Vegan Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
This easy vegan pasta alla puttanesca is perfect for busy weeknight dinners! It's made with pantry staples but tastes super fresh and delicious.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
Man alive. I just had a really nice chat with some of my favorite bloggers, and my head is spinning. Facebook fans, Instagram, Snapchat, engagement metrics, cookbooks, employees, video. I can’t do it all. Can we just hang out here, on this website I’ve built for you all? Can we just sip some wine and make a couple dinners together each week, and correspond about them in the comments? That sounds marvelous.
Now seems like a good time to check in with you. I’ve been trying to keep my head above water with the cookbook and blog combined, but soon, I will be back to blogging full-time. I can’t wait!
So, what would you like to see here? More recipes? If so, what kinds of recipes? Would you like cooking videos? My little brother could help me with those. Maybe some more non-food links that have inspired me lately? What would you like to see on Instagram stories (we’re cookieandkate)? Behind the scenes blogging/cookbook work, Cookie pics, me falling out of yoga poses, something else? I am all ears. Your support lets me do what I love for a living, so I always want to hear from you!
Today, I’m sharing a recipe that I tweaked just a little from a new cookbook called Fresh Italian Cooking for the New Generation by Alexandra of Delish Knowledge. Alexandra is a registered dietitian of Italian descent who came up with over 100 healthier, vegetarian Italian recipes for the book (70 of the recipes are vegan/easily vegan). I dog-eared a lot of pages, many of which will be perfect for cooler weather.
This spaghetti alla puttanesca recipe popped out to me because it’s a lighter pasta dish that calls for mostly basic pantry ingredients. We can all use a few more of those recipes, right? I hadn’t heard of pasta alla puttanesca before. Rumor has it, “ladies of the night” created this recipe as a quick meal to eat on busy nights, if you get my drift. Wikipedia has a few more naming theories.
This dish relies on some very briny ingredients for flavor, so if you aren’t a fan of olives and capers, this one is probably not for you (more pasta recipes over here, though). I love Kalamata olives and have mixed feelings about capers, but loved them both in this recipe. Spaghettia alla puttanesca traditionally includes anchovies, but this vegan version goes without anchovies and it’s still loaded with complex flavor.
I made just a few adjustments to Alexandra’s recipe—added a little olive oil and black pepper, used chunky tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes (I like my pasta on the saucy side), and threw in some zucchini noodles to lighten it up. Ever since Ali sent me her Inspiralizer, I can’t resist adding zucchini noodles every time I make pasta. Cookie loves them, too.
Vegan Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
This easy vegan pasta alla puttanesca is perfect for busy weeknight dinners! It’s made with pantry staples but tastes super fresh and delicious. Recipe yields 4 generous servings.
Ingredients
Puttanesca sauce
- 1 large (28 ounce) can of chunky tomato sauce (I recommend Muir Glen brand) or diced tomatoes
- ⅓ cup chopped Kalamata olives
- ⅓ cup capers
- 1 tablespoon Kalamata olive brine (from your jar of olives)
- 1 tablespoon caper brine (from your jar of capers)
- 3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup chopped fresh parsley leaves, divided
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Salt, if necessary
Everything else
- 8 ounces whole grain spaghetti, or an equivalent combination of spaghetti and zucchini noodles (I used 6 ounces spaghetti and one 8-ounce zucchini, spiralized)
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the tomato sauce, olives, capers, olive bring, caper brine, garlic and red pepper flakes. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring often, for 20 minutes.
- Remove the sauce from heat, and stir in the olive oil and almost all of the chopped parsley, reserving some to sprinkle on the finished bowls. Season to taste with freshly ground black pepper and salt, if necessary (the sauce was already plenty salty for me, so I didn’t add any salt).
- While the sauce cooks, bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook your spaghetti according to package directions. Drain and return it to the pot.
- If you’re adding zucchini noodles, spiralize the zucchini with a spiralizer (here’s how), or turn the zucchini into noodles with a julienne peeler, or grate the zucchini the long way on a large box grater.
- Once all of your components are ready, pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine. Stir in the zucchini noodles, if using (if you plan on having leftovers, store extra zucchini noodles separately, as they leech water once they come into contact with salty ingredients). Divide into individual bowls and top each bowl with a light sprinkle of parsley. Serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Fresh Italian Cooking for the New Generation by Alexandra Caspero.
Make it gluten free: Use all zucchini noodles, or substitute your favorite gluten-free pasta.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
I just made this sauce tonight and it is sooooo good. Not for the faint of heart—it has a lot of punch and briny flavor—and super easy to make. Thanks!!
Thank you, Kirsten! So glad you enjoyed it!
I will send you a bushel of tomatoes a month if you get rid of that awful newsletter pop-up. Why do so many bloggers feel the need to annoy people into doing what they want?
You should only see it once every two weeks, are you seeing it more than that? Newsletters are the only form of communication that bloggers can maintain control of (vs. changing Facebook algorithms, etc.), so that is why we all try to grow our lists.
I will definitely try this recipe — and I plan to fancy it up with some of the roasted eggplant available at the Whole Food’s salad bar. Just want to suggest though: This recipe can be made gluten free by using 100% buckwheat soba noodles. They are delicious with red sauces.
Thanks, Leslie! I have the hardest time finding 100% buckwheat soba noodles, but I’m glad they work for you!
Hi Kate,
I started cooking by weight (grams/ounces) and I love the consistent results. I make a lot of your recipes and I do the math myself but if you also weigh your ingredients I’d love to have that listed. If not, that’s okay!! It certainly won’t stop me from making your recipes. And I suppose that the math is good for my brain : )
Heather
Hey Heather! I like your attitude. :) I hope to start adding those details someday. Weight really makes more sense for cooking (and especially for calculating nutrition facts for recipes—without weights, everything’s just a rough estimate). I’m trying to find a way to offer metric without making the ingredients list look too long/complicated. Let me know if you have any suggestions, please!
I like the way weights are listed on smitten kitchen; Deb adds them in parenthesis next to the volume measure. i.e.; 1 cup (200g) sugar. Deb didn’t always have weights either. She may be able to suggest a way to get started. I also like the way King Arthur Flour has three choices: volume, ounces, grams. You just click on the way you would like to see the ingredients listed. That seems like a much larger undertaking. Another thought – will weights be offered in your book? If not, may I suggest a chart of conversions. I refer to the one in The Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book often and find it incredibly helpful!
I made this last night and loved it!!! Thank you for another wonderful recipe!
Awesome! Thanks, Michelle.
I’m chiming in a little late. I love your blog, Kate. I love your recipes, your photos, the “real person” feel that comes through in your writing. :) I have celiac disease, so I’m especially a fan of your gluten-free recipes. We made your oatmeal blender pancakes and loved them!
Thank you very much, Heidi! I hope to have more gluten-free recipes for you soon. Glad you enjoyed the blender pancakes; those have been getting mixed reviews. :(
Hubby and I loved this spaghetti!! Just used zucchini noodles, left off the pasta! Delicious and filling!
Thank you, Jean! I’m glad to hear it.
This was super easy, quick to make & oh so delicious!! My husband loved even just the smell of it cooking! Thanks again Kate!
Hooray! Thank you, Sandy.
I made this for dinner tonight and was a bit tentative about the recipe at first. I’m not a huge fan of olives and was worried that the sauce would taste plain. Boy was I wrong! The olive flavour was delicious and the parsley finished everything perfectly. I’m sure this one will become a staple for me. Thanks Kate for another delicious recipe!
I just made this meal now … And it taste soooooooo good
I’ll repeat it for sure
I’m a veggiterian so your website is like a hidden treasure that I found recently … I tried to recipes so far and both of them are so good
I made this once before- it’s super easy to make and tastes delicious. I just tossed in some store bought spiralized zucchini and let the sauce heat up the noodles. This is great for a quick mid-week meal. I’m going to make it again tomorrow night and the best part is I already have almost all of the ingredients on hand!
Thanks, Allison! I’m so glad you’re enjoying it. I wish I had a zucchini around; I’d make it for dinner tonight!
I’ve made this recipe a few times since you posted it. It is very easy to put together and does not require much effort. The last time I made it, I used a combination of black, green, and Kalamata olives, just to try it out and my husband and I both thought it was great that way too!
Ohhh, that sounds great! Thank you, Krystal! :)
Just made this last night and it is so so yummy. One of the best sauces that I have had. Would never have thought to put capers and the brine in it but I think is really what made the taste. Can’t wait to eat this again. Thank you Kate for your great receipes!
Top with toasted walnuts for a delicious addition.
Yum :)
I finally made this today and it was awesome! I stirred in about 2 TBS of hummus at the end, and it made the sauce so creamy! Definitely making this one again someday :)
You mentioned you would like some feedback about the types of recipes followers would be interested in – I would like to see more vegan recipes. As opposed to the vegetarian recipes that can be adjusted to vegan by substituting something. I find that recipes that start off as 100% vegan taste better than the ones that have to be altered to become vegan – so I typically stay away from those. Thanks!
Hi Im, thanks for the feedback! I’m a vegetarian and generally try to make the best possible recipes within those constraints. A lot of vegans really love my recipes that require minor substitutions, so I hope you’ll give them a chance.
I am a longtime vegetarian recently gone vegan. I love your idea of using half and half wheat noodles and veg noodles. It seems a nice transition “thing”. Love all your recipes and can’t wait to try more!
Thanks, Susan! I think it’s a good compromise for the pasta-lovers out there (me). :)
The whole family loves your spaghetti alla puttanesca!
So easy to make and so delicious to eat. :)
Thanks for this, and so many other delicious and simple recipes on your inspiring blog!
Eleonor in Sweden
Thank you, Eleanor! Hello from Kansas City!
Hi Kate,
This recipe is marvellous! But it doesn’t show up on the vegan recipe page…. In fact none of the “Dinner” category recipes are on there? I’m looking at the menu All Recipes > Diet > Vegan , and it has all the recipe types there but no “dinner” or “main meal” category. Maybe a technical bug?
Anyway, another great recipe and full tummys all round :)
Hi Martin! The dinner recipes are called “entrées” on that page. :)
I just started my vegan journey and I’m looking for different recipes to make for my family. This looks awesome.
Great! Let me know how it goes, Edred.
I bought your cookbook and love it…Thank you for all your hard work! The organization is wonderful, the photos gorgeous, and the recipes are great. Getting ready to prepare this one for tonight. One request though, and that’s to put nutrition information in your recipes. If one is trying to be vegetarian and healthy, calories, carbs, etc would be wonderful to have in the recipes. You have made our transition to vegetarian so much easier! (and i love Cookie). I have a toy poodle so from one dog lover to another, keep cooking!
Absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for this recipe.
Glad to hear that, Susan! Thank you, for your review and comment.
Thanks for such a simple yet delicious recipe. Will definitely make again and have shared recipe with friends already!
Wonderful, Alice! Thank you, for sharing it with your circle. I appreciate the review!
I can’t wait to make your Puttanesca sauce! I was thinking about making a bigger batch if you think it would freeze. Good idea? Cheers!
I haven’t tried freezing it, but since it is a sauce I don’t see why not. Let me know how it goes for you, Diana!
thank you for the recipe. You have a couple typos, one that makes the process confusing – “3. While the sauce cooks,” I think it should be cools? Because we just took it off heat.
In any case, beautiful recipe thanks for sharing it’s delicious
Thanks, Sam!
Such a healthy, colourful and easy recipe to try out, gorgeous pictures love it!
Thank you!
Made this for a dinner party with friends and it’s so good I make it regularly now! Packed with flavour and super filling
What a great dinner party dish! Thanks for sharing, Lincoln.
I made this tonight and it was great. I admit I added Anchovy because I couldn’t resist. As long as I don’t stare into the Anchovy’s big brown eyes, I can eat them, LOL. Anyway, yummy recipe, quite easy and I will definitely make again!
Thanks for sharing, Kurt!
First time I made this, I found this way too salty. Especially with the extra parm on the side. It was my brand of canned tomatoes. They had almost 1200 of sodium! The second time, I made sure to use a no-salt added can of diced tomatoes. I also reduced the capers and olives to 1/4 cup each. Perfect. Love this one!
If anyone who makes it finds it to be too salty for them, I definitely recommend making sure their tomatoes don’t have any salt.
I’m happy you were able to make this one work for you the second time, Hayley!
I tried cooking this recipe for my family the other night, I’m trying to convince them we need to eat less meat and this recipe helped. It was really tasty and delicious, just a tiny bit too salty but I think that was a fault on my part, but all together a really delicious meal. Thanks!
I’m glad it was a step in the right direction for you, Jade! You can always decrease the salt to your preference.
I love pasta puttanesca. Okay, this is really cheating, but I found an almost instant way to make it, if you have leftover cooked pasta in your fridge or freezer. Three ingredients are needed. Cooked pasta, jarred or canned spaghetti sauce (either Rao or Don Pepino), and tapenade (I love Trader Joe’s in the jar). Heat the pasta and sauce (I just nuke till hot). Plate, then add 1 Tbs or more (to taste) of tapenade. That’s it! It’s not authentic, but it’s fine if you’re in a hurry, or lazy, or famished.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Kate – I LOVE your blog and primarily cook most of my meals from it! One of my favorite recipes is this puttanesca sauce. Recently I have had the hardest time finding the Muir Glen Chunky Tomato Sauce. I’m starting to think maybe it got discontinued. I also can’t find another brand with a similar product and I don’t think it’s the same with the diced tomatoes. Have you had the same challenge or have you head if they are being discontinued?
Hi Erica! I’m happy you love it. I honestly haven’t looked in awhile! Let me see if I can investigate. :)
Hi Kate, loved this recipe. Capers are one of my favorite ingredients. I made a gravy with them once so good I could just drink it by itself. I omitted the oil and next time think I’ll add mushrooms. I’m always looking for recipes with minimal ingredients that pack a flavor punch. You’re sight is great for that. Been vegan off and on for ten years. One of the things I’m doing to love myself more and lose weight is cook and prepare all my meals and ditch the fast food for good. Thank you.
Thank you for your comment and review, Crystal!
My husband and I really enjoyed this!
I made this today for dinner and did not enjoy at all, very briney. I will not make again.
Hi Kate :)
I made this dish a couple weeks ago and it was such a hit! I immediately ordered some muir glen tomatoes and your cookbook on amazon. Haha! I’ve since made a few more things from your website (which were all great!) and can’t wait to make many more.
Thank you for helping me feel confident and comfortable in the kitchen! As well as making cooking a lot more fun :)
I love all those things! Thank you for sharing, Tae.
Thanks so much for this recipe. It’s easy and it went really well in our family where I am a WFPB eater and my husband eats meat. It’s a great pantry dinner.
Hi Kate,
I absolutely LOVE this recipe and although I hadn’t kept capers and kalamata olives as a pantry staple previously, they are now!
I would like to suggest adding in some canned artichoke hearts for some extra heft to the sauce. I found that addition makes the meal a little more filling.
Hi there , My name is Roshni. Can I have a video of Vegan Spaghetti alla Puttanesca. Its not posted on your website.Just the recipe is there not the video… See if you can upload the video of making of Spaghetti.
I am a not so competent husband of 30+ years and have dodged the cooking duties in all that time. I have now succumbed to cooking a meal for us both once a week.
I pulled up this recipe totally at random, I found it easy to create and the the results were outstanding. Talk about delicious.
I dont feel so incompetent at cooking any more. Thanks.
Loved this with chickpea linguine (banza) and zucchini noodles together!
I love it. The sauce is so good, tastes great along with spaghetti. I like it as a dip too.
I have been making your recipes the last few weeks and am absolutely loving them. 2 weeks ago I made the veggie lasagna and today the spaghetti alla putanesca. The food was absolutely delicious and out of this world. I love your recipes. Thank you so much.
This was delicious! I didn’t measure anything but just used the recipe as guidance and it was perfect. I used a jar of passata with a can of diced tomatoes instead of the sauce, and a combination of marinated mixed olives and Moroccan black dried olives. So tasty!
I’m delighted you loved it, Monique! Thank you for your review.
Making your Spaghetti alla Puttanesca for the second time. Love it; even my meat eating husband liked it!
Thank you!
Renee
I love it! Thank you for your review, Carolyn.
I made this for my fiancee and I for her birthday dinner and it was delicious. We both enjoyed it a lot.
I was a little nervous about the capers as they can be overpowering but in this dish they just worked!
Really easy to make too!
I don’t typically post reviews. I made this last night for some friends, everyone loved it. So so good. I used zucchini noodles. I’m already adding it to my rotating menu. Thank you!
I’m happy you decided to post a review, Steph! I’m happy you loved it.
Made this for dinner tonight. Only 2 of us but made the full amount of sauce. Happy I did as I now have a very tasty sauce in freezer for another dinner. Loved the crunch of zucchini noodles mixed with the spaghetti. Will definitely be making it again. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Victoria! I appreciate your review.
This sounds amazing! I’m definitely going to try it. Maybe add sone jarred roasted red peppers and jarred artichoke hearts. Keeping it quick, convenient, and healthy. Thank you for this recipe!
Delicious!