Audrey Hepburn’s 4-Ingredient Pasta Is Famous for This Shocking Ingredient

Here at Allrecipes, we love getting a peek into our favorite celebrities’ home lives—or rather, their kitchens. Whether it’s an NFL legend, a country music hero, or even a former first lady, finding out what our favorite A-listers like to cook and eat makes them feel a little more relatable. Even when it comes to old Hollywood stars as iconic as Audrey Hepburn. Her brilliance and charisma made her one of the most untouchable actresses of her time, but when you find out the “lazy girl” meal she made when life got too chaotic, you’ll realize she’s just like the rest of us.

The Key to Audrey Hepburn’s 4-Ingredient Penne

Thanks to her son Luca Dotti and his cookbook “Audrey at Home,” we have a fairly comprehensive view of what went on in Audrey Hepburn’s home kitchen. The actress fueled her prolific on-screen career with mainly one food group: pasta—so much so that Dotti has claimed she had a “serious pasta addiction.”

She was especially fond of pasta al pomodoro, which she made from vegetables in her backyard garden. But, at times when she didn’t feel like pulling out all the stops with her signature homemade tomato sauce, she relied on a similar, but simpler version—one that featured an unconventional ingredient: ketchup.

Yes, ketchup (she preferred Heinz). It might sound like the makings of a college student’s budget dinner, but her recipe actually spins it into a somewhat sophisticated meal. After all, this is Audrey Hepburn we’re talking about.

The low-effort, one-pot meal was the perfect way for Hepburn to slow down on a Sunday night with her son. In fact, “Her very personal view of a good life included relaxing in front of the TV with a plate of penne and ketchup,” Dotti shared.

So, in an attempt to live the “good life” of Audrey Hepburn, I had to try her pasta alla ketchup for myself.

I Tried Audrey Hepburn’s Penne With Ketchup

While I am a huge admirer of Audrey Hepburn herself, I am not necessarily a fan of ketchup. You would never find me adding it to eggs or even a burger, and only rarely will you catch me pairing it with fries. So, as the hardest critic to impress, I thought I could be a real judge of penne with ketchup.

And believe it or not, I actually liked it. 

I’ll start by saying, you’re not dousing the pasta noodles like you would a french fry, only adding enough until a pale pink sauce forms with the butter. While I thought the most prominent flavor would be sweetness, the taste is mainly tangy. It’s fairly acidic, almost like a barbecue sauce, but with enough cheese, you get a creaminess that balances out the bite.

My biggest takeaway, however, was the silkiness of the pasta noodles. There’s a step in the recipe where you let the noodles sit in the warm pot, covered, after mixing with oil and butter for about two minutes. It’s a technique called “mantecare,” and it resulted in the smoothest and most luscious pasta noodles I’ve ever had. 

So, the next time you’re in need of a lazy girl dinner fix, call on this four-ingredient Audrey Hepburn original. With the right mindset, it’s not a college student’s supper, it’s the dinner of the stars.

Audrey Hepburn’s Penne With Ketchup Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound penne pasta
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Dollop of ketchup or more to taste
• Emmentaler or Gruyère cheese, grated for serving

Directions

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the penne until al dente. Strain, but reserve a 1/4 cup of pasta water. In the same pot over medium heat, toss the pasta with the butter and oil, mixing for a minute or two. Then, remove from the heat, cover the pot, and wait about 2 minutes more. 
2. Pour the penne into a serving bowl and toss with a few squirts of ketchup, just enough to give the pasta a rosy color. Serve with the grated cheese.