This easy Cherry Tomato Pasta recipe is a delicious mix of roasted cherry tomatoes, Mexican queso fresco, Italian herbs, and your choice of pasta. The sweet, herbaceous cherry tomato sauce will keep this meal on rotation in your home for weeks to come.
This recipe is inspired by the Feta tomato pasta that went viral on Tiktok some time ago. The appeal is how easy it is to make for a weeknight dinner and that the sauce was made in the oven. The pasta is nearly hands-off with a lovely combination of crumbled briny cheese with sweet, roasted tomatoes.
The trend was so popular that Feta cheese was hard to get in some places. So I started to use another salty fresh cheese instead: Mexican queso fresco (also called queso Ranchero). It crumbles and melts easily, has a milky flavor, with varying degrees of saltiness. I love making this dish in the summer, when we start to have more homegrown sun ripened cherry tomatoes from the garden than we can eat fresh.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Similar to the Feta cheese version of this cherry tomato pasta, this one uses cherry tomatoes and your choice of pasta, along with some cheese and other ingredients for flavor. Here is what you will need to make this recipe:
- cherry tomatoes - or grape tomatoes
- garlic cloves
- olive oil
- salt
- black pepper
- queso fresco - also called queso ranchero
- Italian seasoning - or a mix of dried oregano, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and basil
- dried oregano
- dry pasta - any type you prefer, short pasta is easier to mix in; cooked
- green onion - or fresh basil or fresh slice chili pepper
- your choice of protein - optional
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Place tomatoes, garlic, queso fresco in baking dish (or a large skillet). Drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt & pepper, Italian seasoning and oregano.
Bake in a 400F oven for 30 minutes. Alternatively, if you are cooking it in a skillet, cover it with a lid and simmer it on the stove over medium/low heat.
Meanwhile, boil the pasta until al dente. Once the sauce is finished, remove peel from the garlic. Then, using a fork mash the garlic with the tomatoes and cheese to create a sauce.
Stir drained pasta into the sauce (if needed add 2-4 tablespoons of reserved pasta water) and garnish it with green onion, basil, or sliced chili pepper. Serve with additional protein if desired.
Hint: Allow the tomatoes to roast long enough that they burst and the juices come out of them as this will help create a nice sauce. However, if your cherry tomatoes are on the drier side, reserve some of the pasta water in case you need to add a little to moisten the pasta when it is tossed with the sauce.
Variations
The wonderful thing about easy recipes like this cherry tomato pasta is that you can change them according to the ingredients you have in your home or what your preferences are.
- Make a Smoky Bacon Pasta - Simply chop and cook some bacon in a skillet. Then, follow the steps for the pasta recipe, adding the cooked bacon and bacon fat towards the end of the cooking time.
- Amp it up with Mexican Flavours - Since the pasta uses a Mexican cheese, you might enjoy additional Mexican ingredients in the dish. You could add some cooked black beans into the tomato mixture along with some chili powder. Then, you could garnish the dish with chopped cilantro rather than the green onions or basil.
- Make it Spicy - Add some red pepper flakes to the sauce to taste to make a spicy version of this cherry tomato pasta.
- Make a Tomato and Olive Pasta - If you would like to go more in the Italian direction, you can add whole or sliced olives into the cherry tomatoes along with some chopped rosemary.
- Add Fresh Herbs: If you have an herb garden and need to use up lots of fresh herbs in the summer, you can toss the pasta with chopped parsley or basil just before you serve it.
- Add Some Capers: Similar to olives, capers add a bright, briny flavor to pasta. This is a wonderful place to use up capers if you have some left in the fridge from another recipe.
Storage
If you have any leftovers, you can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. However, the pasta will absorb a lot of the sauce so it may not seem quite as saucy when it is reheated. When you reheat the pasta, it is best to heat it in a skillet and add some water to make it saucier. You can reheat it in the microwave if you prefer but the pasta will likely be drier than if you reheat it in a pan.
I don't recommend that you freeze your leftover pasta as it will likely become mushy in the freezer.
Top tip
Cook the pasta just until it is al dente. The package instructions for your pasta is usually a good guide to get the timing down, but you can also taste it as you go so you know when it is just firm to the bite.
FAQ
There are several ways you can make cherry tomato pasta sauce, but this version involves roasting cherry tomatoes with garlic, cheese, herbs, salt, and pepper, and then stirring in pasta. If you find your sauce doesn't have enough sweetness, you can always add a pinch of sugar to balance out the flavors if you like.
While this recipe calls for cherry tomatoes, you can use grape tomatoes if you prefer. They are a similar size to cherry tomatoes. The main difference is their shape.
In the summer, when you have an overabundance of cherry tomatoes, you can make several batches of this sauce. Store it in the freezer and then, in the middle of winter, you can simply thaw the sauce, reheat in the oven or a skillet on the stove, and toss it with cooked pasta.
Cherry tomatoes often taste better than tomatoes you would typically chop or slice. This is because they have a higher sugar content and the sugars are more concentrated. They are wonderful for pasta sauce as well because they don't require much preparation. You don't need to remove the skins or seeds.
You can use any dry pasta that you like such as spaghetti, linguine, bowties, penne, shells, macaroni, and more. However, short pasta shapes are easier to mix up.
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Recipe
Cherry Tomato Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic in peel
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 8 oz queso ranchero also called queso fresco (or feta cheese)
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- 8 oz dry pasta any type: regular, whole wheat, or gluten free
- sliced green onion or basil, or fresh chili slices
- additional protein of choice
Instructions
- Add tomatoes and garlic to a baking dish or skillet. Drizzle with oil, season with salt + pepper
- Add piece of queso ranchero in the middle. Drizzle with more oil. Add Italian seasoning and oregano.
- Bake at 400°F/200°C for about 30 minutes. Alternatively cook covered on the stovetop on medium-low for 15-20 minutes until the tomatoes and garlic are soft, and the cheese is melty.
- In the meantime cook pasta until al dente. Reserve ¼ cup of pasta water
- When the sauce is cooked/baked, remove garlic peels. Mash the garlic, tomatoes and cheese to create a sauce.
- Add pasta and stir. Add reserved pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time, if needed. Top with sliced green onion or basil. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Serve with grilled chicken or tofu for more protein.
Nutrition
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