Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake

The Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake takes everything bold and brilliant about the classic puttanesca sauce and simplifies the method in a way that still delivers on flavour. Instead of building a sauce on the hob, the ingredients roast together in one tray. The result is a deeply savoury, jammy tomato base that clings beautifully to spaghetti. It’s fast, fuss-free and built for weeknights, without compromising on the intensity that makes puttanesca what it is.

You’re not boiling, reducing or layering ingredients in stages. Everything – anchovies, garlic, capers, olives, tomatoes – goes into the tray raw, and the oven does the work. The heat coaxes out sweetness, salinity and depth, turning a handful of pantry staples into something that feels much more involved than it is. Then it’s just a matter of stirring in freshly cooked spaghetti (or any pasta for that matter) and finishing with a splash of pasta water to help the sauce cling. No cheese, no breadcrumbs – just a clean, robust plate of pasta that does exactly what it’s meant to.

Ingredient Breakdown

• Cherry tomatoes – Roast down into a jammy base, replacing the usual tinned tomatoes.
• Garlic – Sliced thinly to gently infuse the oil and sauce as it bakes.
• Anchovy fillets – Finely chopped to melt into the sauce and deepen the umami.
• Kalamata olives – Meaty and rich, they bring the characteristic briny note.
• Capers – Add sharpness and tang to cut through the sweetness of the tomatoes.
• Chilli flakes – Just enough heat to give backbone without overpowering.
• Dried oregano – A nod to classic Italian seasoning.
• Extra-virgin olive oil – Helps everything roast and emulsifies the sauce.
• Flat-leaf parsley – Stirred in at the end for freshness and balance.
• Dried spaghetti – Cooked separately and added at the end, letting you control texture.

Rethinking the Traditional Puttanesca Sauce

A classic puttanesca is cooked on the stove, where each ingredient is layered into the next. It’s all about timing – garlic just golden, anchovies just melted, tomatoes cooked down but not too thick. This Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake streamlines all of this by roasting the sauce instead.

Roasting changes the character of the sauce. The tomatoes blister and burst, the garlic sweetens, the anchovies dissolve directly into the oil. Everything builds together into a cohesive whole with hardly any attention from you. And because there’s no water diluting the ingredients, the flavour is intense and direct.

You get texture too. The olives stay firm, the capers add little pops of salinity, and the edges of the tray sauce begin to caramelise. These are the things you’d normally need a long simmer to achieve – but here, it happens in under 40 minutes.

Bringing the Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake Together

Once the tray is out of the oven, it only takes a few minutes to pull everything into a finished dish. Crushing the softened tomatoes gives you an instant, rich sauce – no reduction needed. The anchovies have already melted into the oil by this point, forming a base that’s both salty and savoury without being overwhelming.

This is where the cooked spaghetti comes in. It should be drained just before al dente, so it can finish cooking in the heat of the sauce. Add a splash of the pasta water to loosen things slightly, then toss everything together until each strand is coated. The oil binds with the tomato juices to form a silky, clingy sauce that doesn’t need any cream or cheese to feel complete.

Taste, adjust, and serve. That last handful of chopped parsley goes in at the very end to bring brightness and balance back into the mix.

Beyond the Pasta

The tray-baked puttanesca base is versatile beyond the classic pasta format. I’ve served the same sauce with roasted cod fillets, pan-seared chicken thighs, and even stirred it through grains like farro or pearl barley. It’s one of those foundations you can stretch, adapt or repurpose without losing the heart of it.

It’s also ideal for meal prep. If you make the sauce ahead of time, it keeps well in the fridge for a few days. Reheat gently and stir through freshly cooked pasta – or repurpose it with whatever you have on hand. It’s bold enough to stand on its own, but doesn’t dominate the plate when paired with something simple.

The flavours improve as they sit, so leftovers (if you have any) are a bonus. Just store the sauce separately from the pasta if you’re thinking ahead.

Final Thoughts on the Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake

What makes this Puttanesca Pasta Tray Bake worth keeping in your weekly rotation is how low-lift it is. You get a full-flavoured, satisfying sauce using only a knife, a roasting tin, and a pot for pasta. No endless stirring, no spitting sauce, no guesswork.

More importantly, it shows how much you can get out of very little. Just tomatoes, anchovies, garlic, oil and salt—five ingredients that become something else entirely when treated with the right amount of heat and time. That’s what makes this dish so compelling. It’s not trying to be clever. It’s just efficient, confident, and deeply good to eat. Exactly what you want at the end of the day.

More Tray Bake Recipes

There’s something so satisfying about making a meal in just one tray (not to mention it saves on the washing up!). So if you enjoyed this one, I have some more recipes just like it for you to try:

• Harissa Veggie Tray Bake: Bold flavours and lots of veggies. Loaded with sweet potatoes, chickpeas, peppers, tenderstem broccoli and onions, tossed in rose harissa, lemon zest and garlic.
• Harissa Chicken Tray Bake: Tender chicken marinated in spicy harissa atop a bed of roasted veg. Perfect for a quick midweek meal that packs a punch every time.
• Smoky Chicken and Chorizo Tray Bake: This Spanish-inspired tray bake combines the delicious smoky flavours of chorizo with smoked paprika, garlic, chicken, potatoes, peppers and onions.
• Peri Peri Salmon Tray Bake: Succulent salmon. Golden brown, crispy potatoes. Slightly charred tenderstem broccoli. Perfectly seasoned with a tasty 5-ingredient homemade peri peri spice mix.

See how I make all these recipes and more over on my Instagram!