Pressure Cooker Pasta Puttanesca – Dump and Start

Pasta puttanesca is the ultimate tasty, easy after-work dinner. Simply dump all the ingredients into your electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot and press go!  Huge flavours with barely any effort. 

Speedy Pasta

Cooking pasta in an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker would horrify Italians, but it’s a great way of getting a tasty dish of really excellent pasta on the table in minutes. This dish is perfect for an after-work supper for two, or more: simply scale up as needed.

Puttenesca is a classic Neapolitan pasta dish made with big, gutsy flavours of tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers and chilli. It is endlessly adaptable. Some cooks add oregano, others anchovies. 

Pressure Cooker Pasta – Why Is it So Good? 

When you get it right, pressure cooker pasta is truly excellent, but it does take a little bit of experimentation depending on your brand of pasta.  

The secret to a really great pasta sauce is to add a little of the pasta cooking water. This is because the starch in the water both helps the sauce stick to the pasta, and adds a silky smoothness to the sauce. 

With pressure cooker pasta, you add as much water as you need to cook the pasta and make the sauce. The water is absorbed by the pasta, so none of the starchy cooking water goes down the sink, resulting in a sauce that is smoother and richer. 

Many classic pasta dishes can be adapted to ‘dump and start’, meaning that you throw all the ingredients in, press ‘go’ or ‘cook’, and go and do something more interesting while the pressure cooker does the work. Perfect pasta straight from the pot. No need for separate saucepans, colanders and a pile of washing up.  

For the pasta we’ve been using (Waitrose regular spaghetti), I find a ratio of 310 ml of liquid to 120 g pasta works perfectly, with a cook time of 3 minutes and a 3 minute NPR at the end. Different brands or shapes of pasta will need slightly different cooking times and amounts of liquid, so experiment with your favourites. 

Once you hit the winning ratio, then make a note and stick to it! 

How To Make Dump-and-Start Pressure Cooker Pasta Puttanesca

Step one – First grab your ingredients. It looks a lot, but they are all store cupboard staples. Rinse the capers, as they can be very salty, especially if you are also adding anchovies.

Step two – Snap the spaghetti in half and scatter into the pressure cooker pot. Add the water, olive oil and an (optional) pinch of salt. Give the pot a swirl to evenly distribute the pasta, and make sure none of it sticks together.

Step three – Layer the rest of the ingredients on top of the pasta – canned tomatoes, chilli flakes, garlic powder, sliced olives, tomato puree, rinsed capers and anchovies. You don’t need to worry about cutting the anchovies up, as they fall apart once cooked.

Step four – Check the seal, put the lid on the pot and seal it closed. Check that the weight is set to the sealing position. Set the Instant Pot to cook for 3 minutes at high pressure.

Step five – Once cooking has finished, leave the pot on the ‘keep warm’ setting for a further 3 minutes of natural pressure release (NPR).

Step six – Release the remaining pressure and open the lid. Don’t worry if it looks as if there is too much liquid. Give everything a really good stir for about a minute and the extra liquid will mostly be absorbed.

If you find that there’s still too much liquid, make a note to reduce the amount of water by a tablespoon the next time you cook the pasta in the Instant Pot. To rescue your dinner set the pot to saute and simmer any excess liquid off, stirring all the time.

The precise amount of liquid needed will vary according to the brand and type of pasta, and also on the wateriness of the tinned tomatoes that you’re using.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Recipe Variations

• Top with finely grated cheddar or Parmesan.
• Leave the anchovies out to make it vegan.
• Add some herbs, such as basil, oregano or parsley.
• Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes or sun-dried tomato paste.

Hints and Tips for Dump-and-Start Pasta Puttanesca

• Use good quality pasta and tomatoes. You don’t need premium tinned tomatoes and puree, but using a quality brand that’s better than the supermarkets’ economy ranges makes a big difference. Do experiment with different shapes and brands of pasta. You will probably find that you have to make small adjustments to the amount of water that you need.
• Anchovy fillets keep well in the fridge. Transfer them into a seal-able plastic pot to store them.
• Freeze leftover canned tomatoes in plastic tubs.
• Dollop leftover tomato puree into easily managed portions in a silicon ice cube tray or mini muffin pan, freeze and pack into freezer safe tubs. (The puree in a tube should keep for a few weeks in the fridge).
• Jarred olives in liquid keep for about a week in the fridge, but then quickly go mouldy, so don’t stick them at the back and forget about them. I drain, slice and freeze.
• Leftovers make for a great grab-and-go lunch to take to work. Just add a splash of water and reheat in a microwave for two minutes. Make sure it’s piping hot before eating.

Leftovers are perfect reheated for lunch

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Print Recipe

5 from 14 votes

Pressure Cooker Pasta Puttanesca

A dump and go Instant Pot / electric pressure cooker recipe that's ready in minutes. Chilli, anchovies, garlic, capers and tomato all combine to make a rich and delicious pasta dish.

Servings: 2

Author: Helen Best-Shaw

Prep Time4 mins

Cook Time6 mins

Total Time10 mins

Ingredients

• 270 ml water
• 120 g spaghetti.
• pinch salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• ½ can chopped tomato (200 g)
• ½ tsp onion or garlic powder.
• ½ tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp olives (sliced)
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tsp heaped capers
• ½ small can tinned anchovies (25 g)

Instructions

• Snap the spaghetti in half and scatter into the pressure cooker pot. Add the water, olive oil and a pinch of salt.
  
• Swirl to evenly distribute pasta – make sure none sticks together.
  
• Layer the rest of the ingredients on top of the pasta – canned tomatoes, chilli flakes, sliced olives, garlic, tomato puree, rinsed capers and anchovies. You don't need to worry about cutting the anchovies up, as they fall apart once cooked.
• Check the seal, put the lid on the pot and seal it closed. Check that the weight is set to the sealing position. Set the Instant Pot to cook for 3 minutes at high pressure.
  
• Once cooking has finished, leave the pot on the 'keep warm' setting for a further 3 minutes of natural pressure release (NPR).
  
• Release the remaining pressure and open the lid. Don't worry if it looks as if there is too much liquid.
  

  Give everything a really good stir for about a minute and the extra liquid will be absorbed.  If there is still too much liquid, set the pressure cooker to saute and simmer off any remaining liquid, stirring all the time.
  
  Season and serve.
  

Notes

Recipe Variations

• Top with finely grated cheddar or Parmesan.
• Leave the anchovies out to make it vegan.
• Add some herbs – basil, oregano and parsley all work well.
• Add chopped sun-dried tomatoes or sun-dried tomato paste.

Hints and Tips for Dump and Start Pasta Puttanesca

• Use good quality pasta and tomatoes. You don't need premium tinned tomatoes and puree, but using a quality brand that's better than the supermarkets' economical ranges makes a big difference.
• Do experiment with different shapes and brands of pasta. You will probably find that you have to make small adjustments to the amount of water that you add.
• Anchovy fillets keep well in the fridge. Transfer them into a sealable plastic pot.
• Freeze leftover tomatoes in plastic tubs.
• Dollop leftover tomato puree into easily managed portions in a silicon ice cube tray, or mini muffin pan, freeze and pack into freezer safe tubs.
• Jarred olives keep for about a week in the fridge, but then quickly go mouldy, so don't stick them at the back and forget about them. I drain, slice and freeze.
• Leftovers make for a great grab-and-go lunch to take to work. Simply add a splash of water and reheat in a microwave for two minutes. Make sure it's piping hot before eating.

Nutritional Information

• This recipe is 9 Weight Watchers points per portion

 

 

• Please note that the nutrition information provided below is approximate and meant as a guideline only.

• Unless stated otherwise cup conversions have been made with an online tool. For accuracy please check with your favoured conversion tool. We recommend buying inexpensive digital kitchen scales.

Nutrition Facts

Pressure Cooker Pasta Puttanesca

Amount Per Serving

Calories 311 Calories from Fat 45

% Daily Value*

Fat 5g8%

Cholesterol 8mg3%

Sodium 351mg15%

Potassium 522mg15%

Carbohydrates 54g18%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 6g7%

Protein 12g24%

Vitamin A 410IU8%

Vitamin C 10.3mg12%

Calcium 68mg7%

Iron 2.7mg15%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Course: Main

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Pressure cooker pasta puttanesca

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