Pasta
Spaghetti Puttanesca
The fiery Neapolitan store-cupboard pasta: anchovies melted into garlicky olive oil with chilli, then simmered with tomatoes, black olives and capers into a punchy, glossy sauce for spaghetti.
- Serves 4
- Ready in 25 min
- Store-cupboard ingredients
- No cheese needed
- Italian (Campania)
Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil for the pasta and salt it lightly (the sauce is already salty).
Warm the oil (3 tbsp) in a large frying pan over a low heat. Add the garlic (3 cloves), anchovies (6) and chilli (pinch) and stir for 2–3 minutes until the anchovies melt into the oil and the garlic is pale gold.
Add the tomatoes (800 g), turn up the heat and simmer briskly for 10–12 minutes, stirring now and then, until thickened.
Meanwhile cook the spaghetti (400 g) for 1 minute less than the packet says. Stir the olives (100 g) and capers (2 tbsp) into the sauce for the last 3 minutes.
Scoop out a mugful of the pasta water, then drain the spaghetti and tip it into the sauce. Toss over the heat for a minute, adding splashes of pasta water until the sauce clings and looks glossy.
Taste for pepper (it rarely needs salt), scatter with the parsley (a little) and serve at once.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
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See also
Chef’s notes
- Neapolitans do not put cheese on puttanesca, but a little Parmesan does no harm if you like it.
- For a quicker, fresher version, Gennaro Contaldo (on Jamie Oliver’s site) uses halved cherry tomatoes and fresh chilli, cooked for just a few minutes.
- A tin of tuna, flaked in with the olives, turns it into a heartier supper.
- No anchovy fans at the table? Use 2 anchovies: they melt away and just add depth.
How this recipe was developed
We compared BBC Good Food’s spaghetti puttanesca with Gennaro Contaldo’s on Jamie Oliver’s site, America’s Test Kitchen’s and the most-rated version on Allrecipes.
- Melt the anchovies. All four start with garlic, chilli and anchovies in olive oil; America’s Test Kitchen uses about 8 fillets for 450 g pasta. We use 6 for 400 g.
- Tinned tomatoes, cooked briskly. BBC Good Food (4.65/5 from 263 ratings) and America’s Test Kitchen use tinned tomatoes; we simmer them hard for a thick sauce.
- Olives and capers late. Added near the end so they keep their texture, as in Allrecipes’ Puttanesca (4.7/5 from 414 ratings).
- Pasta water. We finish the pasta in the sauce with some of its cooking water, the Italian way, so the sauce clings.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 1 November 2026):
- BBC Good Food (Esther Clark): Spaghetti puttanesca (4.65/5, 263 ratings)
- Jamie Oliver (Gennaro Contaldo): Gennaro’s spaghetti alla puttanesca
- America's Test Kitchen: Spaghetti Puttanesca (4.3/5, 91 ratings)
- Allrecipes (Pooche): Puttanesca (4.7/5, 414 ratings)
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.