This tasty puttanesca sauce is made without anchovies, using canned tomatoes and other fridge and pantry staples. It is rich, thick, intensely flavorful and easy to make on a weeknight!
Pasta Puttanesca is a pantry staple recipe that relies on some very strong salty flavors (namely capers, olives and anchovies) for a hit of umami deliciousness. Today, we will stray from tradition and ditch the anchovies to make this sauce vegetarian and vegan friendly. And friendly to anyone who just cannot with anchovies.
I’ve never had this dish in its original form, so I really couldn’t say that it’s going to taste the same or satisfy someone who really wants that fishy taste (because even before I was a vegetarian, I was not a fan of the fishy tastes). But what I can say is that it is tasty! If you love the salty, briny flavors of capers and olives, you’re good to go here. We use lots of them – plus some vegan Worcestershire sauce for added umami depth – and a little lemon zest that gives the whole dish a lift you didn’t know it needed.
Top Tips for the Best Puttanesca Sauce
- The lemon zest is optional and it’s not a traditional ingredient. So I struggled with the decision of whether to include it, because puttanesca is supposed to be all about the pantry ingredients and not require fresh produce, but this Slate article made a strong case for it. And after trying it, I had to agree. So leave it out if you need to, but I highly recommend it.
- Quality canned tomatoes will make a difference to this dish, but if yours aren’t top tier just make sure you cook this sauce down until it’s nice and thick and rich. It may take longer if your starting point is more watery tomatoes. You may also add a little sugar if your tomatoes are more acidic – I don’t find that necessary with the likes of Mutti.
- If you want to use whole chopped tomatoes instead of diced, just mash them up as they cook, and you should get to the right texture in the end.
- You can use either black olives or kalamata olives. I use a mix of both here.
- If fresh herbs such as basil or parsley are available, add them! Definitely add them. But they aren’t essential. We use a lot of dried herbs here already and that can be enough.
- I like to cook this sauce in a large saute pan. The large surface area means that the sauce thickens up relatively quickly. About 30 minutes is enough.
- Always reserve a cup of pasta cooking water to toss through with the pasta when you add it to the sauce.
Making this Vegan
I’m calling this sauce vegetarian, because I like to add some salted butter to it and cheese on top. But it’s easily vegan if you leave those things out; I’ve tried it and loved it vegan style too.
Using quality olive oil in the sauce instead of butter is fine.
Adding some vegan cheese, or no topping at all, is fine… But if you had a little extra time, I think a vegan pangrattato would be a fabulous way to round this off without cheese.
Serve me with…
Vegetarian Puttanesca Pasta
Ingredients
- extra virgin olive oil, for cooking
- 28 oz (800 g) canned diced tomatoes, see notes
- 2 shallots , diced – or 1 onion
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 tsp red pepper or chili flakes
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried parsley
- 3 tbsp capers
- ½ cup (8 tbsp) black or kalamata olives, chopped
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp salted butter, or additional olive oil
- 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce
- 1 small lemon , for zesting – or half of a large lemon
- 12 oz (340 g) spaghetti
Instructions
- Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a saute pan over a low heat. Saute the shallots until soft.extra virgin olive oil, 2 shallots
- Add the garlic and saute for about 30-60 seconds, until soft and fragrant.6 cloves garlic
- Add the red pepper flakes, dried herbs, capers and olives to the pan and stir through. If the pan feels dry, add some more oil.2 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp dried parsley, 3 tbsp capers, 1/2 cup black or kalamata olives, 1 tsp red pepper or chili flakes
- Add the tomato paste and saute for another minute or two to get the tomato paste nice and caramelized.2 tbsp tomato paste
- Add the canned tomatoes and the vegan Worcestershire sauce and mix through. Add the butter (if using – otherwise add more olive oil) and salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat up to medium and allow the sauce to simmer, partially covered, for about 30 minutes. Regularly lift the lid and stir the sauce, mashing the capers and olives a little as it cooks.28 oz canned diced tomatoes, 2 tsp vegan Worcestershire sauce, 2 tbsp salted butter
- Towards the end of the sauce's cook time, set your spaghetti cooking according to package instructions. Once it's cooked, reserve a cup of the cooking water before draining.12 oz spaghetti
- The sauce will be ready once it's turned thick and rich. Once you're happy with the texture, add the lemon zest and stir through. You can also add fresh parsley or basil now, if you're including it.1 small lemon
- Add the spaghetti to the sauce and toss to get it all coated in the sauce. Add some pasta cooking water as you toss it through – this will give it a more silky texture and help it stick to the spaghetti. You won't use the whole cup, but just use as much as you need to get the texture right.
- Serve with cheese and/or herbs for topping.
I love pasta puttanesca, I just skip the fish and it works perfectly. I use my own cherry tomatoes which we always harvest an abundant of. So this dish is a common summer dish in our house. Have a great weekend.
http://www.anna-forsberg.se
Would quite like to make these because my brother is always telling me how good capers are and I’m feeling peer pressured into trying them, ahaha.
I was wondering if you had any recommendations for substitutions for the olives and Worchester sauce? Vegan Worchester is a bit difficult to find where I live and I’m not the fondest of olives (to be honest it does start to sound at this point that whatever I make will not be recognisable as a puttanesca haha). I was thinking of replacing the Worchester with some balsamic vinegar and smoked paprika, but not sure about the olives…
Hi Jessica, leaving out the olives would definitely eliminate a big element of the flavor but I think you’ll still end up with a tasty sauce! How about some sundried tomatoes chopped up small, for an extra flavor source? Balsamic is a good idea, smoked paprika is always welcome. Or, I do also have a caper sauce recipe with no olives if you want to check that out, it’s a pretty flexible one, you can leave out anything you don’t like: https://www.happyveggiekitchen.com/pasta-sauce-capers/