Four Cheese Pasta Sauce Recipe

Rich and decadent! Four cheese pasta sauce can be made with a variety of cheeses, but this combination is particularly satisfying: creamy gorgonzola ‘dolce’ (sweet gorgonzola), taleggio cheese, fontina cheese and gruyere cheese. Best of all? You can whip it up in minutes.

Four cheese pasta sauce can also be enjoyed with a variety of pasta, however rigatoni and penne (or pennette) are preferred in Italy because the sauce can ‘hug’ the pasta both inside and out. This four cheese pasta sauce recipe is also a delicious sauce for gnocchi (Four Cheese Gnocchi recipe).

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Watch Italian Grandma prepare this fantastic FOUR CHEESE PASTA SAUCE recipe!

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Four Cheese Pasta Sauce: Ingredients

As always, it’s important to choose a quality pasta if you want your dish to really sing! To understand why we consider this one of Italy’s best pasta brands, read our article on the topic!

• Rigatoni that we use: https://amzn.to/3PPnpo1 (affiliate link)

This Four Cheese Pasta recipe features several fine Italian cheeses.

Gorgonzola ‘Dolce’ Cheese (Sweet Gorgonzola)

Called gorgonzola dolce in Italian (meaning sweet), is a buttery soft cheese with blue veins. Sweet gorgonzola is milder and less aged than its drier counterpart.

Don’t like gorgonzola? Choose another soft cheese with a strong flavor that you enjoy.

Taleggio Cheese

Taleggio cheese is a semisoft cheese that melts well. It has a fruity, tangy flavor. It’s been popular in Italy since ancient times!

Pecorino Romano Cheese

Pecorino Romano cheese is a favorite in Italy. It’s the cheese of choice in many Roman dishes such as Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe, Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe recipe, Pasta alla Gricia recipe and more. We recommend pecorino semi-stagionato (semi-aged) for this Four Cheese sauce because it melts better than a fully aged pecorino.

Gruyère Cheese

Gruyère cheese is a type of swiss cheese which melts really well. It also has an earthy, nutty taste.

How to Make Four Cheese Pasta Sauce: Tips

Honestly, this is an extremely easy dish that will wow any cheese lover out there. Make a roux and add whole milk. Add the diced cheese and stir until the cheese melts. Combine with the pasta of your choice and serve!

Sauce will thicken on the plate!

The finished sauce will continue to thicken on the plate as it cools, so keep that in mind when determining how much to thicken the sauce in the pan. 

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Pasta Affair: 50 Authentic Italian Recipes

While tripe isn’t for everyone, this is the definitive Italian Tripe recipe for anyone who likes beef tripe. The sauce—with tomato, mint, white wine and pecorino cheese—is divine.

This recipe uses beef tripe parts from all three edible stomachs of the cow. Preparing tripe is not complicated—the complicated part may be finding it at a local butcher! 

Tripe is extremely nutritious! It is low in fat and high in protein. In ancient times, it was a main source of nutrition for poor Italians who couldn’t afford choicer cuts of meat.  

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Learn how to make Italian Tripe recipe with our video recipe, filmed in Italy:

Watch this video on YouTube.

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How to Make Italian Tripe

For the complete recipe for making Roman Tripe, check out the recipe card below!

What is Tripe?

Tripe is the edible stomachs of the cow. There are three, each with a different texture.

Boil it for 15 minutes.

Even if the tripe you’ve purchased is already clean, we recommend boiling it in salt water with onion, carrot and celery for 15 minutes to remove any lingering odor.

Serve with bread!

Italian Tripe is traditionally served with bread for a fantastic scarpetta (sopping up the sauce).

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Best Pasta Cookbook? Ours!

Seductive strands of pasta and sumptuous sauces… Are you ready to indulge in an unforgettable Pasta Affair? This cookbook is a must-have for any serious lover of Italian food, featuring over 50 classic pasta recipes you can make at home!

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Tomato Products We Recommend

This tripe recipe calls for crushed tomatoes. In Italy, Italians have a secret for crushed tomatoes: they use or buy whole peeled tomatoes, remove the seeds and ‘water’ and then crush them with a blender or by hand. Why not just buy crushed tomatoes?

Italians know that canned crushed tomatoes tend to be less sweet than passata (purée) or whole peeled canned tomatoes. This is because skins and seeds often make their way into crushed tomato products, which produces a less sweet product.

For dishes like Roman Style Tripe (Trippa alla Romana), here in the PIATTO™ kitchen we tend to use:

• cans of whole peeled tomatoes from Mutti or Pomì (Amazon affiliate links)

To find out more about why, check out our guide on best canned tomatoes for sauce!

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Other Italian Tripe Recipes

Check out the traditional recipe for Trippa alla Fiorentina (Florence Style Tripe) on our website!

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Discover More Roman Food Recipes!

Rome Food

Sardinian Food

Sicilian Food

Tuscan Food

Umbria Food

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Italian Tripe Recipe – Trippa alla Romana

PIATTO RECIPES

The traditional tripe dish of Rome! The tomato sauce—with tomato, mint, white wine and pecorino cheese—is divine.

4.98 from 44 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine Italian, Mediterranean

Servings 4 people

Calories 266 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 2.2 lb beef tripe cleaned
• 1 onion for pre-cooking the tripe
• 1 carrot for pre-cooking the tripe
• 1 rib celery for pre-cooking the tripe
• 1 onion chopped
• ½ carrot chopped
• 1 rib celery chopped
• 28 oz crushed tomatoes
• handful fresh mint minced
• 4 tbsp pecorino romano cheese finely grated
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 4 tbsp olive oil or as needed
• fresh chili peppers to taste
• fine salt to taste
• black pepper to taste

Instructions

 

Pre-Cook the Tripe

• Boil the tripe for 15 minutes in salted water with a whole onion, carrot and celery to remove the last of the odor. Drain and set aside.

Sauté the Tripe

• Coat the bottom of a skillet generously with olive oil. Sauté the chopped onion, carrot and celery over medium-low heat until the onions start to appear translucent.
• Add the tripe to the vegetables and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a few minutes over medium heat. 
• Add a ½ cup of white wine. Stir, and cook until the wine has evaporated. 

Make the Sauce

• Add crushed tomato and a 1 1/2 cups of water to the tripe. 
• Bring the sauce to a boil. Add a handful of fresh mint and a pinch of salt.
• Cover and cook the tripe in the sauce over medium-low heat for 2 hours.

Finish with Pecorino Cheese

• After the two hours, turn off the heat and add about 4 Tbs of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Stir to melt the cheese. 

  Feel free to top with more pecorino when you serve the dish.  

Video

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Nutrition

Sodium: 358mgCalcium: 152mgVitamin C: 24mgVitamin A: 4360IUSugar: 13gFiber: 6gPotassium: 813mgCholesterol: 5mgCalories: 266kcalSaturated Fat: 3gFat: 16gProtein: 6gCarbohydrates: 23gIron: 3mg

Keyword healthy

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Discover More Cheesy Italian Food Recipes

• Italian Garden Pasta Recipe
• Best Spaghetti alla Nerano Recipe
• Creamy Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe

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Four Cheese Pasta Sauce Recipe

PIATTO RECIPES

Rich and decadent! Four cheese pasta sauce can be made with a variety of cheeses, but this combination is particularly satisfying: creamy gorgonzola 'dolce' (sweet gorgonzola), taleggio cheese, pecorino cheese and gruyere cheese. In Italy, rigatoni or penne are popular pasta choices for this cheesy sauce because it allows the sauce to cling to the pasta both inside and out. 

5 from 21 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 4 people

Calories 805 kcal

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 4 oz gorgonzola cheese dolce or sweet
• 3 oz taleggio cheese
• 4 oz pecorino romano preferably 'semi-stagionato'
• 3 oz gruyere cheese
• 1 ⅔ cup whole milk
• 2 tbsp butter unsalted
• 2 tbsp flour all-purpose is fine
• 1 pinch fine salt or to taste
• 1 pinch black pepper to taste; freshly ground
• 11 oz pasta rigatoni or penne

Instructions

 

Make the Sauce

• Melt the butter over low heat. Then add the flour and whisk vigorously to make a 'roux.'
  2 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp flour
• Slowly add the whole milk to the roux over medium-low heat, whisking continuously.
  1 ⅔ cup whole milk
• Add the diced cheeses to the milk.
  4 oz gorgonzola cheese, 3 oz taleggio cheese, 3 oz gruyere cheese, 4 oz pecorino romano
• Melt the cheeses in the milk over low heat. Stir continuously to avoid burning the cheese.

  Alternatively, you can melt all ingredients in a bowl over a pan of simmering water (the double-broiler method). Melt until the sauce is creamy and free of lumps.

Finish with Pasta

• Cook the pasta to ‘al dente’ in boiling water according to package instructions.
  11 oz pasta
• Add the cooked, drained pasta and a ladle of the pasta water to the four cheese sauce.
• Reduce the the sauce with the penne over very low heat for about 1-2 minutes, stirring continuously. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Cook until the sauce coats the back of a spoon. Remember: It's best to plate the sauce while still a bit runny, as the sauce will continue to thicken on the plate!
  1 pinch fine salt, 1 pinch black pepper

Video

Watch this video on YouTube.

Nutrition

Sodium: 1097mgCalcium: 777mgVitamin C: 1mgVitamin A: 1701IUSugar: 4gFiber: 2gPotassium: 362mgCholesterol: 146mgCalories: 805kcalSaturated Fat: 28gFat: 45gProtein: 37gCarbohydrates: 62gIron: 1mg

Keyword cheesy, pasta

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🇬🇧 This is the English-language version of our original Italian recipe on PIATTO Ricette.