If you’re craving Italian consolation meals, pasta puttanesca is the right recipe! The flavorful puttanesca sauce options olives, anchovies, capers, tons of minced garlic, and pink pepper flakes. Pair with garlic bread, a Caesar salad, and wine for the last word Italian pasta dinner.

Pasta puttanesca is certainly one of my absolute favourite dinners! I’ve made this recipe so many instances I might make it with my eyes closed. I make it for Christmas eve, dinner events, women evening, and simply because we’re craving it.
In all honesty, I’ve most likely made this Italian pasta sauce over 500 instances. And I hope I get to make it one other 500 extra! You possibly can pair any pasta form with this puttanesca sauce. However I really like spaghetti or a tube form that can catch the capers and olives.
Why you’ll Love Pasta Puttanesca…
- Shiny and briny, the puttanesca sauce is barely spicy bursting with taste!
- Pairs nice with traditional spaghetti or any pasta form your coronary heart needs.
- Filled with scrumptious elements like anchovies, capers, and olives. Even my mates who hate anchovies love this recipe!
- Just a bit bit spicy due to crushed pink pepper flakes. Scale up or down on the spiciness.
- Herbs like chopped parsley and basil add freshness to the Italian pasta sauce.
- Prepared in lower than half-hour, it’s a fast pasta sauce you’ll be able to whip up for dinner any evening of the week.
- Make the puttanesca sauce as much as 48 hours prematurely! Retailer it within the fridge, then briefly rewarm whereas the pasta cook dinner. Combine the pasta within the sauce and dig in!


What does Puttanesca Imply?
The phrase puttanesca – quick for alla puttanesca – actually interprets to “within the model of a prostitute”. Historical past depicts that ladies within the bordellos created this scrumptious pasta dish in Naples. However don’t let that little truth scare you away from making this positively scrumptious Italian pasta recipe!
The pasta sauce alone is to-die-for scrumptious! Layered with olives, anchovies, and capers… it’s exploding with taste. And comes collectively rapidly – in about the identical time it takes to get the pasta water boiling.
This scrumptious puttanesca is ideal for weeknight meals, date-night, or your subsequent banquet! Simply don’t be stunned if folks depart your home begging you for this puttanesca recipe.


Italian Pasta Puttanesca Sauce: Substances
- Pasta: There’s sufficient pasta sauce to coat 1 pound of pasta. My choice is a skinny spaghetti, however virtually any selection will work with this pasta sauce. Penne, rigatoni, and thick spaghetti are different favourite pasta shapes for the puttanesca sauce.
- Further-Virgin Olive Oil: The big quantity of additional virgin olive oil could sound odd. But it surely offers the puttanesca sauce a scrumptious richness. I don’t recommend utilizing some other number of oil.
- Yellow Onion: A white onion and even shallots will work in a pinch, however I don’t recommend utilizing pink onion for this pasta sauce.
- Anchovy Filets: Please don’t concern this scrumptious – and important – ingredient! Garlic and anchovies are what makes this sauce so flavorful. With out anchovies, you’d want so as to add much more salt to the sauce as nicely.
- Dried Oregano: When you’ve got recent oregano readily available, be happy to make use of it! However dried oregano works simply high-quality.
- Pink Pepper Flakes: Use much less pink pepper flakes for a light warmth – and extra for a spicer puttanesca sauce. The quantity of pink pepper flakes known as for gives you a medium warmth.
- Garlic: I do know 8 garlic cloves feels like plenty of minced garlic, however this huge quantity builds the flavour.
- Kalamata Olives: I don’t recommend subbing some other number of black olives on this recipe. For ease, you’ll want to purchase those already pitted.
- Capers: You should definitely drain them nicely, and provides them a fast rinse, when you desire a much less salty sauce.
- Dry White Wine: Rooster broth makes a high-quality substitute for the wine. Or, you should use pink wine.
- Crushed Tomatoes with Basil: Don’t sub entire plum or diced tomatoes right here. I like utilizing San Marzano tomatoes, however use your favourite model.
- Salt and Pepper: I recommend beginning mild with the salt, and including extra to style. Substances like anchovy fillets, black olives and capers – are already fairly salty. When you cut back the quantity of olives, capers, or anchovies, add salt as wanted.
- Chopped Basil: You should definitely use recent herbs, not dried basil or parsley! And purchase sufficient to garnish with, if desired.
- Chopped Parsley: Ditto what’s mentioned above. By no means use dried herbs on this recipe. The outcomes won’t be the identical.


Tips on how to Make Finest Puttanesca Sauce
- Boil the Pasta Water: To save lots of time, convey a big pot of water to a boil whilst you make your sauce. That approach the pasta water is prepared when you find yourself. Add a splash of salt to the boiling water earlier than you add the pasta.
- Make the Puttanesca Pasta Sauce: This Italian pasta sauce comes collectively rapidly! I wish to let it simmer for about 15 to twenty minutes. You don’t wish to let it cook dinner for much longer or it turns into dry. I like a saucy pasta alla puttanesca.
- Boil the Pasta: You’ll wish to cook dinner your pasta till it’s al dente. This implies it nonetheless has a bit of chew to it. Verify the pasta bundle for his or her instructed “doneness” and set a timer for 1 minute sooner than they recommend. Mushy pasta will damage this puttanesca sauce.
- Drain the pasta: After the pasta finishes cooking, reserve at the least 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the pasta nicely. The reserved salted water will assist skinny the pasta sauce and provides nice taste.
- Mix: Add the cooked pasta to the sauce and stir to coat the noodles. Slowly drizzle within the reserved pasta water, mixing as you add it, and letting it totally soak up earlier than including extra. Add as a lot as you need, till the sauce is the thickness you want.
- Serve: Take away from warmth and divide the pasta amongst shallow pasta bowls. I recommend serving pasta puttanesca with garlic knots and further crushed pink pepper flakes.
- Leftovers: Fortunate sufficient to have leftovers? Switch totally cooked pasta to an hermetic container and place within the fridge for as much as 3 days.
And naturally, a easy side-salad and a glass or two of wine by no means hurts!


Can I Make Pasta Puttanesca in Advance?
- Sure, to save lots of time, you’ll be able to at all times make the puttanesca pasta sauce prematurely. Merely let it totally cool, then switch it to an hermetic container, and retailer within the fridge for as much as 48 hours.
- If you’re able to eat, reheat the sauce on the stovetop or within the microwave, and mix with freshly cooked pasta.
- I don’t recommend freezing this sauce. The olives and capers will get mushy.


Extra Puttanesca Recipes:
When you’re trying to up your Italian pasta sport, do that puttanesca sauce asap! The proper straightforward pasta sauce for date evening, dinner with mates, or for particular celebrations. When you love anchovies, capers, and olives, you’ll completely love this pasta sauce.
Pinky swear! It’s so good you don’t even want Parmesan cheese for this Italian pasta.

