Delicious Pasta alla Zozzona made all in one pot! This addicting Italian recipe combines guanciale, sausage, cheese and egg yolks in a rich tomato sauce. I guarantee you will fall in love with it!

Some recipes SOUND amazing before you have even taken a single bite of the finished dish. That’s certainly the case with Pasta alla Zozzona, a classic Roman dish that actually translates as “dirty pasta”. Apparently the word “zozzo” is slang for dirty but can also mean rich and decadent which this pasta definitely is!

Pasta alla Zozzona is what you get when you marry carbonara and amatriciana (I am already hooked). Take the guanciale, pecorino and egg yolks from carbonara, add the spicy tomato sauce from amatriciana and throw in some Italian sausage for good measure. It is messy, hearty and incredibly delicious in the best way possible.

And another thing… it is also super easy and quick to make all in one pot. You KNOW how much I love one pot wonders, and not just because I am no good at dealing with dirty dishes! This is the kind of pasta dish you can quickly whip up to serve a crowd at short notice and make everyone happy.

Close-up of creamy rigatoni pasta served in two bowls, garnished with herbs and cheese. One hand holds a fork and touches a bowl. A pan with more pasta is visible in the background. The scene is set on a dark textured surface.

Pasta Zozzona Ingredients

This is a simple recipe that uses only a handful of ingredients to great effect. Every element brings something to the table so let’s take a look at each in turn.

Guanciale is cured pork jowl (from guancia, meaning ‘cheek’) and traditionally used in classic Roman pasta dishes such as Carbonara and Amatriciana. It is fatty, salty and tastes slightly sweet – the perfect partner the peppery flavor of Pecorino.
Pecorino romano – is a hard cheese made from sheep’s milk. It has a strong flavor that’s salty, slightly nutty and totally delicious.
Egg yolks – fresh egg yolks are mixed with the grated pecorino cheese and then tempered with pasta water (or in this case some of the sauce as we are cooking everything in one pot). The egg yolks make the zozzona sauce extra rich and silky. Save the egg yolks to make a lovely pavlova or macarons.
Italian sausage – pick something with a bit of heat if you like your pasta spicy!
Diced onion (use a vegetable chopper to avoid the tears!)
Passata – is a smooth strained tomato sauce that can be found jarred. If you can’t get hold of passata, you can use a can of crushed tomatoes liquidized with an immersion blender.
Red pepper flakes for some spice! I like to add the red pepper flakes just before serving so I can leave them out if my guests are heat-averse.
Rigatoni pasta or other pasta shapes that hold on to sauce like orechiette, penne or ziti.
Chicken broth – we are cooking our pasta in the sauce and broth for added flavor.

Ingredients for pasta dish arranged on a light surface include bowls of pasta, pecorino cheese, chopped onion, passata sauce, chicken broth, egg yolks, Italian sausage, and guanciale.

How to Make Pasta Alla Zozzona

↓ For the full ingredients and detailed method, jump to the recipe card.

Add finely grated pecorino cheese (a microplane is useful here!) and egg yolks in a large bowl. Stir together to make a paste and set aside for now.

Hands with red nail polish mixing a egg yolks and finely grated cheese in a white bowl using a fork. The bowl is on a light-colored surface.

Heat a large, deep skillet. Add the sliced guanciale and cook over medium heat until it starts to crisp up and render its fat. Set aside using a slotted spoon but leave the rendered fat in the skillet.

Chopped guanciale pieces cooking in a light-colored skillet with blue handles. The bacon is sizzling and looks slightly browned, with a mix of fat and lean parts visible.

Add the sausage meat and cook until it turns golden brown, stirring and breaking it up with a wooden spoon. Stir in the diced onion and continue to cook for 5-7 minutes until the onion has softened.

A hand stirs sausage meat and chopped onions in a large blue-handled skillet with a wooden spoon. The mixture is beginning to brown and cook, creating a savory dish.

Stir in the guanciale, passata and chicken broth, season with salt and bring to a simmer. Add the dry pasta and cook over low heat for 15-20 minutes or per pack instructions, stirring occasionally so that the pasta doesn’t stick. The pasta may take longer to cook in the sauce than it would in boiling water.

A person stirs pasta tubes into a pot of tomato sauce with a wooden spoon. The pot has blue handles and is set on a light countertop.

Use a ladle to spoon some of the sauce into a measuring jug. You want approximately 1 cup (250ml) of the cooking liquid.

A pot of pasta soup with rigatoni, sausage, and tomato-based broth is simmering on a stove. A ladle is pouring additional broth into the pot. The pot has blue handles and is sitting on a light-colored surface.

Gradually add the liquid into the egg yolk mixture, stirring all the while, to temper the egg yolks.

tempering egg yolks mixed with grated pecorino by adding some of the pasta sauce

Test the pasta is cooked but still al dente and take the pan off the heat. Stir the egg yolk mixture into the pasta until the sauce is glossy and silky. Taste and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

A blue pot filled with rigatoni pasta and ground sausage is being topped with tempered egg yolk and cheese mixture poured from a white dish. A wooden spoon rests in the pot, and steam rises from the hot ingredients.

Serve sprinkled with red pepper flakes, shavings of pecorino and sliced basil with a simple green salad, red wine and some sliced focaccia.

A turquoise pot filled with creamy tomato-basil pasta garnished with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil sits on a textured gray surface. A silver serving spoon is placed inside the pot, next to a loosely draped green cloth.

Recipe Tips

Swaps for guanciale: you can replace with pancetta or streaky bacon but it’s worth your while looking for guanciale if possible! If you buy a slab of guanciale you will need to remove the rind before using. Freeze for 15 minutes to make it easier to handle and cut into thin slices.
Need to substitute the pecorino? Grated parmesan or grana padano will work in a pinch.
Leftovers will keep for 3-4 days in the fridge. Reheat over low heat to avoid scrambling the eggs.

Want to Cook the Pasta Separately?

Cook the pasta in salted water until al dente per pack instructions, reserving a cup of the starchy pasta water just before draining. Use the reserved pasta water to temper the eggs and thin the sauce. Toss the drained pasta with the sauce before serving.