Start by heating a pot of water for your pasta.

In the meantime, finely chop an onion and 2 cloves of garlic. NOTE: if you aren’t using a garlic infused olive oil, go ahead and add 2 more cloves of garlic.

Heat a pot on medium heat and add extra virgin olive oil and crushed red pepper flakes. Use 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, I used 2 tbsp and didn’t realize how oily Rao’s sauce is, you don’t need all the extra oil.

Once the pepper flakes sizzle for about 10 seconds, add the onion and garlic. Saute until golden, about 5 minutes.

Here’s the Rao’s sauce I used. YUM!

Back to the onion – this is what you should have.

Add the Rao’s sauce.

Season with 1/2 tsp of black pepper and salt to taste. Stir.

Cover with a lid for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, check on the water. Follow the directions on the package and add the spaghetti. Cook until al dente.

While the pasta and sauce cook, chop up lots and lots of basil. You truly can never have enough basil. Set aside.

Once the pasta is cooked, reserve a little pasta water, and then drain it.

Add all the pasta to the sauce.

Toss well. Turn off the stove.

Add the basil. Toss some more.

Add about 1/4 cup (or less) of the reserved starchy pasta water.