My family loves Italian food, and I regularly make dishes such as slow cooker bolognese sauce, chicken parmesan, pasta carbonara and this simple yet satisfying spaghetti alla puttanesca. When I’m looking for a quick and easy dinner, I often turn to pasta recipes such as pasta puttanesca. It uses ingredients that I typically already have on hand, and can be on the table in 30 minutes. How can you go wrong with that?
Pasta Puttanesca Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need spaghetti, olive oil, anchovy paste, garlic, red pepper flakes, tomatoes, salt, black pepper, kalamata olives, capers and fresh parsley.
How Do You Make Pasta Puttanesca?
Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until it is al dente. While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Place the anchovy paste, garlic and red pepper flakes in the pan and cook until the ingredients are fragrant. Chop the tomatoes, then add them to the pan along with some salt and pepper. Stir everything together, and bring the sauce to a simmer. Add the olives and capers, then drain the pasta and toss it with the sauce. Add a garnish of parsley, then serve and enjoy.
Tips For The Perfect pasta
Look for cans of San Marzano tomatoes for this recipe. This variety of tomato is full of flavor and doesn’t contain many seeds, which makes it perfect for sauce making. You can use any type of black olive that you like. I typically use Kalamata olives, but a nice Gaeta or Nicoise would also work well. Just be sure to remove the pits before you add the olives to the sauce. Salt packed capers have the best flavor and texture, just give them a quick rinse before putting them in the sauce. This pasta stays fresh in the fridge for up to 4 days, which makes it great for meal prep. I typically serve this dish with garlic knots and an Italian salad for a complete meal.
Flavor Variations
This recipe as written is a fairly classic rendition of this dish, but you can alter the ingredients to suit your tastes.
Protein: Add grilled chicken breast, garlic butter shrimp or grilled flank steak on top of your pasta. Herbs: Feel free to use other herbs instead of the parsley such as oregano or basil. Pasta: While this dish is often made with spaghetti, other long pasta will also work such as linguine or angel hair pasta. Cheese: Add some freshly grated cheese over the top such as parmesan, romano or even mozzarella.
This pasta dish is loaded with bold flavors, and tastes like it came straight from your local Italian restaurant. This is a must-try for when you need dinner on the table quickly!
Pasta Puttanesca Video
