Spaghetti alla Puttanesca
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca is a bold Italian pasta with tomato purée, anchovies, capers, olives and fresh chilli. The Thermomix TM7 chops the garlic and chilli, melts the anchovies into the sauce and stirs everything hands-free while the spaghetti cooks. A quick, intensely flavoured main course ready in minutes with minimal washing up.
About this recipe
Spaghetti alla Puttanesca Thermomix TM7 is the answer when you want a quick weeknight dinner with serious Italian character. This famous Neapolitan pasta brings together tomato purée, anchovy fillets, pickled capers, pitted olives, garlic and fresh chilli in one intensely savoury sauce. Searching for puttanesca recipes for your all-in-one kitchen machine makes sense here: the TM7 does the fiddly work for you. It chops the garlic and chilli uniformly fine, melts the anchovies into the olive oil base until they dissolve, then heats and stirs the sauce hands-free so nothing catches on the bottom of the mixing bowl. While the sauce simmers, you cook the spaghetti al dente and grate the Parmesan. The result is a glossy, punchy sauce that coats every strand, ready faster than delivery and with only one bowl to wash. Perfect for spice lovers, impromptu guests and effortless Mediterranean meals any night of the week.
Preparation tips
- Reserve a ladle of the spaghetti cooking water before draining. A splash of this starchy water emulsifies the puttanesca sauce with the olive oil, helping it cling to the pasta instead of pooling at the bottom of the plate.
- Taste the sauce before adding any extra salt. The anchovy fillets, pickled capers and pitted olives are already generously salty, so the puttanesca rarely needs more — adjust with chilli or a squeeze of lemon instead.
- For a milder family version, remove the seeds from the fresh chilli before chopping, or replace it with a pinch of dried chilli flakes stirred in at the end. Serve the grated Parmesan separately, as tradition prefers this sauce without cheese.
Recipe variations
- Vegetarian puttanesca: omit the anchovy fillets and instead add a tablespoon of chopped tomato paste plus a few chopped dried porcini mushrooms to build similar savoury depth in the Thermomix bowl. Keep the capers, olives and chilli exactly as in the original.
- Festive seafood variation: stir fresh tuna cubes or prawns into the finished puttanesca sauce and let them cook gently in the residual heat, then serve the spaghetti with lemon zest and torn basil for an impressive dinner-party version of this Italian classic.
Thermomix TM7 Benefits
- Fine chopping - The Thermomix chops the garlic cloves and fresh chilli uniformly in seconds, releasing their aromas into the olive oil. [Chopping]. [Multi-Function]
- Gentle heating - Precise temperature control of the TM7 melts the anchovy fillets into the sauce base without burning the garlic. [Heating]. [Precision Control]
- Built-in scale - Weigh the spaghetti and tomato purée directly in the mixing bowl with the integrated TM7 scale, saving separate measuring. [Weighing]. [Built-in Scale]
- Automatic stirring - The TM7 stirs the puttanesca sauce hands-free while the spaghetti cooks, preventing the olives and capers from sticking. [Mixing]. [Hands-Free]
- Fresh grating - The Thermomix grates the Parmesan cheese finely in seconds, ready to finish the pasta with an even, delicate snowfall. [Grating]. [Multi-Function]
Ingredients
- Parmesan cheese
- garlic cloves
- fresh red chilli
- extra virgin olive oil
- tomato purée
- pickled capers
- anchovy fillets, in oil
- dried oregano
- pitted black olives
- tinned chopped tomatoes