Last updated on October 29, 2023
In Naples they make it with olives and capers; in Rome they also add anchovies. Pasta alla Puttanesca is a traditional Italian dish, simple, very tasty and quick to prepare. We share the original recipe
Pasta alla Puttanesca is a typical pasta dish from central-southern Italy. The pasta sauce is made with tomatoes, black olives and capers.
Abroad, 🔊 pasta alla puttanesca is considered one of the most traditional Italian pasta sauces. It is mentioned along with very popular sauces such as aglio, olio e peperoncino or cacio e pepe.
The puttanesca surely is traditional, but it is clearly a pasta sauce made with what you have at home (especially if you live in Naples).
On this page we share the original recipe for a good and creamy Puttanesca, with or without anchovies.
We prepare with you the classic recipe of pasta alla Puttanesca. The preparation is quick and easy: it takes about half an hour.
We follow this method: we heat the tomato sauce while we boil the pasta, and finally we transport the pasta to the pan with the tomato for the last few minutes of cooking. In this way we obtain a well blended and very creamy sauce, also thanks to the starch of the pasta water.
| Ingredient image | Ingredient name | Cups | Grams | Ounces |
|
Spaghetti | 8.5 oz | 240 g | |
|
Peeled tomatoes | 14.1 oz | 400 g | |
|
Black olives | 6.35 oz | 180 g | |
|
Anchovies | 1 oz | 30 g | |
|
Capers | 1.4 oz | 40 g | |
|
Garlic | 4 cloves | ||
|
Extra Virgin Olive Oil | 2 tablespoons | ||
|
Chilli pepper | 1 piece | ||
|
Parsley | 1 sprig |
A quality tomato sauce is essential for Puttanesca. We recommend the peeled tomatoes of San Marzano, which is a very renowned quality of tomato in Central Italy, and a DOP product of the Agro Sarnese-Nocerino D.O.P. .
You can also find this type of tomato abroad, for example Mutti sells them as peeled tomatoes that you find in grocery stores.
San Marzano tomatoes are particularly suitable for pasta and pizza, because they are rich in aroma and relatively little watery.
Anchovies in the Puttanesca is optional. It's not in the Puttanesca recipe they make in Naples; but it's a very popular ingredient, appearing in almost every version of the recipe.
Traditionally, Puttanesca sauce is quite spicy. We use one for four people, but you can of course add more if you like, or remove them altogether.
With the Puttanesca sauce we cook 🔊 spaghetti: a classic combination.
For each person we put 80 grams of spaghetti, the amount of pasta recommended by the Italian Ministry of Health.
We cook the spaghetti in a large pot and plenty of water.
However, we don't want to use too much water: 1 US quart / liter of water is sufficient for every 3.5 oz / 100 grams of pasta.
In Italy we also have a rule for the salt of water pasta: 0.35 oz / 10 grams of coarse salt for every quart / liter of water.
Capers are usually preserved in vinegar or with salt.
In both cases it is good to wash them with cold water before using them for the sauce; to remove the taste of vinegar and especially the salt, which would otherwise ruin the dish.
After washing, cut the capers into small pieces.
Fill a pot with cold water and place it on the stove over medium heat.
Cover the pot with the lid to heat the water faster.
👉 Don't add the salt right away: wait instead for the water to boil.
Pour a drizzle of olive oil into the pan.
The pan must be big enough to also contain the pasta, which we mix with the sauce at the end of cooking.
Turn the heat down to low and wait for the oil to heat up.
Then add the garlic cloves.
Peel the garlic cloves, leaving them whole because we will remove them later; then put them to fry in the pan.
While frying the garlic, also add the red pepper, capers and optionally the anchovies.
Fry the ingredients in the pan over medium heat for a few minutes. In this way, the oil absorbs all the aroma of capers and anchovies.
In Italy we call this 🔊 soffritto.
To make a tasty sauce, we recommend cooking the tomato sauce for at least 10-15 minutes over low heat, while the pasta water is boiling and the pasta is cooking.
Pour the peeled and sliced tomatoes into the pan and mix well. Keep the heat on low.
The water should be at boiling point.
Giet er eerst het handje grof zout bij. Wacht een minuutje en als het water weer begint te koken, voeg je ook de pasta toe.
First add a handful of coarse salt. Wait a minute and when the water starts to boil again, add the pasta.
As we write in the recipe for pasta al dente, we usually add 10 g (0.5 US tablespoons) of salt for every 1 L of water (about 1 quart).
While the pasta is cooking, check the state of the sauce. Besides stirring occasionally, you'll want to add half a ladle of salted pasta water, which will make the sauce creamy.
In the next step, we will transport the pasta to the saucepan to finish cooking; but first remove the garlic cloves (so no one finds them on the plate) and add the black olives.
Two minutes before the pasta is al dente, transfer it to the sapan. We finish cooking the pasta in the pan, for an extra creamy Puttanesca.
Use a spaghetti spoon or a skimmer for short pasta; leave the pasta water in the cooking pot.
Mix the pasta thoroughly with the sauce. Add half a ladle of pasta water to make the sauce nice and creamy
Put the pasta on the plates and add some chopped parsley.
In Naples they don't add grated cheese on it, as in aglio, olio e peperoncino .
Yoru Pasta alla Puttanesca is ready. Buon appetito! 🍝
In the restaurant in Italy, when you finish eating, the waiter will ask: 🔊 andava tutto bene? (was everything fine?)
The correct name is Pasta alla puttanesca, and not Pasta puttanesca as many foreign sites write.
As well as Pasta all'arrabbiata and not Pasta arrabbiata.
The name is derived from a swear word in Italian, which we will not mention here. Many hypotheses have been made about why it is called that way.
The name certainly captures the essence of this sauce well: a slightly muddled mix of ingredients you normally have at home, which together create a very juicy sauce.
The Guardian used the term to denote the political style of Silvio Berlusconi, then Italian Prime Minister: Puttanesca-style politics.
The Italian words we use on this page:
| 🔊 Spaghetti | Spaghetti |
| 🔊 Olive | Olives |
| 🔊 Capperi | Capers |
| 🔊 Acciughe | Anchovies |
In Naples, een stad waar Puttanesca traditioneel is, wordt deze pastasaus ook wel aulive e cchiapparielle genoemd, wat in het Napolitaanse dialect olijven en kappertjes betekent.
The Puttanesca sauce has another property: it combines well with all types of pasta.
It is a classic with spaghetti and long pasta, but also with penne and rigatoni.
In Italy they might turn up their noses if you use tiny pasta like macaroni; but if you like it why not?
In Italy, Puttanesca sauce is also used on gnocchi and even pizza.
Other pasta sauces such as Ragù alla Bolognese, carbonara or Amatriciana have a well-known history and origin: DOP ingredients and mentions in important Italian cookbooks such as Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.
Not much is known about the origins of Puttanesca. With the same ingredients it was called «marinara sauce» until the middle of the twentieth century (Source), a recipe from the Campania region.
In Italy they also recommend DOP products for de Puttanesca: black olives from Gaeta and tomatoes from San Marzano are products that contribute to a quality sauce.
The puttanesca, as well as the aglio e olio is usually made with garlic - which gives a very strong taste to the pasta - and that is not for everyone.
For example, many Northern Italians find it difficult to appreciate its taste.
Furthermore, you traditionally do not grate the cheese on the Puttanesca, just like on aglio e olio. Which is instead a more frequent habit in Northern Italy.
We frequently update our pages on Italian pasta with new classic and regional traditional recipes.
I am Italian from Trentino. I studied philosophy in Padua and worked for many years between Milan and Amsterdam in the field of media and culture.
Since 2021 I write on All Italian to practice foreign languages; meanwhile I share with you the customs and traditions of my country, and the recipes that I prepare at home.
