If you want to know how to cook the easiest most delicious pasta recipe of your life, you came to the right place. This simple pasta recipe is Vegetarian, easy for anyone to cook and takes only 15 minutes from start to finish.
Why make this
As far as simple past recipes go. This pasta recipe hits all the right spots for the following reasons.
- Uses fresh healthy ingredients
- Quick and easy to make
- Has a ton of flavour using only a few classic flavour combos
- It's cheap to make coming in at under $5
- You can turn it into a pasta salad
- Requires minimal cooking skills
- Perfect for lunch and dinner
- Good in any season
Some Italian pasta sauces take ages to prepare. Not this one. Adapted from the famous Caprese Italian pasta recipe, it’s also perfect for anything from a simple light summer lunch to a quick weeknight dinner or romantic dinner for two.
Cherry tomatoes are available all year round and they are perfect little bursts of sweetness and umami savouriness in this sexy homemade fettuccini or tagliatelle.
If you have other tasty sweet seasonal tomatoes go ahead and use them instead.
Tomato and mozzarella is a match made in heaven and marriage guaranteed never to fail.
Freshly chopped parsley brightens up this pasta and gives it freshness basil just does not bring to the show. I was surprised myself but it’s a perfect combination.
A steaming bowl of this burst cherry tomato pasta and a crisp well-chilled Sauvignon Blanc lay many worries to rest and brighten up a sombre day.
It’s comfort food at it’s best. A crowd-pleaser, life saver and best friend all in one.
Useful equipment
Ingredient notes
- Tomatoes - Use the sweetest most intensely flavoured tomatoes you can find. Unless your tomatoes are grown in Uzbekistan( The best tomatoes come from there), use cherry tomatoes deep in colour and sweet as honey. Syrup if you're vegan.
- Mozzarella - Use fresh mozzarella that comes in the form of a ball in water or brine. This may be made from buffalo milk or cows milk. Both work. Do not use rubbery pizza mozzarella. Otherwise, tears will follow.
- Pasta - Choose flat-shaped pasta instead of a tube or shell-shaped pasta.
Best type of pasta to use
I used fresh homemade pasta for this recipe.
Making fresh pasta at home is a very rewarding process. You can learn how to make easy 2 ingredient pasta right here.
Contrary to popular belief, it's also very simple and easy to do and takes only a few minutes of active time.
If you are feeling a bit lazy you could always use store-bought or ready-made pasta. Your final dish will be just as magnificent.
My favourite shapes include:
- Tagliatelle
- Pappardelle
- Fettuccine
- Farfalle
Instructions
Before we start. Chill down the wine. Get your table setting ready and chillax with your favourite tunes in the background.
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Cut half the tomatoes in half and leave half whole. Add butter and olive oil to the pan along with some chopped garlic, salt and sugar. At the same time bring a pot of salted water to the boil for cooking your pasta. Once boiling, add your pasta and cook until al dente. If you are using fresh homemade pasta hold off on this step as fresh pasta cooks a lot quicker than dried pasta.
- Gently cook the tomatoes and garlic until the tomatoes burst and the garlic is soft, sweet and fragrant. At this point, the smell will be intoxicating and you will start to salivate profusely. Sorry. If any tomatoes have not burst, just give them a gentle nudge down until they just pop. We want to keep some bursts of juicy tomato while also making a tomato sauce. While the sauce is gently going. Chop some parsley ready to add right in the end. Tear some fresh mozzarella into bite-size pieces for adding last.
- When your pasta is nice and al dente(or softer if you prefer more cooked pasta). Drain and reserve about 100g of the cooking liquid. Add this cooking liquid to the tomato pan sauce. Bring to the boil and add a knob of butter. This is a tomato sauce straight from the Gods. Otherwise known as a pan emulsion. This step grabs all those lovely tasty get-in-my-mouth flavours from gently pan roasting the tomatoes and binds them together in a luxuriously buttery tomatoey sauce ready to cover your pasta.
- When all that R rated saucy business is done. Add your pasta and gently toss it together with the chopped parsley. Test your pasta for seasoning and add some salt and freshly ground black pepper as you please. Add to a pasta plate and add the torn fresh mozzarella along with a good glug of good extra virgin olive oil. Pour a glass, enjoy and marvel at your pasta cooking skills.
Alternatives
- Add protein - Feel free to add some oven-baked chicken, shrimps, scallops or slowly confit duck leg.
- Make it vegan - Omit the butter, use vegan pasta, and use vegan cheese. Results may vary but there you go.
- Change the herbs - Use basil, chervil, chives or cilantro instead of parsley. Although parsley is king in this pasta.
- Add some heat - Love adding some freshly chopped chilli. Gives it a nice kick of heat.
- Make it a pasta salad - Cook the pasta and sauce and let both cool down individually. Mix together when chilled.
Tips for success
- Only use flat pasta shapes. Tube and shell shapes will result in a drier pasta. Those shapes are meant for more liquid pasta sauces.
- If using fresh pasta only cook it for 3 minutes depending on the thickness. Always taste your pasta often for doneness.
- Make sure to salt the water you're boiling the pasta in. 2% salt to the weight of water is perfect. Measured in grams.
- Tomatoes lose their sweetness and the sharpness increases as it cooks. Adjust this by adding a touch of sugar.
- Tear the mozzarella into bite-sized pieces instead of cutting. It looks nicer and the texture is more pleasing.
- Save enough pasta cooking water in case you need to make your sauce thinner.
- Don't listen to people that say you shouldn't add butter to Caprese style pasta. They're just blowing in the wind and don't know what they're missing.
Other recipes you might like
If you like cooking simple food using quality ingredients then you'll find the following recipes useful.
- Moroccan Roasted eggplant and tomato salad
- Authentic Greek salad
- Sea bass Crudo
- Roasted red peppers, mascarpone and olive tapenade
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Burst Cherry Tomato, Mozzarella And Parsley Pasta
Ingredients
- 50 g (¼ cups) butter
- 50 g (¼ cups) olive oil - extra virgin
- 10 g (¾ tbsp) garlic - chopped
- 250 g (1¾ cups) cherry tomatoes - plum vine extra sweet
- 125 g (1½ cups) mozzarella - fresh buffalo milk
- 4 g (1 tsp) salt
- 4 g (1 tsp) sugar
- 10 g (1 tbsp) parsley - flat-leaf chopped roughly
- 100 g (1.67 cups) dried pasta - or 200g fresh pasta
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium heat. Cut half the tomatoes in half and leave half whole. Add 25g butter and 25g olive oil to the pan along with some chopped garlic, salt and sugar. At the same time bring a pot of salted water to the boil for cooking your pasta.
- Once boiling, add your pasta and cook until al dente. If you are using fresh homemade pasta hold off on this step as fresh pasta cooks a lot quicker than dried pasta.
- Gently cook the tomatoes and garlic until the tomatoes burst and the garlic is soft, sweet and fragrant. At this point, the smell will be intoxicating and you will start to salivate profusely. Sorry.
- If any tomatoes have not burst, just give them a gentle nudge down until they just pop. We want to keep some bursts of juicy tomato while also making a tomato sauce.
- While the sauce is gently going. Chop some parsley ready to add right in the end. Tear some fresh mozzarella into bite-size pieces for adding last. I prefer torn mozzarella to cut as it looks more natural and eats a lot nicer.
- When your pasta is nice and al dente(or softer if you prefer more cooked pasta). Drain and reserve about 100g of the cooking liquid. Add this cooking liquid to the tomato pan sauce.
- Bring to the boil and add the rest of the butter and olive oil. This is a tomato sauce straight from the Gods. Otherwise known as a pan emulsion. This step grabs all those lovely tasty get-in-my-mouth flavours from gently pan roasting the tomatoes and binds them together in a luxuriously buttery tomatoey sauce ready to cover your pasta.
- When all that R rated saucy business is done. Add your pasta and gently toss it together with the chopped parsley.
- Test your pasta for seasoning and add some salt and freshly ground black pepper as you please.
- Add to a pasta plate and add the torn fresh mozzarella along with a glug of good extra virgin olive oil.
Notes
- This recipe could easily be turned into a pasta salad. Just cool down the sauce and add to any chilled pasta of your choice
- If you are using fresh pasta use 200g instead of 100g dried
- Not freezer friendly
- Feel free to add a protein like chicken or turkey
- Can be made vegan by using egg-free pasta and removing the cheese and butter
- Make it gluten-free by using gluten-free pasta
- For best results use flat pasta shapes like tagliatelle, pappardelle, or fettuccine. Tube shapes are more suitable for saucier pasta recipes.
- Make sure to keep enough pasta water in order to make your pan emulsion and adjust the consistency if needed
- Pairs amazing with Well chilled wooded Chardonay or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc
Jennie
I never made my own pasta before and tried your homemade pasta recipe. Was sooooo delicious! I now don't buy store-bought at all. I'm a convert! I also cook this tomato parsley version waaaay too often for my waistline.)))) Too delicious to stop!
Charlé
Jenny, I know right! Once you go homemade it's hard to turn back. Happy to hear you enjoy this recipe so much.
Lolly
This tastes like a sauce I'd get out in a restaurant! It's much richer and more intense than any home made sauces I've made myself and it's the first time I've not used onion which allows the garlic flavour to fully come through. The ingredients are so simple yet the finished product is so different. One to have as a special treat now and then. I'm very glad to have found your website the other day.
Charlé Visser
That's great feedback! Glad you like it! Yes, simplicity is key and you only really need to balance the sauce with a bit of sugar and salt. The rest pretty much just falls into place. I worked in a kitchen where we didn't use onion at all. It's amazing how much clearer some flavours are without using onion. doesn't go for all dishes though)) Most soups and stews can't do without an onion base.