@Tathar we did too, mostly for convenience. used some canned tomato sauce instead of pureeing tomatoes, and canned jalapeños too (easily found in the mexican section)
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@Tathar you mostly just need something to add heat, could probably even just use chili oil if you wanted

this isn't a recipe that really celebrates the flavor of the peppers, though now that i say that a bit of scotch bonnet (a pepper that's quite hot but also known for its flavor, not just its heat) in there might be interesting....
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@Felthry

I'd probably go with a fresh jalapeño instead, but only because it would be easier for me to work with than canned. But I'd also consider trying it with some cayenne, white vinegar cooked down, and different long pastas other than spaghetti.

@Tathar I was thinking it'd be interesting to try with bucatini
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@Tathar actually we would have tried it with bucatini, but our local grocery store didn't have any
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@Felthry

I tried making my regular spaghetti in red sauce recipe with the only bucatini I could get in Florida (it was a new offering), and it was just way too thick pasta and not at all suitable for the recipe. I couldn't figure out what kind of recipe it would work well with, but it felt like I was biting into the thickest and longest macaroni elbows ever.

@Tathar Bucatini isn't supposed to be very thick--it should be just slightly thicker than spaghetti, as we understand it?
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@Felthry

This is what I used. It's somewhere in between macaroni elbows and a thin ziti. https://www.barilla.com/en-us/products/pasta/collezione/bucatini

@Felthry

To clarify, it's as long as spaghetti, but its outer radius is between elbows and penne or a small ziti. I thought it was just way too much pasta relative to the sauce in each bite.