Fra Diavolo Sauce is an easy and spicy marinara sauce made with flavor-forward ingredients, like tomatoes, garlic, white wine, and red pepper flakes. Toss it with spaghetti and your favorite seafood and enjoy!
Table of Contents
This restaurant-worthy Diavolo Sauce takes just 20 minutes to make using a short list of no-nonsense ingredients. As with most homemade pasta sauces, this recipe requires slightly more effort than storebought pasta sauce, but rest assured, it’s worth it!
While Diavolo is a spicy tomato sauce, it isn’t overwhelming or heavy like many other pasta sauces. A splash of white wine keeps it light while the red pepper flakes give it just the right amount of heat.
Shrimp fra Diavolo is an easy shrimp pasta and one of the more common Diavolo-based dishes. However, this homemade spicy tomato sauce has plenty of uses, such as:
- Braising white fish, shrimp, lobster, and other fresh seafood.
- Turning up the heat up on pasta night.
- Paired with all kinds of vegetables and proteins.
Arrabbiata vs. Diavolo
Both are tomato sauces made with Italian herbs and red pepper flakes. Fra Diavolo sauce recipes typically include white wine, and arrabbiata recipes do not. However, the most distinguishable difference between these two spicy red sauces is what they’re typically used for:
- Arrabbiata is used mainly in simple pasta dishes with just sauce and pasta noodles.
- Diavolo is better suited in stew-like seafood dishes.
Ingredient notes
- Olive oil – With so few ingredients, the quality of the olive oil counts here! Try to use a rich, full-bodied oil.
- Garlic cloves
- Red pepper flakes – A little goes a long way in this sauce. If you don’t love spice, start with ½ teaspoon, then work up to more to find the perfect level of heat.
- Sugar – The sugar helps to cut any bitter, acidic flavors from the tomatoes, resulting in a well-rounded sauce.
- Petite diced tomatoes – Or use a can of fire-roasted tomatoes for extra heat.
- Dry white wine – Vermouth works well, too. Adding either intensifies and improves the flavor of every ingredient.
- Fresh parsley
- Salt
How to make homemade Diavolo sauce
Step 1
Saute the garlic
- Start the sauce by sautéeing half of the minced garlic in a large oiled skillet over medium-low heat.
- Cook, stirring frequently, until golden.
Step 2
Add the tomatoes
- Add the red pepper flakes, salt, sugar, tomatoes, and wine.
- Let the sauce simmer until it thickens.
Step 3
Finish and serve
- To finish, add the remaining garlic and a handful of chopped parsley. Turn off the heat.
- Now add your cooked spaghetti to the skillet and toss to coat the noodles. Serve hot and enjoy!
Tips and tricks
- If you’re making pasta for your Diavolo sauce, don’t rinse it after draining. The starch on the surface of the noodles helps thicken the sauce.
- You can stir 2 or 3 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water in with the pasta and sauce if the sauce is too thick.
- For even more flavor, try substituting the freshly minced garlic added at the end with roasted garlic.
FAQs
If you follow the recipe as instructed, your Diavolo sauce will have a kick, but it won’t be overwhelming. If you’re sensitive to spicy foods, use less than 1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Or, if you love spice, add more!
This spicy Diavolo sauce recipe makes just the right amount for a 1-pound box of dry spaghetti (4 cups cooked).
Yes! Store the extra Diavolo sauce in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the fridge before reheating it in a saucepan over medium heat.
Serving suggestions
The best way to serve this spicy sauce is to toss it with long pasta noodles and your favorite kind of seafood. Stir in air fryer or boiled shrimp, cod, crab, mussels, seared scallops, clams, or lobster.
Is pasta not your thing? That’s ok, you can still enjoy this sauce stirred into cooked rice, polenta, or mashed potatoes.
Make this pasta dish a meal with these 40 Easy Sides for Pasta!
Erin’s wine pairings
You’ll find that spicy pasta dishes with seafood pair best with wines that are fruity and aromatic, like:
- Dry Rosé: It’s fruity but more crisp than sweet, so it won’t compete with the bold flavors.
- Sauvignon Blanc: The acidity in this fruity white wine complements the sweet, tangy tomatoes.
If you need more options, use my guide on the best wines to pair with pasta.
More pasta sauces made from scratch
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Full Recipe
Fra Diavolo Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (plus more, to taste)
- 6 cloves garlic (minced, divided(about 3 TBSP))
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 28-ounce can petite diced tomatoes (drained)
- 1 cup dry white wine (or vermouth)
- ¼ cup fresh parsley (minced)
- Salt (to taste)
For Serving:
- 1 pound spaghetti (cooked, pasta cooking liquid reserved)
Instructions
- Heat 3 Tablespoons olive oilin a large skillet over medium-low heat.
- Once hot, add half of the minced 6 cloves garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is light golden, about 7-10 minutes.
- Add 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 28-ounce can petite diced tomatoes and 1 cup dry white wine. Increase the heat to medium-high and simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes.
- Stir in the remaining garlic and ¼ cup fresh parsley.
- If desired, add 1 pound spaghetti and toss to combine, adding pasta cooking liquid if needed to loosen the sauce.
Notes
-
If you’re making pasta for your Diavolo sauce, don’t rinse it after draining. The starch on the surface of the noodles helps thicken the sauce.
-
You can stir 2 or 3 tablespoons of the reserved pasta water in with the pasta and sauce if the sauce is too thick.
-
For even more flavor, try substituting the freshly minced garlic added at the end with roasted garlic.
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