Spaghetti puttanesca
A bold, salty tomato sauce with olives, capers, garlic and chili that comes together in the time the pasta boils, all from jars and cans.
- 30 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.71 a serving
- 650 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- ½ cup Kalamata olives, halved
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 can crushed tomatoes, 28 oz
- 2 tbsp capers, drained
- 1 lb spaghetti
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Each serving has about 650 calories, 19 g protein, 103 g carbs and 19 g fat, and costs about $1.71 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No Kalamata olives? Black olives work.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No crushed tomatoes? Diced tomatoes work.
- No spaghetti? Fettuccine works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water, add the salt, cover and over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
While it heats, the garlic, the olives and the parsley.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Halve. Halving means cutting something into two equal pieces. Even halves cook at the same speed, so one doesn’t dry out while the other finishes.
How you’ll know: The two pieces look like mirror images of each other.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
Warm the olive oil in a large over medium heat. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook about 1 minute, .
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Stir in the crushed tomatoes, olives, capers and oregano. , then turn the heat to low and let it bubble while the pasta cooks.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heat
Dolly’s tip: No salt in the sauce yet. Olives and capers are salty, so taste at the very end.Cook the spaghetti 1 minute less than the package says.
High heatTimer: 9 min
Scoop out 1 cup of , then the spaghetti.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Add the spaghetti to the sauce and over medium heat for 1 minute, adding at a time until the sauce clings to every strand.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Reserve pasta water. It means scooping out a cup of the starchy cooking water before you drain the pasta. A splash helps the sauce cling and turn silky, and it’s the step everyone forgets.
How you’ll know: A mug of cloudy water is sitting by the stove before the pasta goes into the colander.
Splash. A splash is a small, quick pour, about a teaspoon to a tablespoon. It’s there to loosen or brighten a dish, so the exact amount doesn’t matter.
How you’ll know: The dish looks a little looser or tastes a little brighter, not soupy.
Medium heatTimer: 1 min
Taste, add salt only if it needs it, and serve topped with the parsley.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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