Jazz up pasta night with this red wine infused spaghetti with savory shallots and salty pancetta.

Kev and I usually try to have a date night once a week but the last few weeks we’ve had to watch our budget and have just been super busy, so we haven’t been out for a “formal” date in awhile. On those weeks it’s still important to spend some quality time together and sit down for a meal to catch up and see how the other person is doing.

The first time I made this spaghetti was a complete experiment! I had purchased all the ingredients to make some dutch oven short ribs, but hadn’t actually bought the short ribs yet, so decided to transform the rest of the ingredients into something else. I’ve used wine in the past to deglaze a skillet before pouring the pasta in, but had never used the wine as the actual cooking liquid FOR the pasta. It’s life-changing, you guys!

I made this Red Wine Spaghetti with Shallots and Pancetta again yesterday, made a few tweaks to the recipe, and it just keeps getting better! Super cheap two buck chuck from Trader Joe’s was my wine choice for this dish and it gives the spaghetti the most lovely, fruity acidic flavor.

While the pasta is cooking, you have just a couple of ingredients to sauté for the finished dish: some salty pancetta, shallots, thyme, rosemary, and fresh garlic. All of those cook in the time it takes the pasta to reach al dente perfection, and then at the end everything gets tossed together and topped with fresh parmesan.

It makes a perfect date night meal! Seems fancy, but it’s actually really reasonable and so easy. Pancetta can be a bit pricey, so if you’re trying to get the cost down even more, you can go with bacon or just omit it and use some olive oil instead.

I hope you love it!

Red Wine Spaghetti with Shallots and Pancetta

No reviews

Author: Kitschen Cat
Total Time: 20 mins
Yield: 6-8 1x

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale

1 bottle red wine, reserve 1/4 cup. (I used 2 buck chuck from Trader Joe’s)
4 cups water
1 tablespoon salt
16 oz pkg spaghetti
4 ounces diced pancetta
4 shallots, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

Pour wine into a large pot, reserving 1/4 cup for later. Add water and salt and bring to a boil.
Add pasta to boiling wine/water, and cook according to package directions.
While pasta is cooking, sauté pancetta in large skillet until crispy, about 5-8 minutes.
Add shallots, stir and sauté until soft, about 2 minutes.
Stir in garlic, thyme, rosemary, and pepper until fragrant, about 1 minute.
Add reserved 1/4 cup wine and bring to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the skillet to loosen any stuck pieces.
Drain pasta and add directly into skillet. Toss with the pancetta and shallots, then sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 15 mins