Spaghetti with Clam Sauce Recipe Spaghetti alle Vongole

This authentic white clam sauce recipe is a classic, traditional southern Italian recipe straight from Naples, Italy which is where my parents were born. It’s an easy, seafood weeknight dinner. It’s prefect for your Italian Christmas Eve dinner!

Spaghetti with Clam Sauce Recipe a.k.a. “Spaghetti alle Vongole” is made with a white wine clam sauce with only six ingredients.

Italian food is in my soul. I grew up on it as my parents R.I.P. were Italian immigrants and my mother was the best home cook I’ve ever met and Idon’t say that just because I love her dearly.

She was gourmet level and this is what I ate daily growing up not knowing how lucky I was until I ate at my friends’ homes.

If you don’t have time to clean the clam shells but, have good quality canned clams, make my Linguine in White Clam Sauce recipe for now.

Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links which means, if you make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission but, the price you pay is the same. 

When you’re searching for Italian recipes, look no further than this website! You’ll find authentic Italian recipes for Sunday gravy, meatballs and sauce, Italian food is made with simple ingredients. It’s much different than American cuisine for this reason. Italians use fresh, locally grown, in season vegetables and fresh meat. It makes all the difference in taste and quality of food. 

As a matter of fact, my family sends me homemade olive oil from Italy at Christmastime along with some delicious and addicting taralli. Using homemade olive oil is equated to liquid gold in my cooking playbook. 

Also, note that southern Italian cuisine doesn’t use as much butter as northern Italian cuisine. In this recipe, there is no butter at all. That doesn’t mean you can’t add a tablespoon if you think it should have some. It’s your dish, do with it what you must.

This version of white clam sauce has a good clam flavor that isn’t masked by other unnecessary flavors. You only need SIX pivotal ingredients which are: fresh little neck clams, high-quality extra virgin olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh lemon juice, pasta and dry white wine, which doesn’t have to be high quality. So feel free to use that bottle someone who clearly isn’t a wine connoisseur gave you at Christmas. 

There are three more optional ingredients. Elevate your cooking with quality, fresh ingredients.

Always keep that in mind when you start cooking anything and you’ll become a fabulous cook.

This is the type of food you find in gourmet Italian restaurants and you can bring those delicious dishes into your kitchen and quite easily with these instructions for a great spaghetti and clams!

Spaghetti alle Vongole 

I went to Italy in the summer of 2023 and went to Antonio and Antonio restaurant again, which is known to have the best pizza in Naples, which is where pizza was invented in Roman times. It’s located in the Bay of Naples and we went there with my Italian family (mostly first and second cousins.) It was my second time there. 

My cousin offered my husband the Spaghetti alle Vongole to have for dinner and he accepted. Well, me being the nosey wife, I had to try his pasta dish. From the first mouthwatering bite, I knew this was the best I’ve ever had! I could not keep my fork out of his plate. My pizza seemed mediocre at that point. 

I knew I had to replicate this tantalizing Spaghetti alle Vongole at home in America for my readers so, here it is. I’ve thoroughly tested this recipe to bring you the closest experience in which I can.

You need to use FRESH ingredients. Fresh garlic, lemon juice and fresh clams in shells. It’s a bonus if you can use fresh pasta as well.

Spaghetti with Clam Sauce Recipe Spaghetti alle Vongole

*The full, printable recipe is in the recipe card below.

I’ve thoroughly tested this recipe in my kitchen with multiple taste testers and not just my little stalkers (a.k.a. one of my sons who has a healthy appetite.)

Tools needed: Cleaning brush (for seafood shells and vegetables.)

Ingredients

• lots of garlic
• dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
• dry pasta (spaghetti or linguine)
• Littleneck Clams (fresh clams in the shell)
• lemon juice
• good olive oil (extra virgin olive oil)
• black pepper (optional)
• red pepper flakes (optional)
• fresh parsley (optional for garnish)

Instructions

First, begin to boil the water for the pasta according to package directions and 1/4 cup of salt to 3 quarts of water.

Meanwhile, clean the clam shells thoroughly. Use a seafood shells (and vegetables) brush.

Then, when the water starts to boil, add the pasta and stir it as it loosens in the boiling water to stop it from sticking to itself. Cook past according to package directions for al dente pasta.

For spaghetti, it should be about 8 minutes and for linguine it should be about 9 minutes. Drain the pasta and there’s no need to reserve any pasta water.

Next, smash the garlic with a butcher knife or large blade knife and place it in a large skillet, add extra virgin olive oil and cook on medium heat until the garlic seasons the oil (about one minute but, don’t let the garlic brown as it will become bitter.)

Then, add the dry white wine, cleaned clams in shells, and lemon juice. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes or until mostly all of the clams have opened. Discard the ones that have not opened because they’re bad clams. Do not pry them open.

Next, add the drained, cooked pasta to the large skillet with the cooked clams and stir it so the broth can mix with the pasta. Garnish with fresh parsley, if desired.

Tips for making the BEST clam sauce recipe:

• Clean the clam shells appropriately to get off all of the sand and grit. Soak them in water for 15 minutes or longer after you’ve brushed each of them.
• Cook pasta al dente. It makes a big difference in the taste of this dish. Cook al dente spaghetti or al dente linguine. 
• Be sure to salt the pasta water enough. The pasta absorbs the salt and this is the main way that the pasta is seasoned before it ever gets to the clam sauce.
• Use good olive oil. Don’t skimp on the quality of olive oil you use and always use extra virgin olive oil. It’s the oil from the first press and it’s the best flavoring from green olives.
• Use fresh lemon juice. Bottle lemon juice will work in a pinch, but buy a fresh lemon, if you can.
• If your garlic isn’t hard to peel, it’s not fresh. I’m sorry to say that because I love peeling old garlic as it’s so easy but, it’s also not fresh.
• You need to use enough garlic. One or two cloves isn’t going to be enough. There, I said it. 

What is “vongole” in Italian?

“Vongole” in the Italian language means clams. When I was 18 years old, after the passing of my beloved mother, I went to Italy to be with my family and we went out to dinner. I asked this very question in Italian and one of my cousin’s friends named Gennaro stood up from the dinner table and pulled his hands apart to show me the visual sign for spaghetti, which I already knew duh! Then he waved his hand like a fish in the water.

It was comical because clams don’t swim. I was laughing too hard to make that logical statement.

What is is the meaning of “spaghetti alle vongole?”

Spaghetti alle vongole in Italian language literally means “spaghetti at clams” with the interpretation of “spaghetti with clams.”

What is volgole sauce made of?

Different clam sauces are made with different ingredients. White clam sauce is made with olive oil, garlic and sometimes chicken broth is added in addition to the clams. Red clam sauce is made with the same ingredients but, with tomatoes or tomato sauce or tomato paste added.

How do you pronounce “spaghetti vongole?”

The phonetic way to say “vongole” is “von-go-lay” and both of the “o”s are long so, be sure to pronounce both of them as you would say “no.” Now, you are ready to order this dish in Italian restaurants at your next dinner party. 

This pasta alle vongole dish is absolutely perfect to serve for Italian Christmas Eve dinner or Feast of the Seven Fishes and to use as Lenten seafood dish. 

Elevate your cooking with this flavorful spaghetti and clams dish.

You may also like:

Linguine in White Clam Sauce

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