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Bon Appétit

Anchovy Pasta With Garlic Breadcrumbs

4.6

(18)

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Michael Graydon & Nikole Herriott

Memorize how to make the addictively crunchy breadcrumbs in this dish; use them to top all your pasta recipes forevermore.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    4 Servings

Ingredients

8

garlic cloves, divided

5

ounces sourdough or other crusty bread, crust removed, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 2 cups)

1

teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

¼

cup plus 3 tablespoons (or more) olive oil

4

oil-packed anchovy fillets

4

oil-packed Calabrian chiles, very finely chopped, or ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1

tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice

12

ounces bucatini, spaghetti, or linguine

2

ounces finely grated Pecorino

½

cup finely chopped parsley

2

tablespoons unsalted butter

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Very thinly slice 4 garlic cloves (a mandoline works great) and set aside. Pulse remaining 4 garlic cloves in a food processor until finely chopped. Add bread and lemon zest and pulse until coarse crumbs form; season with salt and pepper.

    Step 2

    Heat ¼ cup oil in a large Dutch oven or other heavy pot over medium. Cook breadcrumb mixture, stirring often, until golden brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer breadcrumb mixture with a slotted spoon to a small bowl.

    Step 3

    Heat remaining 3 Tbsp. oil in same pot over medium-low. Cook reserved sliced garlic, stirring occasionally, until golden at edges, about 1 minute. Add anchovies and chiles and cook, stirring, until anchovies are dissolved, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice.

    Step 4

    Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until very al dente, about 3 minutes less than package directions.

    Step 5

    Using tongs, transfer pasta to pot with sauce along with 1 cup pasta cooking liquid. Cook, tossing often, until pasta is al dente. Add 3 Tbsp. pasta cooking liquid, then gradually add cheese, tossing until melted and emulsified. Remove from heat, add parsley, butter, and half of breadcrumb mixture and toss until combined and butter is melted. If pasta seems dry, add more pasta cooking liquid and oil and toss again. Season with salt and pepper, and more lemon juice if desired.

    Step 6

    Divide pasta among bowls. Top with remaining breadcrumb mixture.

Nutrition Per Serving

Calories (kcal) 760 Fat (g) 36 Saturated Fat (g) 10 Cholesterol (mg) 30 Carbohydrates (g) 89 Dietary Fiber (g) 1 Total Sugars (g) 8 Protein (g) 21 Sodium (mg) 700
Explore Bon AppétitPastaItalianEuropeanAnchovyFishSeafoodGarlicVegetableSpaghettiPasta & NoodlesLinguinePecorinoCheeseQuickEasyWeeknight MealsMainNut-FreeDinner
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Reviews (18)

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  • Good, and agree with upping the lemon and anchovies. Also, keep your pasta water.. you're going to need to keep adding unless you like dry pasta.

    • Anonymous

    • San Jose, CA

    • 5/11/2020

  • made garlic oil first. (keeps in fridge a very long time, so make a big batch). made exactly as written the first time. loved it, but next time i used panko for the bread crumbs, used 2 tins of anchovies - the entire tin with the oil, added some pulverized spinach instead of parley, some grape tomatoes and broiled shrimp on top. this is an awesome basic recipe, but you can have lots of fun tweaking.

    • Anonymous

    • edina, MN

    • 4/5/2020

  • Good, but... Double, maybe even triple the anchovies, double the lemon juice, lemon zest. Watch that the bread crumbs do not get too brown, makes them a bit bitter. Spice was good, not sure if pecorino is any better than parmesan or any other hard cheese. Will definitely make again, but flavors need enhancement/additions.

    • Honolulu

    • 6/30/2019

  • A friend made this for us for dinner the other night, and it was so good I made her give me the recipe. Can't wait to make this myself.

    • tm080201

    • Pittsburgh

    • 12/10/2018

  • Easy, cheap, quick, and delicious. Made with the crushed red pepper flakes, since I already had them at home. Surprisingly decent as leftovers. The only note I would give is to make the breadcrumbs in batches in the food processor. The best crumbs were definitely the smaller ones. Doing it all in one go, I ended up with some that were larger and didn't get as crispy as I would have hoped.

    • Anonymous

    • Minneapolis, MN

    • 1/6/2018