What makes Lilia's rigatoni diavola different from regular arrabbiata?

Three things separate it from standard arrabbiata. First, the garlic technique: whole cloves caramelized until soft and golden in olive oil, then mashed directly into the oil before any other ingredients are added. This produces a deeper, rounder garlic flavor than raw sautéed garlic. Second, the spice blend: most arrabbiata is just chili flakes, but the diavola adds crushed Calabrian chili (which has a fermented, fruity heat) and fennel seed, which gives the sauce a subtle anise-like warmth that's distinctive and hard to identify. Third, the Pecorino finish — sharper and saltier than Parmigiano — amplifies the heat rather than dampening it. The result is a sauce with far more complexity than a simple hot tomato base.

Where do I find crushed Calabrian chili?

Most Italian specialty stores carry Tutto Calabria brand crushed Calabrian chili packed in oil, and it's widely available on Amazon. Whole Foods carries it in the international or specialty section. Trader Joe's and some larger grocery stores carry Calabrian chili paste under their own brands. If you truly can't find it, a passable substitute is 1½ tsp red chili flakes plus a small pinch of smoked paprika — it won't have the fermented fruitiness but will give you the heat. Do not skip the fennel seed; it's easier to find (any grocery store spice section) and is equally important to the flavor profile.

The sauce recipe makes 6 cups — what do I do with the extra?

Freeze it in 2-cup batches in zip-lock bags or deli containers. Each batch is enough for another pound of pasta — so one sauce session gives you three pasta dinners. The sauce freezes well for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator. It also works as a pizza sauce, a base for shakshuka, or spooned over eggs. At Lilia, Missy Robbins makes the Diavola Sauce in large batches and stores it — this is a restaurant production recipe adapted for home use, and the big yield is intentional.

Do I have to use San Marzano tomatoes?

San Marzano DOP tomatoes produce a noticeably less acidic, more balanced sauce than standard canned tomatoes — the difference is real in a recipe this simple. Look for the DOP designation on the can; many 'San Marzano-style' or 'grown in the San Marzano region' cans are not DOP and are often less sweet. Good substitutes at the same quality tier: Bianco DiNapoli, Cento Certified San Marzano, or Jovial whole tomatoes. In a pinch, any good whole-peeled Italian tomato works — just taste as you go and add a pinch of sugar if the sauce tastes too acidic.

Why rigatoni specifically?

Rigatoni's ridged exterior and large hollow tube both trap thick sauce in a way that smooth short pasta (like penne liscia) can't. The ridges created by bronze-die extrusion are even more effective — they catch the sauce like tiny shelves. As the rigatoni tubes fill with the thick Diavola Sauce during the marrying step, you get fully flavored pasta inside and out. Pennette or fusilli would work as substitutes. Long pasta like spaghetti is harder to work with here — the sauce is too chunky to coat evenly on a thin strand.

How spicy is this dish, and can I dial it back?

Genuinely spicy — the combination of Calabrian chili, chili flakes, and the heat that builds during the long simmer produces a sauce that most people would call a 7 out of 10. That's by design; 'diavola' means 'she-devil.' To reduce the heat: use ½ tbsp of Calabrian chili (instead of 1 tbsp) and 1 tsp of chili flakes (instead of 2 tsp). The sauce will still have warmth and all the same depth from the garlic and fennel. Don't omit the Calabrian chili entirely — the fermented, fruity quality it adds is part of the sauce's identity.

Can I make this dish vegan?

Yes, almost entirely. The sauce itself is completely vegan (olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, spices). The pasta is vegan if dried (most dried rigatoni contains no eggs). The only non-vegan component is the Pecorino Romano garnish. Substitute a finely grated firm vegan cheese with good umami depth (Violife Just Like Parmesan works reasonably well), or finish with a small drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of flaky salt instead. The Pecorino finish adds a significant flavor hit — if you skip it, add an extra small pinch of salt and a light squeeze of lemon to compensate.

Lilia Rigatoni Diavola Copycat Recipe — Missy Robbins's Spicy Tomato Rigatoni

Name: Lilia Rigatoni Diavola
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: For the Diavola Sauce (makes ~6 cups — use 2 cups tonight, freeze the rest in batches):; ½ cup (112g) olive oil; 14 cloves garlic — 10 left whole, 4 thinly sliced (keep them separate); 7 tablespoons (113g) tomato paste; 1 tablespoon crushed Calabrian chili (packed in oil, such as Tutto Calabria brand); or substitute 1½ tsp red chili flakes + ½ tsp olive oil as a rough fallback; 2 teaspoons dried red chili flakes (in addition to the Calabrian chili — this sauce is genuinely spicy); 1½ teaspoons fennel seed; 2 cans (28 oz / 794g each) whole San Marzano tomatoes, with their liquid — crushed by hand into rough chunks before adding; 1½ teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste; For the pasta (4 servings):; 1 lb (454g) rigatoni — bronze-die-extruded preferred (De Cecco Rigatoni No. 24, Rustichella d'Abruzzo, or similar; look for 'trafilata al bronzo' on the box); 2 cups Diavola Sauce (from above); ¼ cup (22g) Pecorino Romano, finely grated on a Microplane — Pecorino, not Parmigiano; the saltier, sharper character of Pecorino fits this spicy sauce; 3–4 sprigs fresh marjoram — leaves stripped; or substitute fresh oregano; 1 tablespoon good olive oil, for finishing; Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Lilia’s rigatoni diavola is the simpler, more accessible sibling of the restaurant’s famous mafaldine — and in some ways the better introduction to Missy Robbins’s cooking philosophy. Where the mafaldine requires precision emulsification and can slip up if you overcook or underheat, the diavola is a patient, forgiving sauce that rewards attention but tolerates imperfection. Cook the garlic slowly, darken the tomato paste properly, and let the sauce run long enough to thicken: the rest takes care of itself.

The Garlic Is the Architecture of This Sauce

Most tomato sauces use garlic as a background note. The diavola makes it structural. Ten whole cloves cook in olive oil for 15 to 20 minutes over gentle heat, slowly turning golden and jammy — essentially roasting in the fat rather than the oven. When you mash them back into the oil, you get a garlic-infused fat with rounded, slightly sweet depth that no amount of sautéed garlic can replicate. The four sliced cloves added afterward give you a second, sharper layer. Neither step is optional. Skipping the whole-garlic caramelization — or rushing it so the cloves toast unevenly — produces a thinner, more ordinary sauce.

Fennel Seed and Calabrian Chili Are Doing Most of the Flavor Work

The heat in arrabbiata comes from red chili flakes alone — one-dimensional, hot, and largely predictable. Diavola uses two heat sources plus fennel seed. The Calabrian chili adds a fruity, slightly fermented warmth that’s mellower than fresh Thai chili but more complex than red flakes. The fennel seed adds a faint anise-like warmth that you can’t quite name but would miss immediately if it were gone. Together, the three aromatics produce a sauce where the heat builds rather than hits — it gets warmer through the dish rather than leading with a sharp spike.

If you can’t find crushed Calabrian chili packed in oil, the sauce still works with only chili flakes — it just tastes less specifically Lilia. The fennel seed is harder to substitute; dried oregano is the closest structural parallel but delivers a completely different character.

Make the Full Batch — Freeze the Extra

Missy Robbins’s published recipe makes 6.5 cups of sauce. That’s not an accident: Lilia makes everything in large batches, and this sauce is designed to be stored. For one pound of pasta you’ll use 2 cups, which leaves about 4 cups — enough for two more dinners. Freeze it flat in zip-lock bags in 2-cup portions. They thaw in the refrigerator overnight and reheat directly from cold in the sauté pan. If you’re already doing the work, there’s no reason to scale down.

Rigatoni vs. Other Shapes

The ridged, hollow tube geometry of rigatoni is load-bearing in this recipe. The Diavola Sauce is thick and chunky; a thin pasta like spaghetti doesn’t carry it well — the sauce falls off, pools at the bottom of the bowl, and you finish your pasta with dry bites at the end. Rigatoni’s ridges grip the sauce on the outside while the hollow tube fills during the marrying step. Bronze-die-extruded rigatoni has rougher ridges and more surface texture than Teflon-die pasta — worth seeking out (De Cecco, Rustichella d’Abruzzo, or Barilla bronze).

More Spicy Pasta from Lilia and Around NYC

If the diavola is what brought you here, the Lilia mafaldine with pink peppercorns is the restaurant’s other signature — a butter-and-Parmigiano emulsion that’s completely different in technique but equally restrained in ingredients. For more spicy rigatoni, Carbone’s spicy rigatoni alla vodka uses a tomato-cream base with crushed Calabrian chili and vodka and is equally famous and equally simple to make at home.

Lilia is a trademark of its owner, used here only to describe the dish this recipe recreates. This is an independent copycat written in our own words — Copycat Spices is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Lilia.

Lilia Rigatoni Diavola

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