Rao’s Homemade – Arrabbiata Spicy Marinara
Founded in 1896 and still operating out of their original Harlem location (as well as additional outposts in Los Angeles and Miami since) Rao’s is one of the most recognizable names in Italian-American cuisine. Capitalizing on that name they’ve launched an extensive line of prepared foods that can be purchased at your local grocery store, including this Arrabbiata sauce.
Arrabbiata, meaning “angry” in Italian, is a sauce that originally came out of Rome during the city’s mid-century exploration into spicier flavors. Italian food isn’t known for being particularly spicy in general, and in this case the heat typically comes from crushed red chili peppers. The sauce also usually contains garlic, olive oil, and of course tomatoes.
Rao’s Arrabbiata sauce doesn’t stray too far from the original, though the inclusion of oregano doesn’t seem to be a typical ingredient, though it is prevalent in Italian American cuisine. The bottle indicates that this sauce is ‘slow simmered’ which does come through in the flavor, being very deep and rich in that traditional old-fashioned Italian American tradition, which isn’t to my personal taste as I prefer a fresher tasting sauce, but some will undoubtedly love it.
The combination of that slow-simmered flavor with the oregano tends to dominate the flavor profile of this for me, taking away from the spicy zippy flavor that I associate with an Arrabbiata. The garlic and red pepper notes are also considerably downplayed in this sauce. If I hadn’t read that this was supposed to be a spicy sauce on the bottle I’d have never guessed, there’s no sense of pepper heat or flavor in this sauce.
I will give Rao’s credit for making this an all natural sauce with no artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, or thickeners. Many of the competing pasta sauces on the grocery shelves use dried products and extracts of various vegetables for flavor instead of the real thing, and use lesser-quality oils rather than Olive Oil.
If you like a rich tasting old-fashioned Italian American tomato sauce with a nice oregano kick this is something you’d likely enjoy very much. If you’re looking for something fresh and spicy this will not fill that craving.
Ingredients: Italian Whole Peeled Tomatoes, Olive Oil, Onions, Salt, Garlic, Basil, Red Crushed Pepper, Black Pepper, Oregano
Heat Level 0/10. No discernable heat at all.
