This tomato butter pasta is such a simple recipe, but it always hits the spot!
Reader, Lauryn says: ‘I think this is the best pasta I have ever eaten. I will make this when I want to impress guests, or when I need a dinner that will make me experience food joy. Simple, but fantastic. 10/10 ★★★★★’
Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce
This recipe is an awesome excuse to use up some fresh tomatoes, and one of the key steps in this recipe is actually grating them on a box grater.
Why grate the tomatoes?
Grating the tomatoes leaves you with the perfect texture for a sauce, and you get the bonus of not needing to peel the tomatoes – the grater does it for you! Just discard the skin when you get to it.
What kind of tomatoes should I use?
The tomatoes make up a big bulk of the sauce, so try and get some nice ripe good good-quality tomatoes. Here I’ve used plum tomatoes, which work perfectly, so do grab them if you can. Regular vine-ripened tomatoes will work just fine though.
Top Tip
When looking for ripe tomatoes, check it is fully coloured and has a little squeeze to it. It should also come off the vine with ease.
Process shots: weigh tomatoes (photo 1), begin grating on box grater (photo 2), carefully grate up until the point only the skin is left (photo 3), discard skin (photo 4).
Tomato Butter Sauce
The butter makes up a good bulk of the sauce, so just like the tomatoes, make sure you’re using a good quality butter! We’re Lurpak people in this house, but follow your tastebuds.
Creating an emulsion
The tomatoes are obviously going to be fairly watery, and to form the sauce, we need to blend them with the butter. You will form an emulsion by just simmering and stirring the two of them, but to help along, you’ll want to toss in some starchy pasta water. The starch molecules will help create a glossy, ever-so-slightly creamy sauce. Just pour this in as needed after adding the pasta.
Extra goodies
Alongside the butter and tomatoes, I love frying off some garlic and chilli flakes, just for a gorgeous base flavour. I also love tossing in some fresh basil and parmesan alongside the pasta, just to really lift the whole dish.
Process shots: melt butter (photo 1), fry garlic and chilli flakes (photo 2), add tomatoes and seasoning (photo 3), toss in cooked pasta (photo 4), toss in basil (photo 5), toss in parmesan (photo 6).
Serving Tomato Butter Pasta
Once I’ve tossed in the parmesan, I love stirring in one final knob of butter, just to give the pasta a gorgeously glossy, buttery texture to finish. From there, just serve up with any leftover basil/parmesan and tuck in! I usually whip this up for a no-fuss and relatively quick Lunch.
Alrighty, let’s tuck into the full recipe for this tomato butter pasta shall we?!
How to make Tomato Butter Pasta (Full Recipe & Video)
Tomato Butter Pasta
Equipment
- Large Pan & Wooden Spoon
- Large Pot & Tongs
- Box Grater & Bowl
- Fine Cheese Grater
Ingredients
- 9oz / 250g Spaghetti, or other long cut pasta
- 1lb / 500g Tomatoes (see notes)
- 4 tbsp / 2oz / 60g Butter
- 1/3 cup / 1oz / 30g freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 cloves of Garlic, finely diced
- handful of Fresh Basil, finely diced
- pinch of Chilli Flakes, to taste
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Use a box grater to grate each tomato into a bowl. Discard the skin when you get to it.
- Melt 3.5 tbsp butter in a large pan over medium heat (save the remaining 1/2 tbsp butter for later). Add in garlic & chilli flakes and fry for a couple of minutes. Pour in the tomatoes, generously season with salt & pepper and give it a good stir.
- Keep on a gentle simmer and occasionally stir for 15mins, or until sauce begins to thicken and emulsify with the butter.
- Meanwhile, place the pasta in heavily salted water and cook until al dente.
- Use tongs to transfer the pasta straight into the pan and toss to combine with the sauce. Toss in basil, then toss in parmesan, adding starchy pasta water from the pot to thin out the sauce as needed. If you go overboard with the pasta water, just continue to simmer & toss the pasta in the sauce until it thickens and clings around the pasta.
- Add in the final 1/2 tbsp butter and toss until melted. Check for seasoning and adjust accordingly, then serve up with any extra basil/parmesan and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Your Private Notes:
Nutrition
Looking for more?
You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’
Tomato Butter Pasta FAQ
Some readers have had success in the comments with a can of good-quality tomatoes, so I’m sure it’ll still be delicious if you don’t have fresh tomatoes.
If you don’t like spice at all, you can leave out the chilli flakes, yes.
I imagine grilled chicken or sauce would go perfectly in this dish!
For more similar recipes check out these beauties:
Is it ok to freeze this recipe?
I haven’t tried, but I imagine it’s much better served fresh. If you’ve got leftovers you could certainly try freezing though! C.
Oh my god ! So good ,thanks
Thanks so much for the review, Linda! C.
This is so good! I didn’t have good ripe tomatoes so I used whole plum tomatoes from a can and grated them. Came out amazing!
So pleased to hear, Sandy! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 C.
This was sooo good! I didn’t have any tasty tomatoes so I used a can of crushed. I can’t wait to make it this summer with my homegrown.
It tastes like what we from South St. Louis would refer to as “fish fry spaghetti”.
So pleased this went down well, Patti! Thanks so much for the review 🙂 C.
Tonight, I made this recipe for the first time. I will definitely make it again! I made the recipe to feed 6 people; so, I used 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, instead of fresh. Also, I added a carrot to the pan to help cut down on the acidity of the tomatoes. Additionally, I only had dried basil; so, I added 1 teaspoon of that to the sauce. Thank you for sharing; the sauce is delicious!
So pleased it went down well, Jen! C.
This is such an easy one pot meal! You really must try; the kids will love this!
Thanks for the review, Jeannette! C.