Stanley Tucci’s Easy Pasta Is So Good, He Ate 3 Servings in 1 Sitting

There are two things we can always rely on Stanley Tucci for: a stellar acting performance and a delicious pasta recipe. Typically, we’re scouring Tucci’s social media for his next best pasta recipe. While we often scour Tucci’s social media for his next culinary creation, his new book, “What I Ate in One Year (and Related Thoughts),” has exponentially expanded our repertoire of Tucci-inspired recipes.

Of course, these “recipes” are as freeform as you’d expect from the actor—a handful of ingredients, no measurements, and not a cooking time in sight. But that’s all part of the Tucci charm, isn’t it?

I’ve already tried a few dishes from Tucci’s memoir, including his family-favorite minestrone soup and zucchini parmigiana. But as a fellow pasta enthusiast, when I read that Tucci ate three servings of this pasta dish in one sitting, I knew it’d be a must-make.

The Pasta Recipe Stanley Tucci Ate 3 Helpings Of

In his book, Tucci describes one night when his wife, Felicity (Emily Blunt’s sister), was out, and the kids had gone to bed. He made himself a simple sausage and shells pasta dish. The one-pot sauce included minced garlic, onion, fennel, fennel seeds, ground Italian sausage, and homemade marinara sauce—a staple Tucci always has on hand.

“I sautéed all of that in a pan and tossed it with the [conchiglie pasta (large shells)] and some cheese,” he writes. “I had three helpings at nine p.m. Not wise but delicious.”

How to Make Stanley Tucci’s Sausage and Shells Recipe

Let’s face it: Anytime I’m making a Stanley Tucci-approved recipe, I’m winging it. I’m pretty sure Tucci’s winging it in the kitchen, too—which explains the lack of precise measurements.

This “recipe” is actually quite simple to follow without a written guide because you can essentially use one of everything: one box of shell pasta, one pound of Italian sausage, one onion, one fennel bulb, and even one jar of store-bought marinara sauce if you don’t want to make it from scratch. For the garlic, fennel seeds, and cheese, I just measured with my heart, which meant a lot of garlic and cheese and just a light sprinkling of fennel seeds. 

Tucci’s dish reminds me of my favorite Emeril Lagasse pasta, which has a similar meat sauce, but with an added kick from Calabrian chile pepper paste.

Since Tucci’s radiation treatments to fight his throat cancer, he’s avoided certain foods, such as spicy dishes, chewy meats, or high-tannic ingredients, due to a lack of saliva. That’s why he keeps his recipes mild, like the Italian sausage in this dish. However, you can easily customize it at home by opting for hot Italian sausage or adding Lagasse’s secret ingredient: Calabrian chiles.

While I couldn’t manage three helpings of this hearty pasta dish, I was thrilled to have leftovers for lunches and dinners throughout the week. This recipe has officially joined my Tucci rotation, along with his béchamel pasta casserole and pasta fagioli.