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:
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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).
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:
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!
Discover More Roman Food Recipes!
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Italian Tripe Recipe – Trippa alla Romana
Ingredients
- 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.
“beautiful, just as my dad said my grandma used to make him”
“I wish I could reach through the screen and get a forkful 😋”
“Now that’s cooking Grandma. People that have never tried it have no idea how good tripe is. It’s absolutely delicious”
“Excellent recipe and very well explained to the person really wanting to learn. Can’t wait to try and see how it comes out. Pretty cool 😎 cook instructor 👍”
“Che fame 🤤. La trippa alla romana è un piatto unico per la sua bontà. Comunque tutta la nostra cucina romana è buona. Complimenti per il video. Ciao da Max 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍”
“I’m salivating way too much to watch this”
“Che bella nonna, deliziosa e bravissima, un grande bacio.”
“Grazie infinite per avermi fatto fare un ottima figura con la sua ricetta!!” Veramente squisita 🤗😋😋”
“Bravissima…finalmente una romana che fa la trippa alla romana con la menta romana!!! Nemmeno gli chef cosiddetti famosi ,ce la mettono…cosi si fa…”
The most important thing is the cutting of the tripe. My mom used to take partially thawed tripe and slice it really thin. And when boiling it, the water was drained and changed three times to remove bad odor and taste.
Then it was added to a home made meat spaghetti sauce and simmered for 2 hours till tender. Add cheese and enjoy the dish with a loaf of Italian bread to sop up the sauce. Tripe has a flavor of its own and if you grew up with it, you remembered how tasty it was!
I also loved the Easter pizza she made with “welfare cheese” as they grew up in the depression.
Anyone ever hear of Italian chocolate pepper cookies?
I can not wait to read far more from you. This is really a wonderful site.
Looks delicious