A deliciously creamy tomato pasta sauce with the addition of capers for extra depth of flavor! This vegetarian sauce is an umami lover’s dream and comes together in just 30 minutes for an easy weeknight dinner.
Hey, remember when I shared my brother’s spaghetti sauce recipe? Well, if you liked that, here’s the sequel. A creamy, chunky, veggie packed tomato sauce full of capers.
His original version was made with various bits of seafood, but this version hits the spot for those of us who don’t eat the sea creatures. The briney, umami kick in this sauce is all caper powered.
This is an easy, flexible weeknight meal. Because it’s so flavorful with all the capers, veggies and parmesan cheese, we can get away with cooking it fairly quickly; just give it as long as you can. Of course, the leftover sauce is even better, but isn’t it always?!
What You Need & What Can Flex
We are not at all picky with this sauce. It is really flexible, and handy for using up little veggie scraps or even making when there’s no fresh veggies in the house. Let’s go through some options.
- Any canned tomatoes will do nicely. Whole, diced or chopped. Doesn’t really matter. If you use whole, you will just mash them down as they cook.
- A few mushrooms are great here, but totally optional. Frozen mushrooms will do nicely too – just saute them and get all the liquid out before you anything else to the pan.
- A red or yellow pepper (bell pepper or romano pepper) works really nicely here, whether you use a fresh pepper or a roasted pepper – jarred is fine too!
- Feel free to add any other veggies you wish to add, from zucchini to kale to broccoli, I think this sauce can handle whatever you want to throw at it.
- The amount of capers can flex. You can use 1/4 cup of capers for a more subtle result, or 1/2 cup of capers if you want things really punchy. I like it both ways.
- Honestly, every kind of pasta works well here, long or short shapes alike, so use what you like best.
How to make it, in pictures
There’s a printable recipe card coming your way, but let’s just watch the magic unfold here first.
First, you’ll saute some shallot, garlic and veggies together. Then we’ll throw in our capers and use the back of the spoon to kind of mash some of them down as they cook to release lots of brine into the sauce.
Mmm. It’s smelling kinda good already.
In go the herbs, in go the tomatoes.
I like to use canned whole plum tomatoes, and then mash them up a little with the back of the spoon too. But just use your personal fave. Let it all simmer while your pasta cooks.
And actually, you could stop there. You could stop there and keep this sauce vegan and super healthy.
You could.
But I did not.
Let’s carry on and add some bad stuff!
Just before the pasta is ready, in goes lots of cheese and cream.
Red is now orange!
Just look at how rich and silky that sauce is now.
In goes your pasta! Add some pasta water too if you wish.
Ta da!
Plate it up…
… And watch it disappear.
How to finish your jar of capers…
Creamy Caper Pasta
Ingredients
- 14 oz (400 g) dried pasta
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 fresh or roasted red pepper, diced
- 4.5 oz (130 g) mushrooms, diced
- ¼ – ½ cup (4 Tbsp) capers, drained – see notes for guidance on the quantity
- 1 tsp mixed Italian herbs
- 28 oz (800 g) canned tomatoes, whole, diced or chopped
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ cup (120 ml) double (heavy) cream
- ½ cup (50 g) parmesan, pecorino or Italian hard cheese, more for topping
Instructions
- Cook your veggies. Heat a little olive oil in a pan and saute the mushrooms and shallot until the mushrooms are starting to brown. Add the pepper and saute until soft.
- Add the garlic, herbs and capers. Use the wooden spoon to smoosh the capers into the sides of the pan and crush them down a little – this will help release all the flavors and cook it more evenly in the sauce.
- Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and sugar.
- Simmer for as long as you can – 45 minutes is ideal. Stir regularly. You want to see the sauce thickening up. If you're using whole tomatoes, use the spoon to break them up regularly as you stir.
- Once the sauce is almost ready, set your pasta cooking.
- Once you're almost ready to serve, add the cheese and cream to the sauce and stir through over a very low heat until the cheese has melted in and the sauce is thick and rich.
- Toss the pasta in with the sauce and serve immediately.
this was perfect — 5 stars! I would never have thought of putting capers in pasta sauce …. but they added an amazing flavour. One of my favourite pasta sauces ever!
Good