Puttanesca is a classic Italian sauce typically served with spaghetti, however, in our house, we infinitely prefer it as a Vegan Penne Puttanesca, and often serve it up with a little extra kale or greens for added goodness. Of course, you can always make this without kale too, the vegan puttanesca sauce will be just as delicious.
🍝What is Puttanesca?
Pasta alla puttanesca is a traditional Italian tomato-based sauce typically made with tomatoes, olives, garlic, and possibly some anchovies and/or capers, and maybe a hint of chili. It tends to also have some herbs such as oregano and might also have red chili peppers or even wine in it. The story goes that 'ladies of the night (puttas) would make this spicy and quick pasta after a long night. The etymology and history of the dish is long and varied, (check out this wiki entry on it!) but it is always rich with tomatoes and plenty of umami flavor and is of course very delicious.
I like to make it my way by using lots of capers and black olives, omitting the anchovies to make it a vegan version. In my house, penne rules, which is why this is called Penne Puttanesca but you can choose any pasta shape you like.
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📜Key Ingredients
The great thing about this vegan pasta puttanesca recipe is that it uses lots of pantry staples, which makes it a thrifty standby to have on hand for a quick dinner any day of the week.
- Tinned/Canned Tomatoes- the better quality you have, the better it will taste, but don't panic too much if they're just the basic own-brand from the supermarket. I have made this with whole tinned san marzano tomatoes that I've chopped up, as well as crushed or chopped cherry tomatoes.
- Capers - for me this recipe really loves lots of capers in it. I use them quite liberally, so use less if you're not a fan, but they do add a depth of flavour and tang that is perfect for a quick meal!
- Olives- whatever olives you have around will be great. I often have fancy kalamata olives left over from snack platters and entertaining, so like to use them up. Alternatively I also like to keep some green olives in tins on hand for emergency snacks or guests, and these also work well. (You can also have a snack on them while you wait for the food to cook!)
- Dried Pasta- Choose your favorite pasta shapes. We are not purists here. Penne works great, as does spaghetti, buccatini or linguine. Most dried pasta is naturally vegan (just check it isn't an 'egg' pasta). You could also choose to use a gluten free pasta such as chickpea or lentil pasta, for added nutrition, or if you're avoiding gluten.
- Garlic- Fresh minced garlic is best, but use pre-minced, jarred garlic if you must.
- Herbs- Simple dried oregano is utterly perfect here. If you just have dried 'Italian Seasoning' you can use that instead.
👩🍳How-To
One of the reasons we love to make this vegan Penne Puttanesca recipe on repeat is that it takes so little time to make! Just prep some garlic, get the stuff out of the cupboard and go! Dinner will be ready in the time it takes the pasta to boil: Here's a breakdown of how I do it:
- Mince up your garlic cloves, and get all your other ingredients ready and waiting.
- Put on your pasta water to boil in a large pot.
- Into a large frying pan, add a little olive oil, minced garlic and tomato paste & sautee for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes to the frying pan and turn the heat up a little. You want the tomatoes to cook down a little. (if they are whole tomatoes, chop them up a bit)
- Add the spices , capers, olives and wine (if using)
- By now your water in the saucepan should be on a rolling boil.
- Put your dried penne pasta (or whatever shape you're using) into the water, give it a stir. Most pasta takes between 8 and 10 mins to cook.
- Keep an eye on your sauce, turn the heat down and let it simmer.
- About 6 minutes after you've put the pasta on to boil, add the greens to the sauce. Simmer.
- When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain, reserving a half cup of the water. (This is emergency water!)
- Mix the pasta into the tomato sauce & greens mixture. If it's all looking like it's a bit dry (it happens) add a splosh of the emergency pasta water.
- Serve with a glass of wine and a garnish of nutritional yeast or even better, Pangritata - Crispy Breadcrumbs for Pasta.
🌶️Substitutions and Variations
Choose some of these additions to change up the traditional puttanesca sauce!
- Red Wine- adds a lift and depth to the proceedings. Pop in a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar if you're not using wine and think the sauce needs something more.
- Red Chilli Flakes or red pepper flakes: Add as much or as little as you like. A bit of a kick is nice, but it's totally up to you.
- Kale or other greens: I love to add a bit of greens to my pasta. Kale is nice, as is cavolo nero or broccoli florets. If you don't want to add them, leave them out and eat some salad instead.
- Zucchini Noodles: For a low-carb option, make some zoodles (zuchhini noodles) or just pop some zucchini ribbons in with the sauce (for a half light version)
- Gluten-Free- Choose your favorite gluten-free pasta and cook according to the packet instructions.
- Fresh Herbs- add fresh basil leaves or fresh parsley to finish the pasta.
- Nori Flakes- or vegan fish sauce: traditionally pasta puttanesca would have some anchovies, so you can create a similar flavor profile with either of these.
❓FAQ
I like to serve between 80-100g per person (around 3 ounces)
Yes if you like. I've made extra and frozen it before, and it worked well. It will keep up to 3 months in the freezer and 5 days in the fridge.
Absolutely! Pop them in an airtight container then in the fridge. Eat the leftovers for lunch at work (or breakfast. we won't judge)
No, leave it out or add a different green. Or just eat a salad on the side. (eat some greens though, they're good for you!)
🥗Similar Recipes and Serving Ideas
- Garlicky White Beans & Greens Pasta
- Vegan Red Pepper and Chorizo Mafalda Pasta
- Vegan Creamy Cannellini Bean & Tomato Pasta
- Vegan Rasta Pasta - pasta in a jerk-spiced creamy coconut sauce.
- We like to serve our Vegan Penne Puttanesca with some sprinkles of Pangritata on top. It's an easy version of vegan parmesan- often called 'poor person's parmesan' in Italy.
- And if you have leftovers, you could also make my favourite Pasta Frittata.
📖 Recipe
Speedy Vegan Pasta Puttanesca
Ingredients Note:
For accuracy, I measure all ingredients in metric as standard, then convert and test the recipe for American cup measurements etc.
(Heads up Aussie and UK readers- your measurements in cups are sometimes different, so please use metric or check you have the correct cup and spoon type!!)
Ingredients
- 320 g (11.29 oz) penne pasta (use 80g dried pasta per person , or use up to 100g if everyone is super hungry!)
For the Puttanesca Sauce
- 3 fat cloves garlic, minced. (honestly- I use anywhere between 3 and 6 cloves)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 800 g (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in tins/cans (or whole tomatoes, chop them up roughly. This is equivelant to two tins/cans.)
- 4 tablespoon black or green olives (roughly chopped)
- 2 tablespoon capers
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon mild chilli powder (use more if you like it SPICY)
- 30 ml (⅓ cups) red wine (this is optional- you can omit and add a small teaspoon of balsamic vinegar if you want to)
- 70 g (1 cup) kale (or other greens. OPTIONAL spinach, broccoli florets- whatever you feel like)
Instructions
- Put a large saucepan of water on the stove to boil (use a LID! It will boil faster)
- Add the oil, minced garlic and tomato paste into a large frying pan & sautee for a minute.
- Add the tomatoes to the frying pan and turn the heat up a little. You want the tomatoes to cook down a little.
- Add the spices , capers, olives and wine (if using)
- By now your water in the saucepan should be on a rolling boil. Put your dried penne pasta (or whatever shape you're using) into the water, give it a stir. Most pasta takes between 8 and 10 mins to cook.
- Keep an eye on your sauce, turn the heat down and let it simmer.
- About 6 minutes after you've put the pasta on to boil, add the greens to the sauce. Simmer.
- When the pasta is cooked al dente, drain, reserving a half cup of the water. (This is emergency water!)
- Mix the pasta into the sauce & greens mixture. If it's all looking like it's a bit dry (it happens) add a splosh of the emergency water.
- Serve in bowls. For the true vegan experience add a big sprinkle of nutritional yeast. (
Nutrition
The Gardener says
I also add salt and pepper and sometimes a generous dash of Tabasco sauce. Do try that as well if you like it hotter.
The Gardener says
True. I’d happily eat this all week. You will too.