Tomato Butter Pasta

This tomato butter pasta is such a simple recipe, but it always hits the spot!

This is one of those no-fuss pasta recipes that are just too good not to try. It’s no fuss or frills, but there’s something about it that’s so delicious. Follow me…

Grated Tomato Pasta Sauce

One of the key steps in this recipe is grating the tomatoes to form the sauce.

Why grate the tomatoes?

To be honest the grating of tomatoes is mostly about the ability to form a sauce using fresh 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 you get to it.

What kind of tomatoes to use?

The tomatoes make up a big bulk of the sauce, so try and get some nice ripe good quality tomatoes. Here I’ve used plum tomatoes which work perfectly, so do grab them if you can.

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 Pasta Sauce

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 quickly 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

This tomato butter pasta is such a simple recipe, but it always hits the spot!

5 from 23 votes

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Servings (click & slide): 2

Course: Lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Calories per serving: 794kcal

Author: Chris Collins

Cost per serving: £3 / $4

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Equipment:

• Large Pan & Wooden Spoon
• Large Pot & Tongs
• Box Grater & Bowl
• Fine Cheese Grater

Ingredients (check list):

• ▢ 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!

Quick 1 min demo!

Notes:

a) Tomatoes - Here I've used some ripe plum tomatoes, which I recommend using if you can get your hands on them (they have a gorgeous sweet flavour with bright red flesh). Failing that, just grab some good-quality ripe tomatoes that are going to be easy to grate.

b) Grating the tomatoes - This helps create a nice texture to form the base of the sauce. It's also a really simple way of peeling the tomatoes. As you grate the tomatoes just keep them flat and you'll be left with the entirety of the skin, which you can just discard. If you don't have a grater just slice an X at the top of each tomato, then simmer in boiling water for 1 min. Immediately place in an ice bath and peel the skin when cool enough to handle. From there, just dice as finely as you can.

c) Seasoning - This is a really simple sauce, so season well to bring out the best in it! Also make sure your pasta water is seasoned well, just so you don't dilute the flavour of the sauce.

d) Calories - Whole recipe divided by 2.

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Nutrition:

Nutrition Facts

Tomato Butter Pasta

Amount Per Serving

Calories 794 Calories from Fat 271

% Daily Value*

Fat 30.1g46%

Saturated Fat 17.549g88%

Trans Fat 1.075g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2.055g

Monounsaturated Fat 7.446g

Cholesterol 75mg25%

Sodium 500mg21%

Potassium 906mg26%

Carbohydrates 107.72g36%

Fiber 7.1g28%

Sugar 9.47g11%

Protein 24.13g48%

Vitamin A 3393IU68%

Vitamin C 34.2mg41%

Calcium 224mg22%

Iron 5.34mg30%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition is based on the absence of salt unless stated as a measurement in the ingredients. Cost is worked out based on ingredients bought from UK supermarkets, then divided by the number of servings. In both instances these values are just for guidance. Please check out my FAQ Page for more info.

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Looking for more?You'll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook 'Comfy'

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