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
Pressure Cooker Pasta Puttanesca
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
- 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.
- 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.
- This recipe is 9 Weight Watchers points per portion
kim
What a great recipe! Love how easy and tasty this is!
Helen
Simple and tasty dishes are always a good choice.
SHANIKA
This pasta dish looks so flavorful and I love that you made it in a pressure cooker.
Helen
So good to put it all in and leave to cook.
Demeter
I love how quick and easy this is! There are nights that I need all the help I can get with getting dinner on the table and this is perfect. Looks amazing!
Helen
Simple and tasty is such a good mantra.
Michelle
This is such a great idea! I would never have thought of cooking pasta in a pressure cooker, but it makes total sense! Can’t wait to try this.
Helen
So handy once you get the hang of it.
Toni
My kids really loved this for dinner! Such a delicious meal!
Helen
Ideal for an after school meal.
Gillian W
We are a great fan of pasta dishes in our house. Ideal for easy week day meals and the kids devour them. I’d never have thought of using a pressure cooker, that’s something I will have to try out.
Tricia L
Quick and easy are two of my favourite words when it comes to cooking during the week. This looks brilliant, so easy to make and very tasty.
Maggie T
Pasta in the pressure cooker is new to me, but seems like a great idea. Always a good meal for any day of the week.
Victoria
Something easy to make is my kind of recipe. And we love pasta, so this is an all round winner.
Heather
Easy and tasty meals are always appreciated in our house. This would be ideal.
Mal
I didn’t know you could do pasta in a pressure cooker. Good idea, something I will have to give a go.
Ian
Puttanesca is a family favourite here, great for busy weekdays and always so tasty. So good that you can make it in a pressure cooker too.
Elaine D
I love simple pasta dishes like this. I make them most weeks. You really don’t need anything fussy to make it tasty.
beverley
I love the word ‘puttanesca’, it reminds me of the film of Lemony Snicket. I also like eating it, so this is a recipe I definitely want to try. Nice idea to make it in the pressure cooker, so easy.
Mike
I only have a normal old pressure cooker, which just closes and opens…it’s not electric and you have to wait for the pressure to build up. Can this recipe work in this type of pressure cooker?
Helen
hi Mike, It might work, but the timing might be very different
Mel
I have to admit it went against the grain cooking this classic dish under pressure but it was better than the times I’ve cooked it on the hob. Will be a regular dish here. Thank you so much!
Helen
Hi Mel,
I agree. But once you nail the exact quantities this works perfectly in a pressure cooker – its also perfect for scaling up and feeing a crowd.