TABELIA

AUTHENTIC RECIPE

Paccheri con Ragù di PolpoPaccheri with Octopus Ragù

Paccheri with Octopus Ragù
Difficulty★★★★☆ Prep20 min Cook1 hr 30 min servings4

A Neapolitan seafood dish of octopus simmered for more than 1 hour with red wine, whole tomatoes and black olives. Paccheri hold the ragù infused with the octopus’s savory flavor.

Recipe developed and reviewed by the Tabelia Editorial TeamUpdated
100/ 100

AUTHENTICITY SCORE

Authenticity Score

This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • Paccheri320 g
  • Fresh common octopusRub thoroughly with coarse salt to remove slime. Remove the innards, eyes and beak and wash. Cut the body into 4 cm pieces and the arms in groups of 2–3.1000 g
  • Canned whole tomatoes400 g
  • Red wine150 ml
  • OnionFinely chopped1 medium
  • GarlicFinely chopped3 cloves
  • Black Taggiasca olivesRemove the stones if present.100 g
  • Salt-packed capersSoak in water for 10 minutes to remove the salt before use.20 g
  • Flat-leaf parsleyRoughly chopped10 g
  • Extra virgin olive oil60 ml
  • SaltFor the ragù and pasta water. Use sparingly because olives and capers are salty.5 g

Method

110 min

Desalt the capers

  • 1 Soak 20 g capers in water for 10 minutes to remove the salt.
215 min

Prepare the octopus

  • 1 Prepare 1000 g octopus.
  • 2 Sprinkle 3 tbsp coarse salt over the whole octopus and rub thoroughly for 2–3 minutes to remove slime. Rinse well under running water.
  • 3 Separate the head or body from the arms, remove the eyes and mouth or beak, and wash thoroughly.
  • 4 Cut the body into pieces 4 cm wide and cut the arms at their base into groups of 2–3.
38 min

Sauté the onion

  • 1 Finely chop 1 onion.
  • 2 Heat 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over medium heat in a heavy pot, a cottera or deep frying pan, and sauté the onion for 7–8 minutes until soft and translucent.
44 min

Sauté the octopus and garlic

  • 1 Finely chop 3 garlic cloves, add them and sauté for 1 minute.
  • 2 When fragrant, add all the octopus and sauté over high heat for 3–4 minutes.

Ready when

Proceed when the octopus becomes reddish and starts to contract; do not overcook.

53 min

Evaporate the alcohol from the red wine

  • 1 Add 150 ml red wine and heat over medium heat for 2–3 minutes to evaporate the alcohol; finish when the alcoholic smell at the edge of the pot disappears.
61 hr

Simmer the ragù with tomatoes

  • 1 Add 400 g whole tomatoes, crushing them by hand, then add 1/2 tsp salt and stir.
  • 2 Cover and simmer over low heat for 60 minutes.
  • 3 Wait without opening the lid, to keep the octopus’s moisture and flavor inside.
73 min

Check the octopus for tenderness

  • 1 A fork should slide in easily.
  • 2 If still tough, cover and extend the cooking by another 20 minutes.

Ready when

After 60 minutes, open the lid and check the octopus for tenderness.

815 min

Reduce with olives and capers

  • 1 MeanwhileWhile the octopus simmers, start bringing a large pot of water to the boil, with 10 g salt per 1 L water.
  • 2 Add 100 g black olives and 20 g desalted capers and simmer uncovered over medium heat for 15 minutes to reduce the sauce.
  • 3 Adjust the salt, adding little by little and tasting because the olives and capers are salty.
914 min

Boil the paccheri

  • 1 Add 320 g paccheri to the prepared boiling salted water and cook for 1 minute less than the package time.
  • 2 Reserve 200 ml cooking water.
102 min

Toss the paccheri with the ragù

  • 1 Add the al dente paccheri to the ragù and toss over medium heat for 2 minutes, adding 50–100 ml cooking water if necessary to adjust the sauce consistency.
111 min

Finish with parsley and oil

  • 1 Drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil over all the pasta, roughly chop the flat-leaf parsley and scatter it over to finish.
A view of Napoli, Campania
Napoli, CampaniaItaly Photo: Armando Mancini · CC BY-SA 2.0 (resized; display cropped)

About this dish

Naples has a saying: cook octopus without lifting the lid. It sounds like a superstition, but behind it lies a cooking principle: keeping the lid on prevents steam from escaping, allowing the octopus to become tender without losing its own moisture and flavor.

Polpo, or octopus, lies at the heart of Neapolitan food culture. From early morning, fishermen at the port market display freshly landed octopus, while stalls beside cafés sell boiled rock octopus. Polpo lucano, boiled octopus cut into pieces and eaten with only olive oil and lemon, is an emblem of Neapolitan street food.

This ragù extends that tradition. Simmering octopus for 60–90 minutes produces a deep brown sauce, as though ink had dissolved into it. With the saltiness of black olives and capers, it becomes a powerful dish evoking the sea breeze of the Bay of Naples.

Chef Authen

Bring the full course home next weekend.

Bring every dish to the table at its best.

Choose the dishes you want to cook, and Chef Authen handles the shopping list and the day-of schedule. The Tabelia app turns everything from starter to main into one coordinated course in your kitchen.

  • One shopping listBuilt automatically from your menu and any substitutions, ready to check off.
  • One timelineEvery dish’s waiting and cooking time combined into a single schedule.
  • Answers beyond the recipeFrom judging the heat to adapting on the fly, Chef Authen answers with concrete criteria, not guesses.
Download on the App Store