It’s a bold and savory Italian sauce made with tomatoes, anchovies, capers, garlic, and olives, perfect for enhancing pasta dishes.
Ingredients for Puttanesca Sauce
Tomatoes: Choose quality tomatoes like San Marzanos for the best flavor. Squeeze the whole tomatoes in Step 2 to get a rustic texture of smaller and larger pieces. Capers: Rinse capers before using them to remove unnecessary salt. Anchovies: Anchovies add the signature briny flavor to a classic puttanesca recipe. Anchovies are preferred, but you can replace them with a bit of miso paste, fish sauce, or even seaweed flakes if needed. Olives: I prefer black olives but kalamata olives or Castelvetrano are salty, sweet, and meaty. Pasta: Puttanesca pairs well with almost any kind of pasta. I love spaghetti, bucatini, or penne—thicker kinds of pasta that pasta sauce can cling to.
Variations
I like to toss in a few red pepper flakes for a subtle spicy kick to the sauce. In addition to garlic and red pepper flakes, a little dried oregano, fresh parsley, or fresh basil will add a bright and herb-y flavor to the pasta puttanesca recipe.
How to Make Puttanesca Sauce
Storing Puttanesca
Keep leftover puttanesca sauce in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze portions in zippered bags for up to one month. Did you enjoy this Puttanesca Recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below. © SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
