This authentic Spaghetti alla Nerano recipe is from Nerano near Naples! This famous Italian pasta recipe features provolone cheese and a secret ingredient: fried zucchini! It’s a cheesy pasta with an unforgettable umami flavor.
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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:
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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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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:
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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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.
Video
Nutrition
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In Italian? Discover Spaghetti Alla Nerano, Ricetta Originale!
How to Make Spaghetti Alla Nerano: Recipe
Prepare the Zucchini
The secret ingredient that makes the traditional Spaghetti alla Nerano recipe so unique is fried zucchini! By frying the zucchini slices, the resulting zucchini chips have a concentrated flavor. Then, we use those zucchini chips to infuse the water where we finish cooking the spaghetti. Ideally, you should slice the fresh zucchini with a mandolin.
Make it Faster: Buy Zucchini Chips
You can prepare this dish more quickly by purchasing fried zucchini chips that are unseasoned or seasoned only with salt. If the chips have salt, be sure not to over salt the dish. Obviously, the traditional way to prepare Spaghetti alla Nerano is to fry the zucchini yourself.
Prepare the Cheeses
Grate the provolone cheese. Monaco provolone is the traditional cheese for this dish. It is a cheese from Naples, similar to caciocavallo. It has a slight peppery flavor and melts wonderfully! Substitute a smoked provolone if you can’t find this cheese at a specialty cheese shop.
You’ll also want to finely grate the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese at this time.
Fry the Zucchini
Fry the zucchini in batches at 350°F / 180°C until golden. Set them aside on an absorbent towel and lightly salt them. Deep fryers are cheap and ideal for this job!
Zucchini is watery and will quickly drop the oil temperature when they are added. If you are frying the zucchini in a pan (instead of a temperature-controlled deep fryer), you’ll want to monitor the temperature and raise the heat again before each new batch is added.
Make the Sauce
Cover the bottom of a large pan with olive oil and sauté a clove of garlic over low heat. You can leave the ‘sweater on’ the garlic, as they say in Italian, which just means leaving the skin on the garlic clove! This ensures that the garlic flavor is mild. Infuse the oil with the garlic for a couple of minutes.
Set aside a handful of the fried zucchini for garnish. Add the rest of the fried zucchini to the pan with the garlic and oil. Toss briefly and cook them over low heat with 2 ladles of the hot pasta water. In the meantime…
Cook the Pasta
Cook the spaghetti for 3/4 of the time required for ‘al dente’ pasta. This time will be on the package instructions.
Transfer the partially cooked spaghetti to the pan with the zucchini along with two more ladles of pasta water. Finish cooking the pasta in the pan, adding more water as needed.
Add the Cheeses
Remove the pasta from the heat and add the provolone and parmigiano cheeses along with another ladle or two of hot pasta water.
Mix the cheese with the pasta until it has melted and you’ve got a creamy pasta sauce! Top the plated dish with the fried zucchini that you set aside. You can also top with some leaves of fresh basil (optional). Buon appetito!
Tips for Making Spaghetti alla Nerano
Selecting the Right Provolone
Monaco provolone is a Naples cheese, similar to caciocavallo. It has a slight peppery flavor and melts wonderfully! Substitute a smoked provolone if you can’t find this at a specialty cheese shop.
Deep Fryers Work Great!
Deep fryers are cheap. They really do the job for tasks like frying zucchini because the unit will maintain a steady temperature. Deep frying in a pan? Zucchini is watery and will quickly drop the oil temperature when they are added. You’ll need to monitor the temperature to raise the heat before each batch is added.
Discover More Italian Pasta Recipes!
- Best Spaghetti alla Nerano Recipe—Creamy, Cheesy with ZucchiniBest Spaghetti alla Nerano Recipe (Creamy)
- Mushroom Pasta Sauce Recipe with White Button Mushrooms
- Penne alla Vodka with Salmon (Smoked)
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Spaghetti Alla Nerano Recipe: Pasta with Zucchini and Provolone
Equipment
- 1 Large Skillet
- 1 Large Pot
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb zucchini thinly sliced
- 5 oz provolone cheese traditionally, 'provolone del Monaco'; shredded
- 1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese finely grated
- 1 clove fresh garlic
- 4 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 11 oz spaghetti
- 1 pinch fine salt or to taste
- frying oil an oil with a high smoke point like safflower or sunflower
Instructions
Fry the Zucchini
- Slice the zucchini very thin, like potato chips.1 ½ lb zucchini, 1 pinch fine salt
- Fry the zucchini in batches at 350°F / 180°C until golden. Transfer the fried zucchini to absorbent towels and lightly salt. Don’t rest them on top of each other. Set aside.frying oil
Grate the Cheeses
- Shred the provolone and finely grate the Parmigiano cheese. Set the cheeses aside.5 oz provolone cheese, 1 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
Partially Cook the Pasta
- Cook the pasta ¾ of the time recommended for ‘al dente’ on the package instructions. In the meantime…11 oz spaghetti
Sauté the Garlic and Zucchini
- Cover the bottom of a large pan with olive oil. Over low heat, sauté a clove of garlic ‘sweater on’ as they they in Italian! This just means leaving the skin on the garlic clove.1 clove fresh garlic, 4 tbsp olive oil
- After the garlic has infused the oil with flavor (a couple of minutes), add all but a handful of the fried zucchini to the pan. Keep the heat low to avoid burning the zucchini. Immediately add 2 ladles of the hot pasta water to the zucchini and oil. Cook for a couple of minutes to infuse the water with the zucchini flavor.
Finish Cooking the Pasta in the Pan
- Transfer the spaghetti (cooked ¾ of the way) to the pan with the zucchini.
- Add 2 more ladles of hot pasta water to the pan. Finish cooking the pasta until the spaghetti is cooked to ‘al dente.’
Finish the Pasta with Cheese
- Remove the spaghetti from the heat. Add the provolone and Parmigiano cheeses along with another ladle or two of hot pasta water.
- Mix the cheese with the pasta until it has melted and you’ve got a creamy pasta sauce!
- Top with the fried zucchini that you previously set aside and some leaves of fresh basil (optional). Buon appetito!
Video
🇬🇧 This is the English-language version of our original Italian recipe on PIATTO Ricette.
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Original comment: View on YouTube
brava brava
Original comment: View on YouTube
There is a pasta dish in Sicily called “pasta con le medaglie’ (‘a pasta chi midagghi in Sicilian) “pasta with medallions”. It’s basically pasta, usually spaghetti, with garlic and oil sauce with fried zucchini on top, served with Pecorino or Caciocavallo cheese.
Original comment: View on YouTube
Looks delicious 😋 love it!
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👉La ricetta con tutte le istruzioni, sul nostro sito: https://piattoricette.it/spaghetti-alla-nerano-ricetta/👉Written recipe and video? On our website: https://www.piattorecipes.com/spaghetti-alla-nerano-recipe-pasta-with-zucchini-and-provolone/
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Che bello grazie mille
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Volevo solo darti alcuni suggerimenti: le zucchine vanno fritte in olio di oliva e non vanno rese croccanti come patatine, ma fritte più dolcemente, per questo va usato l olio D oliva. Poi va usato il burro, ossia dopo che hai asciugato le zucchine devi preparare un pentola con burro e a bagnomaria devi mettere dentro le zucchine asciugate con carta, la pasta quasi al dente e basilico…. va preparata una sorta di crema poi aggiungi il formaggio grattugiato che deve essere provolone del monaco DOCG e continui a girare fino a cottura della pasta… basilico a volontà e se vuoi parmigiano grattugiato alla presentazione del piatto. Complimenti cmq. Non è facile creare la cremina senza gli ingredienti giusti.
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Since you showed the ‘risotto method’In the alio olio video I try to use it all the time. It’s really added a new level of flavour to my pasta. Thank you sir.
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Questi Spaghetti alla Nerano hanno un aspetto davvero invitante, sono sicuro che di sapore erano veramente favolosi 😀
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Le Creuset, Agnelli…..ci stanno 2-300 euro di pentole in questo video 🙂
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Complimenti come sempre, ho una domanda: per friggere olio di girasole o arachidi?
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Ottima ricetta imparata 60 anni fa in un ristorante di Nerano, sulla sua spiaggia. 30 anni fa, ho provato a cambiare il taglio degli zucchini, li ho tagliati a bastoncini, infatti dovevo preparare questi spaghetti per 10 persone e ho avuto un’ottima idea, gli zucchini non si sono spappolati nel lavorarli con l’acqua di cottura e i formaggi. Li ho cotti il giorno prima, 2 bei kg di zucchini scuri, quelli sodi e freschissimi, che quando li tagli ti mostrano il loro succo. Ti assicuro, un’ovazione e per nessuno di loro era la priva volta che li assaporavano. 👏🏻👏🏻💖
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Anche se ho già pranzato me ne farei un piatto , immagino già la bontà
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Acquolina! Video stupendo sempre al top! Bravissimi!
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Grande suggerimento ora che abbiamo zucchine a go-go
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