The Spicy Pasta Sauce Alternative Made With One Condiment And Some Butter

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Looking for an easy meal upgrade? Fans of Buffalo chicken, rejoice. You can add spice to your pasta with butter and one condiment — and the condiment is none other than Buffalo sauce. The sauce can be store-bought — like the Truff Buffalo Hot Sauce or any of the 12 supermarket Buffalo sauces Tasting Table ranked in the past —  or made from scratch. In that case, make a batch of Susan Olayinka's flavorful Buffalo sauce. Either way, your dish will be delicious. 

Once you have Buffalo sauce in hand, all you're going to do is combine it with butter in a hot pan to make a new sauce for your pasta. The sauce will be thick, beautifully and appetizingly orange, and perfect for pasta like spaghetti, linguine, and even ravioli. The flavor is tangy and buttery with a vinegary kick. The heat slowly builds, as the butter has tempered it a bit. Each bite of your sauce-smothered pasta will be sharp and memorable.

Your easy spicy pasta will be great as is, but home cooks who love experimenting will find plenty of toppings to play with. A good place to start is to consider what pairs well with Buffalo wings. For example, who doesn't love dipping spicy chicken into blue cheese sauce? Try adding a few crumbles of blue cheese to your buttery Buffalo sauce pasta and see how it tastes.

Next, think of different textures you can add to the dish. The pasta is soft, so think crunchy or crispy. If you have crispy chicken skin, try adding it. It will really remind you of Buffalo chicken. Fried onion or garlic crisps work well too, along with toasted sesame seeds, or pangrattato — seasoned, toasted breadcrumbs you can flavor similarly to fried chicken batter.

For added protein, add chunks of grilled chicken or tofu to the dish. Bacon or pancetta would work too. Finally, you can't go wrong with adding more color to the dish. Chopped scallions or green onions will beautify the dish and add flavor. Chopped celery, which pairs well with Buffalo sauce and wings, can also add texture and brighten up your spicy pasta.