Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta

Pasta is a comfort food in my house. This quick, easy weeknight pasta dinner is creamy and rich and tastes like it came from a fancy Italian restaurant.

Quick and Easy

In less than 20 minutes you can have an amazing pasta dinner on the table. It’s like Italian fast-food. But it certainly doesn’t taste like fast food.

Cherry tomatoes are filled with sweet juice that bursts when you cook them. The juicy tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil mix with some of the starchy pasta water to make a creamy and rich sauce.

This is one of my go-to weeknight dinners that I make several times a month.

Simple Ingredients

• Pasta – I recommend using a long noodle pasta for this recipe. I like regular spaghetti or fettuccine pasta.
• Cherry or Grape Tomatoes – I use either cherry or grape tomatoes, whichever look best at the market.
• Salt – I recommend using at least 1 TBS of salt in the pasta water. It’s the only time you can really flavor the actual pasta.
• Fresh Cracked Black Pepper – I absolutely love the taste of black pepper with pasta, especially when the pasta noodles themselves are the main ingredient and not smothered in sauce. If you haven’t tried using black pepper as one of the main ingredients with pasta, I highly recommend you try it – it’s amazing.
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil – this is a stable in my kitchen. I buy a decent brand of “EVOO” and use it for everything.
• Hot Pasta Water – Adding some of the pasta water from the cooked pasta is the special ingredient in this recipe. The tomatoes, olive oil, and pasta water make a cream, rich, but light sauce.
• Fresh Basil – for garnish.

Let’s Make Burst Cherry Tomato Pasta

1. Boil 6-ounces of dry pasta noodles with 1 TBS of salt for 1 minute less than box directions.
2. Add olive oil and cherry tomatoes to a large skillet at medium-high heat.
3. Cook the tomatoes until they start to blister and burst. This should take 4-5 minutes
4. Turn the tomatoes and oil to medium-low heat.
5. Smash the tomatoes with the back of a spoon or a potato masher.
6. Drag a firm spatula through the tomato sauce until it separates (see second photo below).
7. Add 1/4 cup of the hot pasta water, one tablespoon at a time stirring until it cooks into the tomato sauce.
8. Cook on low for another 5-10 minutes.
9. When the pasta is done cooking, immediately transfer it to the skillet.
10. Add the black pepper and toss the pasta with tongs.
11. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

Krazy Kitchen Mom Tips

• When it comes to this recipe, think “more is more” for the tomatoes. I don’t recommend using less than the recipe calls for, in fact, use a bit more if you’d like.
• I recommend that you use a decent brand of extra virgin olive oil or “EVOO”. You don’t need the most expensive, but don’t skimp when it comes to EVOO. I use EVOO for almost all of my cooking. For baking, I use canola oil.

More Easy Weeknight Recipes

• Crescent Roll Taco Pizza
• Slow-Cooker Cashew Chicken
• Easy Weeknight Pepper Steak
• Slow-Cooker Creamed Corn

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