Linguine Peperoncino – Spicy Pasta with Chili

Linguine Peperoncino by Pasta Morelli, red chili linguine from Tuscany

Long, flat durum wheat linguine from the Antico Pastificio Morelli, flavored with red chili pepper and colored with dehydrated beetroot. Bronze-drawn, slowly dried at 50 °C, and made with fresh wheat germ in the dough. 250 g in a clear bag, cooking time 8 to 9 minutes. Pure durum wheat pasta without eggs, with a mild spicy flavor.

The Linguine Peperoncino from Pasta Morelli are long, flat ribbons made from Italian durum wheat semolina, flavored with dried red chili and colored with dehydrated beetroot. The characteristic red tone comes from the beetroot, not the chili—the latter provides the pleasantly fiery seasoning. This pasta is a pure durum wheat variety without eggs. Like all Morelli pasta, it contains added fresh wheat germ, which Morelli has been incorporating into every dough since 1860, releasing a bready, cereal aroma when cooked.

Red linguine with a fine chili kick

When opening the box, you are met with a warm, piquant aroma reminiscent of freshly dried bell peppers with a slightly toasted undertone. The linguine has a warm brick-red color with an orange tint—the color comes from the dehydrated beetroot powder, not the chili. Sometimes small, darker pieces of chili are visible in the pasta. The surface remains rough and matte, as with all bronze-drawn linguine from Morelli, ensuring that every sauce sticks well.

While cooking, the pasta water turns slightly reddish, and the scent of chili rises along with the characteristic cereal notes of the wheat germ. On the palate, the pasta first reveals a warm, powerful depth from the beetroot, then the chili unfolds with a well-balanced spiciness—not brutally hot, but pleasantly tingly. A malty wheat germ note lingers in the finish. This is a pasta that confidently brings its own flavor to the table, so you should use sauce sparingly.

Which sauce goes well with Linguine Peperoncino?

The short answer: The pasta already has so much personality and spice that it does not pair well with aggressive sauces. The standard recipe is Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino—simply toss the linguine in good olive oil with garlic, a splash of cooking water to bind the sauce, and top with shaved Pecorino or Parmigiano. If you have guests who prefer milder flavors, just omit the additional fresh chili in the olive oil; the heat of the pasta itself is sufficient.

Other companions that suit the chili seasoning: a classic tomato sauce with garlic (creating an Arrabbiata variation), creamy ricotta with lemon zest (to mellow the heat), shrimp in olive oil, grilled octopus, or a tuna carbonara. Vegetable ratatouille with zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers also works well. With grilled meat, the pasta harmonizes particularly well with spicy salsicce or Italian sausages. Avoid: creamy white sauces without a counterbalance, as the fatty cream amplifies the chili heat rather than balancing it, and sweet variations with lots of mascarpone or honey.

For the cooking time, bring 2.5 liters of water to a boil per 250 g of pasta, salt with a tablespoon of sea salt, and add the linguine. Let cook for 8 to 9 minutes, stirring once. Save half a glass of the cooking water before draining—it will help bind the sauce perfectly later.

Morelli’s wheat germ secret from Tuscany

The wheat germ is the heart of the grain, the part from which a new plant grows. It contains fat, which quickly turns rancid—flour without the germ has a longer shelf life. Morelli takes the opposite approach, incorporating the freshly sifted germ back into the dough immediately after milling. The family motto is "Siamo fatti di un’altra pasta," which loosely translates to "We are cut from a different cloth."

The Antico Pastificio Morelli was founded in 1860 in Lastra a Signa near Florence. In 1924, Teresa Giomi Morelli, the grandmother of the current owners, moved a branch of the business to San Romano in the province of Pisa, right by the train station. The factory continues to operate there today, run by Dino Morelli and his three children, Lucia, Antonio, and Marco, representing the fifth generation.

Three steps define the process: the dough is bronze-drawn, laid out by hand on traditional racks, and dried for 36 hours at a maximum of 50 °C. The rough bronze surface binds any sauce better, and the slow drying preserves the wheat’s aromas and the germ within the dough.

The other flavored linguine in our Pasta Morelli collection share the same durum wheat semolina base and wheat germ content: Linguine al Limone with lemon and black pepper, and Linguine Aglio e Basilico with garlic and basil. Along with the Linguine Peperoncino, these offer three varieties for three different moods: spicy-hot, lemon-fresh, and herbal-warm.