This is one of my go-to recipes, and the entire process only takes about 15 minutes. Mash the garlic; that’s basically all there is to preparation. Any pasta is delicious with the sauce, but my favorites are angel hair or spaghetti.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 20 mins |
| Servings: | 4 |
| Yield: | 4 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1 tablespoon anchovy paste
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 (24 ounce) jar tomato pasta sauce
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup good-quality crisp white wine
- 2 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped clams, drained with juice reserved
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 pound dry spaghetti
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Chopped fresh basil leaves or parsley
Instructions
- Pour olive oil into cold skillet. Add garlic, capers, anchovy paste, and red pepper flakes. Place over medium heat and cook and stir until the oil is infused with the flavors of the mixture, about 5 minutes, taking care not to brown the garlic. Add tomato sauce and rinse jar with 1/4 cup water; add water to skillet. Pour in wine and juice from clams, reserving the clams. Bring to a simmer until slightly reduced and thickened, 7 to 9 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook spaghetti in the boiling water, stirring occasionally until almost al dente, or about 1 minute less than directed on package. Drain. Return pasta to the pot off heat.
- Stir clams into the sauce. Pour sauce over pasta. Stir; cover the pot to allow it to finish cooking off heat and to allow the pasta will absorb some of the sauce, about 3 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese. Top with chopped fresh basil and/or parsley.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 852 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 117 g |
| Cholesterol | 72 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Protein | 44 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1514 mg |
| Sugars | 19 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
That was over the top DELICIOUS!! Definitely on my meals list for the days ahead and lunches for work as well!! Great Share! Thank you!!
This is phenomenal. I made exactly as written. I usually am not a fan of red clam sauce but the flavor is amazing. I’ll definitely make this again. Thank you Chef John!
❤️This was restaurant quality. I added half a chopped onion and omitted the red pepper flakes( for those that don’t like the heat) I also add 1 1/2 dozen little baby clams in the shell that i quickly boiled separately and used the clam juice as my water. By the way don’t worry you can’t taste the anchovies. I do recommend you use a higher quality tomato sauce .
Great recipe full of flavor and fast to put on the table. It’s definitely in our dinner rotation.
Excellent dish! Perfect fast craving fix for pasta & seafood. Yum The addition of the anchovy paste & white wine, gave it depth. Thank you for sharing.
OMG! Even the kids are licking their bowls. I try to make clam sauce every week because I have an iron deficiency and clams are an excellent source of iron. This is the best clam sauce I have made. Sure, I modified it quite a bit but I love how the anchovies flavor the sauce. It’s brilliant. The clams are a bit too mild in flavor but the little bit of anchovy paste remedies that. I recommend sweet white wine. I omitted the water and capers, added 1 can of diced tomatoes, more garlic, less red pepper, and added dried parsley at the beginning with the garlic.
Tried this tonight minus the capers(none on hand). It was excellent and sure to make regular appearances in the dinner rotation at my house. Looking forward to trying this with capers on the next go.
Loved. Loved. More clams, more pepper flakes, more garlic and then heaven!!!
This was absolutely delish! The only reason I didn’t give this a 5 star – is there was too much sauce! Not that that is a bad thing – but I should have added the sauce gradually to the pasta rather than dump it all. Way too soupy. I double checked the recipe to make sure I didn’t misread and add too much liquid – but I didn’t. Next time I will not add the 1/2 cup of water. I’ll also use fettucini rather than spaghetti.
Very good but way too salty for my taste. Would try again but next time I will use a can of plain tomato sauce (and add more seasoning if needed) in place of the prepared sauce.
This recipe was so easy to follow and came out delicious. It was the first time that I’d ever made a red clam sauce or used an anchovy paste. The only deviation was that I used red wine instead of white and it still tasted great. Fresh basil sprinkled on top with parmesan was a nice finish.
I made this with adding another can of clams without the juice. I also followed the video and NOT the instructions. It’s amazing. I LOVE Chef John’s recipes.
Simple and super delicious dish. We loved this dish! I used pre-crushed garlic, swapped Worcestershire sauce for anchovy and skipped the basil or parsley (Mainly because I didn’t feel like making a trip to the grocery store). I also left off the cheese (husband can’t do lactose). Let me tell you it was STILL AMAZING!
Very flavorful Less anchovy paste and 1 more can clams also added mussels. Also follow video directions
I made this exactly like the recipe called except I didn’t have anchovy paste at the time & the red pepper flakes made it way too spicy for my husband to eat. I don’t like red clam sauce. I’m going to make it again tonight with the anchovy paste and no red pepper. Hopefully he’ll love it this way…is IS one of his favorites normally!
The recipe was definitely a keeper…minus the anchovi paste.
One of my favorite recipes of all time. It is so yummy I dream of the next time I’ll make it daily. I use four cans of clams and double the garlic, capers and red pepper flakes – but I like a lot of spice. Thank you Chef John – this is one of your best!
This was fabulous and so quick and easy to make. Thank you Chef John!
OMG Made this in addition to Thanksgiving lunch and guests ate 2 bowls of spaghetti. Best sauce I have ever ate, restaurants or home. The red chili flakes, achiovie paste, capers, garlic and wine just broke my mouth. Make it and wow them!
Very solid and easy to follow recipe. Some specifics: I used a 2019 Ruffino Pinot Grigio, fresh Buitoni marinara sauce, and homegrown parsley. It’s true that the directions in the video and as written do not quite align. The video says to add the wine and reduce it before adding clam juice and tomato sauce; the written recipe does not have us reduce the wine. I used the written instructions and it did take some extra time for the sauce to reduce but ultimately I just kind of eyeballed it and it worked out OK. Overall the flavors that came through the most aside from the marinara were the heat from the red pepper flakes and a bit of a salty clam flavor. I thought it might be too salty and fishy because of the capers, anchovy paste, and clams, but it really was not at all overpowering. I also thought there would be more of a white wine flavor, but didn’t really notice it. Ultimately, I don’t really know if I’d change anything in the future. Maybe I’d add a third can of clams because you really don’t get that many clams with the two 6.5 oz cans. And maybe use a Sauvignon blanc, which is supposed to be a good wine for seafood dishes.
Simple, fast and good flavors. Follow video instructions instead of written.