Spaghetti alle Vongole: How We Make Clam Pasta at Home

See how we make spaghetti alle vongole at home with clams, garlic, olive oil, white wine, and tomato, inspired by a memorable meal in Italy.

A Light, Savory Pasta That Brings Back Memories of Italy

We often eat noodle dishes for lunch at home. Our lunch rotation includes Korean noodles and naengmyeon, Japanese udon and soba, and different kinds of spaghetti.

My wife and I both tend to prefer creamy pasta, so for many years, creamy seafood spaghetti was the pasta we made more often at home.

But spaghetti alle vongole is another dish we both enjoy.

We often ate vongole pasta at Italian restaurants when we lived in Korea, but the version I remember most is one I had while visiting Italy.

What stayed with me was its clean, simple flavor and the wonderful savory taste of the clams. I also loved the soft spaghetti coated with olive oil and clam juices.

Every now and then, I still think about that meal.

After that experience in Italy, vongole became another pasta dish we began enjoying at home.

The Clams We Use in the U.S.

In Korea, we commonly used bajirak, small Korean clams, when making this type of pasta.

Here in the U.S., we use frozen clams that we buy at a Korean grocery store. They are already cleaned, so we simply rinse them lightly before cooking.

For two servings, we use about 30 clams.

For vongole, we prefer using plenty of clams rather than mixing several kinds of seafood together.

As the clams cook, they release their own flavorful juices, which become an important part of the sauce. There is no need for a heavy sauce. The clam juices combine with olive oil, garlic, and white wine to create the flavor we enjoy in this dish.

What We Use for Two Servings

• 160 g spaghetti
• About 30 frozen clams
• 1 large tomato
• About 6 sliced garlic cloves
• 4 Tbsp olive oil
• 120 ml white wine
• About 50 ml pasta water
• Peperoncino, to taste
• Aglio Olio Garlic Seasoning, to taste

We use Aglio Olio Garlic Seasoning that we buy at Trader Joe’s.

We do not add onion or butter to this version.

We also add one large tomato, cut into pieces. It may be a little different from a traditional spaghetti alle vongole, but this is how we enjoy making it at home.

We Like Our Spaghetti a Little Softer

For two servings, we use about 160 g of spaghetti.

We boil the spaghetti for about 10 minutes in water with 1 Tbsp salt and 1 Tbsp olive oil.

We prefer our spaghetti a little softer rather than very firm.

Before draining the pasta, we reserve about 50 ml of the cooking water. We use it later to adjust the amount of liquid in the sauce and help the pasta combine with the clam juices.

Making the Sauce with Clams and White Wine

We start by heating 4 Tbsp of olive oil in a pan and sautéing the sliced garlic.

Once the garlic becomes fragrant, we add the clams and cook them briefly in the oil.

Then we pour in about 120 ml of white wine.

We cover the pan and let the clams cook for about 1–2 minutes. The steam helps the shells open while the clam juices and white wine come together in the pan.

Once the clams open, we move on to the next step.

The frozen clams we use cook quite quickly, so there is no need to cook them for a long time.

Adding the Tomato and Spaghetti

Once the clams have opened, we add the chopped tomato.

Then we add the cooked spaghetti along with about 50 ml of reserved pasta water and toss everything together so that the noodles are coated with the olive oil and flavorful clam juices.

We add peperoncino for a little heat and season the pasta with Aglio Olio Garlic Seasoning.

After adding the spaghetti, we cook everything together for only another 1–2 minutes—just long enough for the pasta to warm through and absorb some of the sauce.

We do not cook it until all the liquid disappears.

We like our vongole slightly saucy, with a little clam broth remaining at the bottom of the plate.

The entire dish can usually be made in less than 30 minutes.

What We Love Most Is the Flavor of the Clams

If creamy seafood spaghetti is rich and creamy, the appeal of spaghetti alle vongole is almost the opposite. It tastes lighter and cleaner.

What we enjoy most is the natural savory flavor of the clams.

The clam juices are joined by garlic, olive oil, and white wine, but no single ingredient needs to overpower the others.

That is also why we prefer plenty of clams without adding other seafood.

The flavor can change slightly depending on the type of clam. In Korea, we used bajirak. In the U.S., we now use frozen clams from a Korean grocery store.

When We Remember the Vongole We Had in Italy

The spaghetti alle vongole I ate during a trip to Italy still stays in my memory.

It did not have a heavy or complicated sauce, but the savory clam flavor was wonderful. I also remember how well the soft noodles were coated with olive oil and the juices from the clams.

Before that trip, when we made pasta at home, we usually chose creamy seafood spaghetti.

After enjoying vongole in Italy, however, I began craving that lighter, cleaner clam flavor from time to time, and we started making it at home more often.

Even now, whether we make creamy seafood spaghetti or spaghetti alle vongole simply depends on what we feel like eating that day.

How We Enjoy It at Home

Spaghetti alle vongole is usually a lunch dish for us, just like many of the other noodle dishes we make at home.

We may serve it with a salad or pickles, and because this is our Korean home kitchen, kimchi sometimes finds its way to the table too.

One plate is enough for a complete meal, so we normally make only as much as we plan to eat right away.

The ingredients are easy to find in the U.S., and the whole dish takes less than 30 minutes to prepare.

We still love the creamy, rich flavor of cream pasta. But on some days, what we want instead is the clean flavor of clams, garlic, and olive oil.

On those days, this is the Spaghetti alle Vongole we make in our Korean home kitchen.