guanciale or pancetta for an incredible rich flavour. A thickly cut, good quality bacon could be used in place of guanciale or pancetta. The main distinct feature of the sauce is its slightly spicy taste, which comes from red chillies. Not enough to burn your tongue, just a touch to make it exciting. You can use fresh chilli or dried chilli flakes like I did in my recipe.
Meatball Recipe
This dinner is so simple. You could easily cook it on a busy weeknight. I am not sure why I often think that meatballs take too long to make because they don’t. Mixing and rolling them took a whole 10 minutes! To save time I would recommend opting out for larger meatballs, approximately the size of a medium plum. However, to make this meal even faster and easier, you can use pre-made, store bought meatballs. I recently started cooking meatballs in my air fryer. They take 8 minutes to cook and come our in perfect round shape without having to stir or even lift a finger! The sauce is an Italian classic and could be used for a number of different pasta recipes. The whole combo produces an incredibly satisfying dinner for both kids and adults.
Serving Suggestions
All you need to compliment bucatini all’Amatriciana and meatballs is a tasty and simple vegetable side dish like my Lemon Garlic Green Beans with Parmesan Cheese or Roasted Parmesan Broccoli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes. However, if you are looking to make this into a more elaborate Italian dinner, add my Healthy Eggplant Parmesan for a luxurious side dish or take a look in our Antipasti recipe collection for inspiration. More Classic Italian Pasta Sauce Recipes:
Bolognese Sauce Vodka Sauce Puttanesca Sauce Creamy Pasta Sauce
This recipe was originally published in 08/2015. Updated and republished in 04/2021.
