Looking for a delicious spicy beef pasta? Let’s make this Calabrian Chili Pasta with beef and steamed broccoli. It’s the perfect comforting and wholesome dinner that’s perfect for your family or leftovers.
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Why I Love This
- Healthy Pasta: Adding the broccoli adds a fresh and healthy component to the calabrian chili pasta without it feeling too heavy!
- Kick of Spice: The calabrian chilis add just the right amount of kick to this dish, giving it that extra depth of flavor for perfect spicy beef pasta.
- Great for Leftovers: It tastes just as good (if not better!) the next day, making it a meal that keeps on giving. The flavors will slowly meld together even more when you store them for another day.
Ingredients for Calabrian Chili Pasta
- Ground beef: I like to use ground beef here, it's easy and quick to cook and adds a great flavor to the dish. You could also opt for ground chicken, turkey or pork if you wanted a leaner protein option.
- Broccoli: The broccoli adds a nice healthy and fresh take to this pasta dish. You could also opt for any veggies you have on hand like bell peppers, kale, green beans or peas. Pro-tip, to save time, use frozen broccoli and cook directly in the pan.
- Spaghetti pasta: I love how the spaghetti soaks up the sauce but you could use fettuccine, penne or bowtie pasta here as well.
- Olive oil: I primarily use olive oil when cooking, I also love using other healthy fats like coconut oil, avocado oil, beef tallow or ghee.
- Lemon zest: Lemon zest is more intense than lemon juice and adds the perfect depth of flavor. If you don't have a lemon on hand, just add another teaspoon of lemon juice instead of the lemon zest.
- Lemon juice: For that light and bright touch to your dish!
- White cooking wine: Dry white wines such as pinot grigio, sauvignon blanc or unoaked chardonnays are best for cooking. I personally grab a “white cooking wine,” you can usually find this on the aisle with vinegars and cooking oils. If you do not want to use wine, you could easily sub any broth, water or any vinegar like white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar.
- Calabrian chilis: This will add that extra kick to your dish, I love a mild to medium spice, add more chili paste increase the heat profile to your desired liking. I love to use the "Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce Fermented Crushed Calabrian Chili Peppers" from Trader Joe's for this. Any calabrian chili paste or adding some red pepper flakes will work for this spicy beef pasta.
- Parmesan cheese: Any hard cheese will work such as parmesan, romano or pecorino cheese.
- Pasta water: Be sure to reserve some pasta water after boiling the pasta to help add flavor and depth to your sauce at the end. If you forget to reserve pasta water just use any broth on hand or water as a substitute.
- Flaky or coarse sea salt: Flaky sea salt: To bring out the flavors in your pasta and liven up your dish.
- Ground pepper: I like to use a pepper grinder for my savory dishes, it tastes so fresh!
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions for Calabrian Chili Pasta
Step 1: Add olive oil to the skillet and cook ground beef with 1 ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt and ground pepper for about 8 minutes until almost fully cooked.
Step 2: Once the hot water is boiling in the pot, add the pasta and olive oil, cook until al dente (tender, but firm and chewy), about 11-13 minutes.
Step 3: While the pasta and beef are cooking, chop your broccoli into florets.
Step 4: Combine the sauce ingredients, top with parmesan cheese and broccoli and enjoy!
See recipe card below for full instructions.
Equipment
Large skillet: I like to use a 15 inch cast iron or stainless steel skillet.
Large pot: For boiling the pasta water, I am using my dutch oven for this.
Storage for Calabrian Chili Pasta
I like to keep my Calabrian Chili Pasta in an airtight container for 2-3 days to store leftovers. If storing plain pasta, just toss in some olive oil and it will prevent it from sticking. I also love freezing pasta dishes or plain pasta with olive oil for quick meals or a quick pasta dish for my toddler. If re-heating this spicy beef pasta, you can reheat in both the microwave or over the stove.
FAQ
Add a dash of olive to your pasta water when boiling to prevent the pasta from sticking. I like to add a little olive oil to the pasta once strained in a colander and mix around. This will prevent my pasta from sticking before I am ready to eat it or while I finish the sauce.
I like to use flaky or coarse sea salt for this recipe. They are the perfect way to season meats, veggies and pastas or use for toppings and garnishes.
If you only have table salt, I would cut the salt in a recipe by half and salt to taste. The fine grains of table salt are much saltier than the flaky or coarse sea salts.
Best Flaky Sea Salt: I love using Maldon’s flaky sea salt! I get mine from Whole Foods or Thrive Market.
Related
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Calabrian Chili Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 2 broccoli heads chopped into florets
- 12 oz spaghetti
- 4 tablespoon olive oil 1 tablespoon for beef, 1 tablespoon for pasta water and 2 tbsps for sauce
- ¼ c white wine
- 2 teaspoon calabrian chilis
- 1 c parmesan cheese parmesan, romano or pecorino cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 c pasta water reserved
- 2 teaspoon flaky or coarse sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper about 6 pepper grinds
Instructions
- Prepare Pasta Water: Heat a large pot of salted water to boil while you cook the beef.
- Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Add olive oil to the skillet and cook ground beef with 1 ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt and ground pepper for about 8 minutes until almost fully cooked.
- Once the hot water is boiling in the pot, add the pasta and olive oil, cook until al dente (tender, but firm and chewy), about 11-13 minutes. The olive oil will help the pasta to not stick together. Stir every few minutes to keep pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
- While the pasta and beef are cooking, chop your broccoli into florets.
- Drain the beef fat from the skillet. Add the minced garlic, calabrian chilis and white wine, sauté for 1 minute, keep the skillet on low heat.
- Remove and strain the pasta and set aside for serving. I would ladle out the pasta and keep the pasta water to be used to boil your broccoli. You can add a dash of olive oil to the pasta to keep it from sticking while you finish preparing the dish.
- Add your broccoli florets to your pasta water and cook for 3-5 minutes until slightly tender and they turn a bright green color. Before straining your broccoli, reserve 1 cup of pasta water for the sauce.
- Add the pasta water, lemon juice, lemon zest, 2 tablespoon olive oil, parmesan cheese and spaghetti to the skillet. Stir for 2-3 minutes allowing the flavors to meld together. Add an additional ½ teaspoon of sea salt to taste. Add your broccoli florets around the edge of the skillet and top with more parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
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