Puttanesca with chickpeas is a flavorful, quick and versatile twist on a classic Italian dish. A puttanesca recipe calls for anchovies, which is an ingredient some folks are not excited about–including myself!–but anchovy is perfect in this recipe. Like your favorite spaghetti sauce, puttanesca is great right when you cook it, and even more delicious the next day.
Ingredients for Chickpea Puttanesca
Optional: top your puttanesca with a protein e.g. boiled egg, Italian sausage, fish, poultry.
1 Tbsp oil
1/2 tsp dried chili pepper flakes
1 tsp cumin seeds (optional)
1 tsp fennel seeds (optional)
Large onion (about a cup), cut in bite-sized chunks
1 Tbsp garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 anchovy fillets (about 1 oz), drained and finely chopped
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 cup white wine
28 oz can diced tomatoes (in the video we used fire roasted)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 15 oz can of chickpea, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup sliced Kalamata olives
2 Tbsp capers, drained
Optional garnish: 1/4 cup choppped fresh basil (or parsley)
How to Make Puttanesca with Chickpeas
Note: You will want to pay extra attention to the heat of your skillet with this dish because you’re working with seeds and because you want some lightly brown bits….not a pan of burnt seeds, garlic and/or anchovies.
Prep some ingredients:
Drain and rinse chickpeas.
Peel and chop onions.
Peel garlic. Dab excess moisture from anchovies. Mince garlic and anchovies.
Open your cans of tomato paste, tomatoes
Measure and drain your olives and capers.
Decide if you want to have some protein on the top of your puttanesca. In the video, we served the puttanesca with boiled eggs. Here are two ways to make the perfect boiled eggs every time.
Prepare a flavorful base:
Heat oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Saute chili flakes, cumin seeds and fennel seeds onions for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add onions and cook for about 4 minutes. Add anchovies and garlic, stir constantly for 30 seconds more, until fragrant. Turn heat to medium. Add tomato paste and stir in for 30 seconds more. Add wine and stir for another minute, scraping up any small bits that have stuck to the pan. A stainless steel skillet is ideal for this recipe. Check current prices for stainless steel skillets on Amazon.
Complete your puttanesca:
Add the tomatoes and juice, Italian seasoning and black pepper. Cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 10 minutes. Add your chickpeas, olives and capers. Heat through.
Serve with basil and/or protein.
Experiment with your Puttanesca
Instead of white wine, you can use 1/4 cup white wine vinegar + 1/4 cup water.
Experiment with the seasonings. In one version, instead of the Italian seasoning and pepper flakes, we used Olde Thompson Italian Seasoning (now called ‘Pinch of Rome’ seasoning) – that is actually more like a great pizza topping.
Try a different bean!
For another tasty Italian-inspired dish, try this easy Spaghetti Carbonara Recipe.
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