Name: Spaghetti alla puttanesca
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Cuisine: Italian, Naples / Campania
Ingredients: 350 g spaghetti; 10 g fine sea salt for pasta water, use less than usual because the sauce is salty; 500 g ripe sauce tomatoes or canned peeled tomatoes, chopped; 80 g pitted Gaeta or other black olives, halved; 40 g salted anchovy fillets, desalted and boned, or a smaller equivalent amount of oil-packed anchovies; 35 g salted capers, rinsed and soaked briefly, then drained; 1 garlic clove, lightly crushed; 1 small red chilli, sliced; 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil; 20 g tomato concentrate; 10 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped, optional but common

Spaghetti alla puttanesca: wide hero view of spaghetti coated in a vivid tomato sauce with black olives, capers and herbs

Prep15 minutes

Cook20 minutes

Total35 minutes

Yield4 servings

Jump to recipe ↓

The dish

About Spaghetti alla puttanesca

La Cucina Italiana’s current recipe frames puttanesca as a Neapolitan classic, locally linked with “aulive e chiappariell” — olives and capers — and combines those ingredients with tomato, salted anchovies, garlic and chilli.

This is not a long-cooked tomato sauce. The condiment cooks for roughly 10 minutes after the tomato enters, preserving the sharp contrast between tomato acidity, olive fruitiness, caper brine and anchovy umami.

Salted anchovies and capers must be desalted appropriately. If jarred capers and oil-packed anchovies are used instead, quantities and final salt should be adjusted rather than following the salt-cured formula blindly.

Anchovies are melted into the aromatic oil before tomato is added. They should disappear into the sauce as seasoning rather than remain as large fish pieces.

The pasta finishes directly in the sauce with a small amount of cooking water only when needed. The final texture should coat spaghetti strands cleanly, matching the verified images, not form a loose red pool.

Technique

Three things that matter

Desalt before seasoning the pot. Anchovies, capers and olives can supply nearly all the salt the sauce needs.
Melt anchovies into the oil. They are a savoury foundation rather than a visible topping.
Keep the tomato cooking short. A quick 10-minute reduction keeps puttanesca bright and pungent instead of turning it into generic long-cooked marinara.

Cook the dish

Ingredients

Everything needed to prepare the dish, arranged for fast scanning before cooking.

Pasta

350 gspaghetti
10 gfine sea salt for pasta wateruse less than usual because the sauce is salty

Puttanesca sauce

500 gripe sauce tomatoes or canned peeled tomatoeschopped
80 gpitted Gaeta or other black oliveshalved
40 gsalted anchovy filletsdesalted and boned, or a smaller equivalent amount of oil-packed anchovies
35 gsalted capersrinsed and soaked briefly, then drained
1garlic clovelightly crushed
1small red chillisliced
60 mlextra-virgin olive oil
20 gtomato concentrate
10 gflat-leaf parsleychopped, optional but common

Step by step

Method

Prepare the salty ingredients

Rinse and desalt. Rinse salted capers thoroughly and soak briefly in cool water; rinse/clean salted anchovies as needed. Drain and pat dry.
They should taste savoury rather than aggressively salty before entering the pan.
Start garlic and chilli. Warm olive oil with garlic and chilli over medium-low heat until fragrant. Remove the garlic once golden at the edges.
The oil should be aromatic but not taste of burned garlic.
Melt the anchovies. Add anchovies and mash gently with a spoon until they dissolve into the warm oil.
No large anchovy pieces should remain before tomato is added.

Cook the quick sauce

Add tomato, olives, capers and concentrate. Stir in tomatoes, olives, capers and tomato concentrate. Bring to a lively simmer.
Ingredients should be evenly dispersed through the tomato rather than sitting in separate oily patches.
Reduce for about 10 minutes. Cook uncovered for roughly 10 minutes, stirring several times, until the sauce darkens slightly and thickens.
A spoonful should look glossy and concentrated but still fresh-red.
Taste before adding salt. Taste the reduced sauce and add no salt unless it genuinely needs it.
The balance should be savoury and briny without one salty ingredient overwhelming the tomato.

Finish the spaghetti in the sauce

Cook spaghetti al dente. Boil spaghetti until 1 minute short of done, using slightly less salt in the pasta water than for a plain sauce. Reserve 150 ml cooking water.
The spaghetti should still have a firm central bite.
Toss with puttanesca. Transfer spaghetti into the sauce and toss over medium heat for 60–90 seconds. Add a small splash of pasta water only if needed to loosen.
The sauce should cling evenly to the strands without pooling.
Finish and serve. Turn off the heat and fold in parsley if using. Serve immediately.
Olives and capers should remain visible against a glossy red coating.

Practical guidance

Anchovy question

Some modern regional versions omit anchovy, but the current La Cucina Italiana Neapolitan formula includes it; this page follows that version.

Capers

Salt-packed capers give excellent flavour but need proper rinsing. Jarred capers in brine can be used after draining and a quick rinse.

Cheese

Grated cheese is not needed; the dish’s savoury structure already comes from anchovy, capers and olives.

Timing

Because the sauce is quick, have the salty ingredients prepared before the pasta water comes fully to the boil.

Troubleshooting

The sauce is unbearably salty. Salt-cured ingredients were not desalted enough or pasta water was seasoned too heavily.
The anchovies remain in chunks. The oil was not warm enough or they were added after tomato; dissolve them before the wet ingredients.
The sauce tastes like plain tomato. Olive/caper quantities are too timid or anchovy was omitted without compensating savoury depth.
The spaghetti is watery. Too much pasta water was added; toss over heat briefly until the sauce reclings to the strands.

Nutrition per serving

Serving size: 1 pasta course
Calories: approximately 600 kcal
Carbohydrates: 78 g
Protein: 20 g
Fat: 24 g
Fibre: 7 g
Sodium: approximately 1280 mg

Sodium is highly variable because anchovies, capers and olives differ greatly in salt content and desalting method.

Allergens and food safety

Contains fish and wheat/gluten.

Keep desalted anchovies refrigerated until cooking and use clean utensils around ready-to-eat parsley.

Because the sauce is intentionally salty, diners managing sodium should use lower-salt olives/capers and reduce quantities rather than relying on added salt.

FAQ

Does puttanesca contain anchovies?

This Neapolitan version does, following La Cucina Italiana’s current formula; regional and household versions without anchovy also exist.

How long should puttanesca sauce cook?

About 10 minutes after the tomato is added is enough to concentrate it without losing the vivid briny character.

Should Parmesan be added?

It is unnecessary here; anchovy, olives and capers already provide the savoury finish.

Final note

What matters most

Result: Glossy spaghetti coated in a quick dark-red tomato sauce punctuated by black olives and capers, with anchovy dissolved into the background.
Key: Desalt first, melt anchovy into the aromatic oil and keep the tomato phase short and concentrated.