Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

garlic, olive oil, chili, and that's it

Prep
5 min
Cook
15 min
Total
20 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
Rating
4.6 / 5 (287 ratings)

Made at midnight or when there's nothing in the fridge. The technique matters more than the recipe. Garlic in hot oil burns in seconds. Put it in cold oil and let it warm up together. The difference between golden and burnt is about 30 seconds.

Ingredients

For 4 servings.

  • 400 g spaghetti
  • 6 cloves garlic (large cloves, thinly sliced)
  • 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pc dried red chili (or a fresh one, or a pinch of flakes)
  • 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • to taste coarse salt

Method

  1. 1. Get the water on

    Bring a large pot to the boil. Salt it heavily. The water should taste properly salty, not just vaguely salted.

  2. 2. Slice the garlic

    Peel and slice the garlic as thin as you can without it falling apart. Thin slices become translucent and slightly chewy in the oil. Thick slices don't cook through.

  3. 3. Infuse the oil

    Put the garlic and chili in a wide pan with all the oil, over low-medium heat. Watch it. The garlic should slowly turn golden and fragrant, about 8-10 minutes. Pull the pan off when it's pale gold, not brown. Residual heat will keep cooking it.

    If the garlic turns dark brown, it's bitter and you'll taste it in every bite. Start again with fresh garlic.

  4. 4. Cook the pasta

    Cook the spaghetti until a minute or two shy of the packet time. Very al dente. Before draining, scoop out at least 200ml of pasta water.

  5. 5. Bring it together

    Drain the pasta and tip it into the pan with the oil. Toss well off the heat, adding splashes of pasta water until you get a light, shiny coating. Add the parsley, toss again, eat immediately.

    The pasta water is the sauce here. Don't skip it.

Nutrition per serving

  • 530 kcal
  • Protein: 14g
  • Carbs: 73g
  • Fat: 21g

A bit of history

Aglio e olio is Roman in spirit but found across the south of Italy wherever olive oil, garlic and dried pasta were the staples. It's a poor dish in the sense that it requires almost nothing to make, but not a simple dish in the sense that it's easy to get right.

The version eaten late at night after a long shift or a night out ("pasta di mezzanotte") is a modern institution, particularly in Rome. Part of the appeal is that the ingredients are almost always in the kitchen.