Calabria · Spilinga

Fileja con la 'nduja

Name: Fileja con la 'nduja
Prep time: 3 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 38 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian (Calabria)
Ingredients: 400 g fileja (or fusilli lunghi); 80 g 'nduja di Spilinga; 400 g tomato passata; 1 red onion of Tropea, sliced; 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; aged pecorino or ricotta salata, grated (to serve)

Calabrian fileja with spicy 'nduja and tomato

Hand-rolled pasta from the Vibo Valentia hills in a fiery sauce of spreadable 'nduja, Tropea red onion and tomato.

Documented traditionSources checked · October 2026

Course: Primo piattoPasta & rice
Serves: 4
Hands-on: 3 min
Cooking: 35 min

La provenienza

Where this recipe comes from

'Nduja is a soft, spicy spreadable salume of pork, Calabrian chilli and salt, from Spilinga in the province of Vibo Valentia. Fileja, from the same province, are eggless pasta strands rolled around a thin rod called the ‘dinaciulu’, which leaves them hollow and twisted.

The red onion of Tropea, which sweetens the sauce, has been a PGI since 2008. There is no official recipe; Calabrian sources agree on fileja, 'nduja, Tropea onion and tomato.

Provenance: Documented traditionA regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.
Defined by: Calabrian tradition
Reference: Vibo Valentia province
Sources: Wikipedia — Fileja
Dissapore — pasta with 'nduja, the Calabrian recipe (Italian)

Spilinga, Calabria

Ingredienti

Ingredients

4 servings

400 g filejaor fusilli lunghi
80 g 'nduja di Spilinga
400 g tomato passata
1 red onion of Tropea, sliced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
aged pecorino or ricotta salata, gratedto serve

Equipment

Wide frying pan for the sauce
Large pot for the pasta
Wooden spoon

Preparazione

Method

About 35 minutes. Start the onion while the pasta water heats; the 'nduja goes in only at the end.

3 minhands-on
35 mincooking

The sauce

Cooking 8–10 minHeat low

Slice the onion thinly and cook it in the olive oil over low heat for 8–10 minutes, until soft and sweet but not browned.
Cooking 15 minHeat medium-low

Add the passata and a small pinch of salt and simmer over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until slightly thickened.
Hands-on 1 minHeat lowest, or off the heat

Remove the casing from the 'nduja and crumble it. Turn the heat to its lowest — or take the pan off the heat — and stir the 'nduja into the sauce until it melts and the sauce turns creamy and deep red, about a minute.

Check No lumps of 'nduja left, and a little red fat rising to the surface.

Tip 'Nduja is spicy and salty: taste the sauce before adding any more salt.

The pasta

Cooking 12–15 min

Cook the fileja in plenty of salted water (about 10 g per litre) until al dente: dried fileja take 12–15 minutes, fresh ones 6–8.

Check Bite one: tender outside, a firm thread at the centre of the twist.
Hands-on 2 min

Drain, keeping a cup of the cooking water. Toss the fileja in the sauce over low heat for a minute with 3–4 tablespoons of the water so the sauce clings to every twist. Serve with grated pecorino or ricotta salata.

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Errori comuni

Common mistakes

Frying the 'nduja hard — it should melt gently, not crisp or burn.

Fuori dall'Italia

Cooking it outside Italy

'Nduja is now widely sold abroad; check the label for Calabrian origin.