Light & Healthy Pasta Puttanesca

Pasta Puttanesca is a rustic, simple, and classic Italian dish that has origin stories back into the early 20th century. We love this recipe because you can make it using only pantry ingredients, which is perfect for that mid-week pasta craving when you’re short on time and produce. Start to finish, you can put this recipe together in under 30 minutes.

Typically marinara pasta dishes have a thick and heavy sauce. Pasta Puttanesca is best when there is just enough sauce to coat the noodles so that all of the other flavors don’t get lost.

If you’ve got some extra time grab fresh basil and tomatoes to make this dish even more of a standout. Trying to impress your date? Pair your Pasta Puttanesca with a slice of chocolate cake (click here for a drool-worthy recipe!) and a dry red wine to make it a full date-night meal.

Ingredients

• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 28 ounces crushed tomatoes
• 1/4 cup packed fresh basil, minced after measured or 2 teaspoons dried
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup pasta water (see notes)
• 1/2 cup sliced black olives
• 1/4 cup sliced green olives
• Capers to top individual servings
• Diced roma tomato and fresh basil for garnish
• 1 pound dry spaghetti or linguine noodles

Instructions

1. Prep all ingredients before starting any of the following steps; have tomato can opened, garlic and onion minced, basil ready, and olive oil bottle nearby. It is beneficial to have the olives sliced and measured ahead, but you will have some time while the noodles cook.
2. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil. Add 3 tablespoons of salt once water is boiling and just before you are ready to cook the noodles. Why the salt? See notes below. You will also be using some of the pasta water in the sauce which both salts the sauce and adds a glossy appearance.
3. Heat a large saute pan over high heat then add minced garlic and onion along with one tablespoon of water. Stir until water evaporates, add another tablespoon of water, saute for 2 minutes. Don’t allow onions or garlic to brown, and add more water as necessary.
4. Carefully pour in crushed tomatoes. Stir in basil and olive oil. Set heat to medium, cover pan, allow to cook for 10-15 minutes.
5. Boil noodles according to box instructions; however, cook only until al dente (the shortest amount of time listed). Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water, drain noodles using a colander, and don’t rinse the noodles.
6. Stir reserved pasta water into the sauce. Depending on the saute pan size, add the noodles to the sauce or dump cooked noodles back into the larger pot and add sauce. Either way, toss noodles with the sauce to combine. Add olives and lightly toss again.
7. Serve with any additional items: capers, crushed red pepper, fresh cracked pepper, roma tomatoes. Add a lean protein or simply enjoy the noodles.

Pro Tips:

Using fresh basil is always the preferred ingredient; however, to make this a true pantry dish you can easily substitute fresh basil for dried. The standard substitution is 1 teaspoon dried basil per 1 tablespoon of fresh basil, but in this dish that tends to be too much dried basil.

Extra virgin olive oil is primarily a finishing oil and used for flavor rather than sauteing, because it has a low smoke point which leads to an off flavor or lack of flavor if heated too high. If sauteing using oil use olive oil rather than extra virgin olive oil because it can be heated to higher temperatures. Stock your ingredients cabinet with a bottle of high quality extra virgin olive oil for salad dressings and finishing a sauce and a bottle of standard olive oil for sauteing.

Salting your pasta water is the crucial step that makes all the difference between okay pasta and great pasta. The salted water adds flavor to the noodles from the inside out rather than adding extra salt to the sauce itself. Even if you have a delicious sauce that made you close your eyes and “hmmmm” while you taste it, if your noodles are bland, which all boxed noodles are, your sauce loses potency. There is the common misunderstanding that adding salt to your water makes the noodles cook faster; however, the amount of salt needed to raise the boiling point of the water to cook noodles faster would make your meal inedible.

Nutrition Tip:

In order to cut down on the amount of pasta it takes to get full, make your overall dish very flavorful. This recipe has a lot of flavor so you’ll eat less and be more satisfied than with a bland sauce or a single flavor like alfredo. If you look at the bowl below you’ll see that the pasta dish is filled with other meal items like broccoli. This is intentional to cut down on the amount of noodles it takes to feel satisfied. This is why it’s also helpful to start or end your meal with a salad.

Nutrient information provided using Lose It! App

The following nutrition is only what is listed in the ingredients list. If you add a protein or other vegetables make sure to account for that in your nutrition count. The nutrition facts below account for the one pound of dry noodles. 

Pasta Puttanesca

Servings 8 | 283 Calories per Serving

52 g carb; 2.4 g sugar; 9.1 g protein; 6 g fat; 4 g fiber; 238 mg sodium