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:
Very good
Thanks Nicki! C.
This is such an easy one pot meal! You really must try; the kids will love this!
It was amazing! Thanks.
Thanks for the review, Linda! 🙂 C.
Might be a silly question but…Do you de-seed the tomatoes first ? I dint have fresh romas just beefsteak. Thank you
Not a silly question! There’s no need to deseed the tomatoes 🙂 C.
Yummy!! Making this for a second time with some garlic shrimp.
So pleased to hear, Lisa! 🙂 C.
Summertime fresh tomatoes. Just made this tonight, and it was a winner. Simple and delicious, the best kind of meal.Thank You!!!
Thanks so much for the review, Linda! 🙂 C.
I have never grated tomatoes before. So great! It releases the fresh flavours. I’ve made this three times. First time as directed, second I deglazed garlic with white wine, third I added shallots to the garlic (Russian garlic – yum), deglazed with white wine and reduced the cheese a bit. Just fookng around. They are all great. Such a fresh dish and perfect for the time toes I get from Cropthorne farms on Westham Island. Thanks for putting me into this.
Thanks so much for the review, Carol! Love the alterations 🙂 C.
Simple, easy and delicious!
Thanks Debra! C.
This is one of those recipes that I think is better rewarmed in the pan after the flavors meld together. Butter is not so overwhelming but tomatoes come through so fragrant. Loved it a few hours later.
Thanks so much for the review, Patricia! 🙂 C.
Thank you so much it was delicious……really,I always do italian recipe,it was the first Time I saw something like this,it was so good!
Thanks so much for the lovely review, Linda! 🙂 C.
Easy Peesy and oh so good. Thanks for a great recipe keeper!
Thanks so much for the review, Kim! 🙂 C.