This recipe for Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce kicks off my Simple Summer Suppers series. A series of six light summer meals designed to get you out of the kitchen as fast as possible so you can spend time with your family and friends and enjoy our beautiful warm summer evenings.
The criteria are simple: easy summer dinner recipes made with fresh produce when possible, with six ingredients or less (not counting condiments) and the most important, you can have on the table in 25 minutes or less.
Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce fits my criteria to a tee with spaghetti pasta topped with luscious, nutritious, fresh summer cherry tomatoes and sweet aromatic basil made into a light but full-flavored cherry tomato pasta sauce and then garnished with nutty, savory parmesan cheese.
The easy cherry tomato sauce is made from scratch and only takes minutes to make! To ensure the most nutritional benefits you can substitute whole wheat spaghetti or pasta, and this kid-friendly dinner recipe can be on the table in under 15 minutes. How’s that for a Simple Summer Supper?
More Easy Summer Dinner Ideas:
Other quick and easy recipes you might enjoy in my Simple Summer Supper series include:
Easy Fettuccine Alfredo with Broccoli,
Parmesan Chicken with Cucumber Salsa,
Southern BBQ Shrimp and Cheese Grits,
Pan-Fried Fish and Blistered Tomatoes, and
Chilled Watermelon Gazpacho Soup.
Need some more ideas? Check out this roundup post: 16 Easy Summer Dinner Ideas and Recipes.
How many calories are in this tomato sauce?
Believe it or not, an entire pint of cherry tomatoes is only 80 calories. A serving of this tomato sauce without the pasta only contains 30 calories.
How many carbohydrates in this cherry tomato sauce?
A serving of this cherry tomato sauce contains 4 grams of carbohydrates.
What is the nutrition value of cherry tomatoes?
According to Livestrong, cherry tomatoes are full of vitamin A and C and a good source of lycopene.
What should I serve with Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce?
In my opinion, this dish can stand on its own, but you could add a nice side salad, and/or garlic bread to round out your meal.
Looking for other quick and easy entrées: check out these popular recipes on my blog: Easy Shrimp and Pineapple Fried Rice, Skillet Chicken with Lemon and Olives, and Easy Pan Seared Grouper with Gremolata.
Need even more ideas, check out all of my main dish entrées here.
How to make Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce
Gather your ingredients and cook pasta according to the directions on the package to the al dente stage.
While the pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium heat and add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes or until the garlic is soft. If it looks like the garlic is turning brown, turn the heat down.
Add the cherry tomatoes to the garlic and cook until the tomatoes start to burst. When they are soft and starting to burst, you can gently press down on the tomatoes with a fork or wooden spoon to speed up the process.
Continue cooking the tomatoes until their juices have formed a sauce which should take approximately five minutes.
Stir in the chopped basil and season with one teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of pepper.
When the pasta is done, reserve one cup of the pasta water and drain.
Add the pasta to the tomato sauce and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook constantly tossing the spaghetti mixture and add the reserved pasta water.
When the pasta water is integrated with the sauce, and everything is mixed together, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil.
Serve immediately topped with a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese.
Spaghetti with Fresh Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried spaghetti pasta whole wheat or regular
- 4 cloves of garlic minced
- 6 Tbsp olive oil divided
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes washed
- 1 cup basil leaves chopped
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper
- Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to the directions on the package to the al dente stage.
- While the pasta is cooking, place a large skillet over medium heat and add 4 tablespoons of olive oil and the garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes or until the garlic is soft. If it looks like the garlic is turning brown, turn the heat down.
- Add the cherry tomatoes to the garlic and cook until the tomatoes start to burst. When they are soft and starting to burst, you can gently press down on the tomatoes with a fork or wooden spoon to speed up the process.
- Continue cooking the tomatoes until their juices have formed a sauce which should take approximately five minutes.
- Stir in the chopped basil and season with one teaspoon of salt and one-half teaspoon of pepper.
- When the pasta is done, reserve one cup of the pasta water and drain.
- Add the pasta to the tomato sauce and increase the heat to medium-high. Toss the spaghetti with the tomato sauce mixture and add the reserved pasta water.
- When the pasta water is integrated with the sauce, and everything is mixed together, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil.
- Serve immediately and top with a generous amount of grated parmesan cheese.
Can the sauce be frozen?
I have never tried to freeze it, but I’m guessing you can freeze it. However, it may change the texture of the tomatoes a bit. Let me know how it works out.
Sharon
So good! We loved this recipe. My kids loved it!!
So glad you liked the recipe and thank you for letting me know!
All my best,
Sharon
Excellent recipe..I added oregano to the herbs, greek olives & fresh chives on top along with the cheese.. served it with home made garlic bread. …will certainly do it again. I fed my landscape crew (3) thinking “they won’t like it…it’s not a spaghetti’ sauce, it has no meat..man, they gobbled it up in no time and wanted the recipe😉😊 Thank you.
Hi Renée,
Thank you so much for sharing your kind comments, and thank you too for including your tweaks. They all sound like they would be perfect with this dish and I love to see how my readers make one of my recipes their own! I can see why your landscape crew gobbled it up!
Thank you again,
Sharon