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This One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta is the perfect way to use up all your summer tomatoes! We cook down the tomatoes with an obscene amount of garlic, a little bit of sugar, and plenty of salt and then cook fresh pasta directly in the sauce. Finish it off with a handful of parmesan cheese, serve with a salad and this easy summer dinner is done.
One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta
Saying I have a slight obsession with pasta would be a severe understatement. It’s all I eat. All-consuming. Something I could never live without and the bane of my existence at the same time. I’m sure I’d be about five pounds lighter –give or take –if I just laid off it a little bit, but alas, it can’t be done. Just take a look at the archives of this site and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I could never choose just one, but some of my favorites are this Easy Lobster Scampi with Linguine, this Five Ingredient Cherry Tomato and Ricotta Pasta, and a childhood favorite, Healthy Chicken Spaghetti.
I have to say though, that lately, I’ve been gravitating towards simple pastas, and today’s One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta is no exception.
We cook down Farmer’s market tomatoes with an obscene amount of garlic, olive oil and a good amount of fresh basil. Once the tomatoes break down and turn into a a sauce of their own, we add in a little bit of water, fresh pasta, and simmer the sauce and noodles until everything is cozy and sweet and totally scrumptious.
Ingredients in One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta
Tomatoes. My grocery store has been brimming with locally grown farmer’s market tomatoes, and I can’t help but to snatch up pounds and pounds at a time since I know they’re only here for a fleeting amount of time. I’m so used to making tomato sauces from canned San Marzano tomatoes, I often forget you can make a tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes.
And now, I don’t know if I can go back. The flavor of freshly cooked tomatoes is a taste of summer in one perfect bite.
Garlic. Lots and lots of garlic. We use about six large cloves.
Basil. Our basil has been growing like crazy this summer, I’m hoping yours is too. If not, store-bought fresh basil is just fine.
Sugar. Even though this isn’t a sweet pasta, we need little bit of sugar to balance out the acidity in the tomatoes. You’ll want to adjust the amount of sugar, depending on the sweetness of your tomatoes. This time around, mine weren’t as sweet as they normally are, so I added about 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.
Salt. You don’t want to skimp on salt here. Because we’re using very little ingredients, the seasoning needs to be on point. Use a whole teaspoon, and then adjust as needed.
Pasta. I am a sucker for handmade pasta, around here, we have spaghetti, ravioli, agnolotti and all sorts of other fun pasta shapes. However, when I’ in a pinch, I have absolutely no shame picking up a package of freshly made pasta at the grocery store. It lacks that chewy bite I love about homemade pasta, but otherwise, the texture is pretty on point, and perfect for our One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta.
I’ve used angel hair and linguine for our Fresh Tomato Pasta, and I think I prefer linguine or fettuccine. If you do use angel hair, just note that the strands won’t stay super long and may break.
Let’s make Fresh Tomato Pasta!
Cook the tomatoes. Chop ALL of the tomatoes (skins, seeds, juices and all) and thrown into a giant pot with some olive oil set over a medium heat. Toss. Add in the garlic, salt, sugar and basil.
Simmer. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for about 30-35 minutes until the tomatoes are concentrated and reduced.
Cook the pasta. Pour in the water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and add the pasta. Toss in the liquid. Cover with a lid and cook the pasta for 3-4 minutes. Take the lid off and toss the noodles. Continue to cook with the lid off until the pasta is cooked through.
Finish it off! Add in a final sprinkle of basil and parmesan cheese. Toss again.
While the ingredients are rather humble, I promise the flavor is anything but – simplicity at its finest.
Substitutions and Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success
- You can use any fresh pasta – angel hair, linguine, or fettuccine all work great.
- If you want to use dried pasta, you can also do that, you will need to add a little bit more water, so adjust as needed.
- The more parmesan cheese, the better! Add as much or as little as you want.
- Our Fresh Tomato Pasta would also be delicious topped with seared shrimp or chicken.
- Add in roasted zucchini or other veggies for a little more heft to the pasta.
- If you’re pasta soaks up the sauce and water before it’s done cooking, add just a touch of water to loosen up the sauce.
- Be sure to season appropriately! With simple dishes like today’s fresh tomato pasta, you want to season at every step.
If you love this simple pasta, be sure to check out some of our other favorites!
- This Baked Caprese Gnocchi from Simply Delicious looks out of this world!
- Another one pot wonder. This One Pot Mexican Pasta is another throw-it-together dish we love.
- Our Creamy Tomato Pasta is better when you don’t have fresh tomatoes on hand. We use canned tomatoes and protein-packed Greek yogurt to add a little creaminess to this simple pasta.
One Pot Fresh Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 6 large garlic cloves, thinly slices
- 3 1/2 lbs ripe tomatoes (any kind wil do), roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 cup water, plus more if needed
- 9 oz fresh linguine, angel hair, or fettuccine
- 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Equipment
- stock pot
Instructions
- In a large pot heat olive oil over a medium-low heat. Add garlic. Saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, basil, salt and sugar. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 25 minutes. Uncover and cook another 10-15 minutes until tomatoes are cooked down and sauce-like. Season tomatoes to taste with salt and more sugar if needed.
- Add water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add pasta and gently toss making sure to not break the noodles. Cover and cook another 2-3 minutes until the pasta has soaked up the water. Uncover and toss the pasta. If it's still watery, cook with the lid off for another minute. Alternately, if the pasta sauce isn't loose enough, add a little bit more water and toss. Add in parmesan cheese. Toss to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper.Serve with extra parmesan cheese and basil.
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