Description
A quick and delicious pasta dish featuring jammy roasted cherry tomatoes, buttery garlic, and fresh basil. Perfect for busy weeknights, this 15-minute recipe uses simple ingredients and delivers big flavor with minimal effort.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes (about 600g)
- 4–5 cloves garlic, whole and peeled
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon flaky sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
- 8 ounces pasta (about 225g), such as bucatini, spaghetti, or rigatoni
- Salt for pasta water
- ½ cup fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped or torn
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
- Extra olive oil for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Fill a large pot with water and set it over high heat to boil.
- Rinse cherry tomatoes and pat dry. Leave them whole. Spread on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Tuck whole peeled garlic cloves among the tomatoes. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Toss gently to coat.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes until tomatoes are wrinkled, blistered, and releasing juices. Garlic should be soft enough to smash with a fork.
- About 10 minutes before tomatoes are done, add a generous handful of salt to boiling water. Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
- Drain pasta (do not rinse).
- When tomatoes come out of the oven, use a fork to smash the garlic cloves into a paste on the baking sheet. Mix back into the tomatoes.
- Transfer roasted tomatoes and garlic to a large skillet over medium-low heat. Add drained pasta and about ¼ cup reserved pasta water. Toss together, adding more pasta water until sauce coats pasta nicely.
- Remove skillet from heat. Add most of the chopped basil and toss gently.
- Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan if using, a drizzle of olive oil, and remaining basil.
Notes
Use whole garlic cloves to prevent burning. Save pasta water for a silky sauce. Add basil off the heat to avoid bitterness. For best results, don’t crowd the baking sheet.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ¼ of recipe
- Calories: 385
- Sodium: 320
- Fat: 14
- Saturated Fat: 2
- Carbohydrates: 55
- Fiber: 4
- Protein: 10
Keywords: roasted cherry tomato pasta, easy pasta dinner, 15-minute pasta, vegetarian pasta, weeknight dinner, cherry tomato basil pasta