Whether you are cooking a quick weeknight meal for your family, or preparing a dish for a dinner party, this Pasta is perfect for you! This saucy puttanesca is packed with flavor and comes together in under thirty minutes! Did we mention this one pot puttanesca is vegan too?!

It’s a delicious single Pot Pasta recipe. But if you’re looking for more, we have compiled a list of five of our most popular one pot pasta dishes here!

Why is it called puttanesca?

Get ready for the raunchiest origin story for a pasta name! When we learned about it, we were a little bit shocked ourselves.

This popular pasta recipe was first seen in the World War II era in Italy. Common ingredients were not always readily available. It was a time where you made the most of what you had. In fact, you’ll find our spaghetti carbonara originated around the same time for these exact reasons.

But, we digress. To put it gently, the word puttanesca translates to “lady of the night.” In other words, a prostitute. At the time, many Italian women turned to this profession as a way to make extra money during the evenings.

Some food historians believe that this dish originated due to the speed in which it came together. And that it was something quick and flavorful that women could make for themselves between clients. Others say that the aromas of the dish are reminiscent of this industry that thrived during World War II.

Either way, this pasta’s nomenclature comes with a fun story to tell. However, if you’re cooking this for family, you might want to skip story time on this recipe!

You are about to fall in love with one pot pasta

We’ve said it before, and we will say it again… probably 100 more times… but it’s because we LOVE one pot pasta! It is the easiest way to make the tastiest pasta dishes.

Instead of leaving yourself with a huge mess to clean up at the end of the night, you only have one single dish to clean. Our favorite recipes are those that allow us to spend more time enjoying the food and less time cleaning up after cooking.

What’s even better than the ease of clean up is the enhancement of flavor!

When cooking dried pasta noodles, you are essentially rehydrating them. In that process of rehydration, the noodles are soaking in all the flavor of the liquid around them. That’s why you want to heavily salt your pasta water – so that your noodles don’t taste bland.

Well, the bonus with one pot pasta is that the noodles cook alongside the ingredients of the dish. So instead of just soaking up water and salt, the casarecce in this dish absorbs the flavors of the olives, capers, herbs and more!

And if that wasn’t enough to convince you to climb aboard the one-pot-pasta-train, we’ve got one more benefit to share with you.

Oftentimes recipes will call for you to add a scoop of pasta water into your sauce. This is because flour-based pasta naturally releases gluten when it is cooking. This gluten water helps work as a thickener, and can actually help your sauce stick to the pasta noodles.

In our one pot pasta recipes, your noodles cook directly in with the sauce. This gluten run-off is already included and works to thicken your sauce while everything cooks together. You’ll find that the sauces in our one pot pasta dishes are creamy, even when there is no dairy involved!

What is casarecce?

Casarecce is a type of pasta that is made to carry a thicker sauce – it’s the ideal pasta noodle for this recipe! The noodles are about an inch to two inches long, and curl inward with a bit of a twist. Similar to gemelli or rotini, sauce gets trapped in the curves of casarecce so every bite is filled with flavor!

To make this a healthy pasta recipe, we use DeLallo whole wheat casarecce.  It is made from organic durum wheat, and is the perfect match for this puttanesca.

Can I make this one pot pasta recipe gluten free?

The beauty of this recipe is that you can easily modify it to make gluten free puttanesca. The only ingredient containing gluten is the pasta, so all you have to do is swap in your favorite gluten free noodles!

We recommend following the cook time listed on the box of your gluten free pasta. In the past, we have found that gluten free pasta tends to be more delicate when cooked, so it is important not to overcook it.

How to make one pot puttanesca

1. Add whole wheat casarecce pasta to a deep pot and drizzle with olive oil. Make sure to evenly coat the noodles to make sure they don’t stick while cooking.
2. Next add in tomatoes, chopped zucchini, olives and capers.
3. Pour marinara sauce on top of all of these ingredients and top with thyme, herbs de provence, and salt and pepper.
4. Lastly, pour in the broth and give the pot a mix.
5. Bring the liquid up to a boil and cook for 9-12 minutes, or until your pasta is al dente.
6. Give your pasta a final mix and serve it up hot!