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Pasta alla norma is a wonderfully indulgent Sicilian pasta dish with oven roasted eggplant, cheese and a rich and flavorful sauce. This version has added meatballs to make it more substantial, although those can be omitted for a vegetarian version. This pasta alla norma recipe is from Catania, a city on Sicily’s eastern coast. If you enjoy eggplant Parmesan, you’re going to love pasta alla Norma. If you don’t often buy or use eggplant, try pasta alla norma with meatballs (aka meatballs alla norma) and it will soon become a firm favorite!
This hearty, delicious pasta alla norma recipe is straight from Sicily with love. It pairs tender rigatoni pasta with eggplant, meatballs and a mouthwatering tomato sauce.
Italian food fans might also enjoy paccheri pasta, rigatoni pasta pie, pasta e ceci, or eggplant parmigiana.
Why You’ll Love It
A traditional recipe: Pasta alla norma is a wonderful dish from Sicily’s east coast. Make this and you’re enjoying a real taste of Italian cooking.
Not hard to make: This is a straightforward dish to make. You need to prep and bake the eggplant slices and the meatballs, simmer the sauce ingredients together, cook the pasta, and gently toss everything together.
Tastes so good: This is definitely a full-flavored dish. It offers a little of everything – juicy eggplant, spicy meatballs, a tangy sweet sauce, and typical Italian additions such as parmesan cheese, fresh basil and perfectly cooked rigatoni pasta.
Pasta alla Norma Ingredients
A complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
Eggplant: One of the main ingredients in pasta alla norma recipes.
Rigatoni pasta: Feel free to swap for penne, fusilli or another preferred pasta shape.
Cheese: Ricotta salata (I like this one!) is the most popular option, although pecorino or parmesan would work too.
Spicy Italian sausage: Simply roll this into meatball shapes. You can sub mild Italian sausage if you wish.
Crushed tomatoes: Use a good quality brand of canned tomatoes for the best results.
Herbs: Fresh basil, fresh parsley and dried oregano add fragrant flavors to the pasta alla norma recipe.
Olive oil: Use Italian for authenticity. Since it’s for cooking, you don’t need to use the more costly extra virgin olive oil.
How to Make Rigatoni alla Norma
For more detailed instructions with weights and measurements, jump to the printable recipe card.
Prepare the eggplant: Chop the eggplant, sprinkle with salt and leave for 15 minutes. Rinse the eggplant slices, arrange on a greased cookie sheet and toss with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.
Make the meatballs: Roll the spicy Italian sausage into balls and bake for 12 minutes.
Prepare the diced tomato sauce: Put all the sauce ingredients in a pan and simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook the rigatoni pasta: Cook the pasta to al dente, following the instructions on the package, and drain.
Finish the sauce: Stir the cooked eggplant cubes and meatballs into the delicious sauce and simmer for 5 minutes before stirring in the cooked pasta, capers, basil, and parsley.
Serve and enjoy: Serve immediately, with ricotta salata cheese sprinkled on top.
Substitutions and Variations
Gluten-free option: If you want a gluten-free version, use gluten-free pasta and check the ingredients in the Italian sausage.
Vegetarian version: You can omit the meatballs or use vegetarian-friendly ones. Not all pasta alla norma recipes include meat anyway.
Spice it up: Feel free to add crushed red pepper flakes to the pasta sauce as well as the salt and pepper.
A different cheese: Freshly grated ricotta salata is the typical choice, but parmesan cheese works too, or pecorino romano.
Fry the eggplant: If you’re leaving out the meatballs and don’t want to heat up the oven just to roast that, you might want to fry the eggplant slices in oil in a skillet.
Serving Suggestions
Appetizers: Begin the meal with steak crostini or any of these classic Italian appetizers.
Side dishes: Pasta alla norma is a meal-in-one with pasta, meat and vegetables, so you don’t need a side dish. If you do want to offer something alongside it, consider garlic bread or a simple melon prosciutto salad.
Dessert: Lemon mascarpone cake makes a great dessert.
How to Store Eggplant Pasta
Store: Keep leftovers in a covered container in the refrigerator and eat within 3 days.
Freeze: If you have leftover sauce, freeze it by itself without adding the pasta, meatballs or other ingredients. In fact, you might want to make double the amount of sauce to cut down the prep time on future pasta alla norma recipes. You can freeze leftover pasta too.
Thaw: Defrost overnight in the fridge.
Reheat: You can warm pasta alla norma back up in a pan on the stove or in the microwave.
Top Tips
Choose good quality ingredients: Good quality ingredients make so much difference to the result, so use good quality canned tomatoes, Italian sausage, fresh lemon juice and zest, and perfectly ripe eggplant.
Al dente pasta: Cook the pasta al dente for the best result. This means when it’s firm rather than too soft.
Thin the sauce: Keep some of the water you cooked the rigatoni pasta in. You can add a little pasta water to the sauce if it gets too thick.
Pasta alla Norma FAQs
Yes, although meatballs don’t usually feature in it. It’s a satisfying vegetarian dinner, but also good either with the meatballs or served alongside grilled chicken or steak.
This isn’t the same as the soft ricotta you get in tubs. Instead it’s a hard cheese that’s salted and aged. It’s made from sheep milk whey and offers a bold, tangy taste that goes beautifully with the other flavors in pasta alla norma.
You don’t have to but if you find eggplant rather bitter, I recommend you don’t omit this step. Salting it draws out some of the liquid (which has the bitter flavor) so do it if you have the time.
Pasta alla Norma Recipe
Pasta alla Norma
Ingredients
For the Eggplant:
- 2 eggplant, medium, cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon black pepper
For the Meatballs:
- 1 Pound Italian sausage, spicy, shaped into small meatballs
For the Sauce:
- 28 Ounces crushed tomatoes, canned
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
- 2 Sprigs fresh basil, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, fresh
- 1 Tablespoon lemon zest, fresh
- 1 Teaspoon oregano, dried
- 1 Teaspoon salt
- 1/2 Teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- 1/4 Teaspoon dried chili flake, s or crushed red pepper flake, optional
Instructions
For the Eggplant:
- Place the cubed eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with a couple of teaspoons of salt. Allow to sit for 15 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 400°F. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray.
- Rinse the eggplant well, then pat dry. Spread evenly on the prepared pan, then drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Bake for 20 minutes, flipping the eggplant halfway through.
For the Meatballs:
- Use a large teaspoon to roll the sausage into balls. Place in a large oven safe pan and bake for 12 minutes.
For the Sauce:
- Combine all the ingredients together in a sauce pan.
- Simmer on low for 10 minutes.
For the Pasta:
- Cook the pasta according to the package direction, then drain well.
- Add the eggplant and meatballs to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the pasta and toss gently to combine.
- Add the capers, basil, parsley and sprinkle with the cheese. Serve immediately.
Notes
Al dente pasta: Cook the pasta al dente for the best result. This means when it’s firm rather than too soft.
Thin the sauce: Keep some of the water you cooked the rigatoni pasta in. You can add a little pasta water to the sauce if it gets too thick.
Nutrition
It’s easy to make pasta alla norma and this dish, that has rigatoni pasta, eggplant, ricotta salata, a tangy tomato sauce, and more, offers a wonderful flavor. Although there are more eggplant recipes from Italy, pasta alla norma is perhaps the best-known and most popular. You’ll find the combination of Italian flavors in the dish absolutely delicious and definitely love pasta alla norma!
Other Recipes to Try
Bella Bucchiotti
Bella Bucchiotti is a Canadian-based syndicated food, travel, and lifestyle writer, photographer, and creator at xoxoBella. She founded xoxoBella in 2015, where she shares her love for food, dogs, sustainability, fitness, crafts, outdoor adventures, travel, and philanthropy to encourage others to run the extra mile, try new recipes, visit unfamiliar places, and stand for a cause. Bella creates stress-free and family-friendly recipes for weeknight dinners and festive feasts.
Pasta alla Norma with meatballs was a hit—so rich and indulgent. Definitely a new favorite!
Looks good. Making it tonight!
Enjoy!
My family can’t get enough of this dish, they always ask for more.