One of my favorite things to make during the summer is this Butter Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta! This recipe is a great way to use up a lot of super ripe and seasonal cherry tomatoes that are readily available during the summer months. It’s also a simple recipe that isn’t very fussy, vegetarian friendly an can be easily adaptable.
Also, just a little pro tip: the butter roasted cherry tomatoes themselves are to die for and can be used on so much more than just pasta. Spoon some over a piece of avocado or ricotta topped toast or throw some on top of a salad, just to name a couple ideas!
How to Make Our Cherry Tomato Pasta
Process
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Sprinkle cubed butter, garlic and thyme along bottom of a shallow baking dish.
- Top mixture with tomatoes. Season generously with salt and pepper.
- Place tomatoes into the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and fold together until tomatoes are well coated in melted butter. Place tomatoes back into the oven for another 20 minutes or until tomato skins have begun to shrivel and the tomatoes themselves have slightly burst. Discard thyme sprigs.
- While tomatoes roast, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Add a small handful of salt, followed by the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain into a colander, reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta liquid.
- Carefully peel roasted garlic and mince.
- Add garlic back to tomatoes and toss together along with all the juices in the pan.
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and a third of the tomatoes (with the juices).
- Add pasta to the skillet and toss together for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Pour reserved pasta water into the skillet and cook until liquid has mostly evaporated.
- Sprinkle Parmesan over pasta.
- Toss together until Parmesan is evenly distributed.
- Transfer pasta to a platter and top with remaining tomato mixture (along with juices). Top with fresh basil leaves and more freshly grated Parmesan. Serve.
Tips and Tricks for Cherry Tomato Pasta Success
- Roast the tomatoes ahead of time (up to a week!), to save time when making the cherry tomato pasta.
- Although not completely necessary I love using this ribbed baking dish for roasting tomatoes (and for general baking!) It really helps to prevent any tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Although you’ll have some liquid from the butter and tomato juices the reserved pasta water is important! It adds a bit of starchy liquid to mixture, which helps create a “sauce” for the pasta, especially once the Parmesan is added.
Make Ahead Instructions for Our Cherry Tomato Pasta
Pasta
The pasta can be boiled up to 3 days ahead of time. Once the pasta is drained, run it under cool water to stop the cooking process, then transfer the well drained pasta to an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days, until ready to use. Separately store cooled pasta water in an airtight container.
Once you’re ready to use the pasta, transfer back to a colander and run under warm water until pliable. Heat the reserved pasta water back up in a microwave or in a small pot over the stove and set aside.
Cherry Tomatoes
The cherry tomatoes can be roasted up to 7 days ahead of time. Once roasted tomatoes have cooled, peel garlic, mince and stir back into tomatoes. Then transfer entire mixture to an airtight container until ready to use.
When ready to use, discard thyme sprigs, then warm tomato mixture back up in the microwave or transfer mixture to a pot and simmer until warmed.
Other Uses for Our Butter Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
As I mentioned earlier, the butter roasted cherry tomatoes can be used beyond this pasta dish! Some of my favorite uses are:
- Spooned onto avocado (or ricotta) toast.
- Tossed into a salad or grain bowl.
- Served alongside crackers, crostini and other dips.
- Smashed and spread onto a sandwich or in a wrap/pita.
- Stirred into risotto.
- As a delicious pizza or flatbread topping.
More Delicious Cherry Tomato Recipes You Will Love:
Butter Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta
INGREDIENTS
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed
- 2 garlic cloves (with skins on), lightly smashed
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 1 1/2 pounds cherry tomatoes
- 8 ounces spaghetti
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 ounces freshly grated Parmesan plus more for garnish
- salt and pepper to taste
- fresh basil leaves garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375˚F.
- Spread butter, garlic and thyme along bottom of a shallow baking dish and top with tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Place tomatoes into the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and fold together until tomatoes are well coated in melted butter. Place tomatoes back into the oven for another 20 minutes or until tomato skins have begun to shrivel and the tomatoes themselves have slightly burst.
- While tomatoes roast, fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
- Add a small handful of salt, followed by the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain into a colander, reserving 1/3 cup of the pasta liquid.
- Remove tomatoes from oven and discard thyme sprigs and any tomato stems. Carefully peel garlic and mince. Add garlic back to tomatoes and toss together along with all the juices in the pan.
- Place a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil and a third of the tomatoes (with the juices).
- Add pasta to the skillet and toss together for a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour reserved pasta water into the skillet and cook until liquid has evaporated.
- Sprinkle Parmesan over pasta and toss together until evenly distributed.
- Transfer pasta to a platter and top with remaining tomato mixture (along with juices).
- Top with fresh basil leaves and loads more freshly grated Parmesan. Serve.
NOTES
- Roast the tomatoes ahead of time (up to a week!), to save time when making the cherry tomato pasta.
- Although not completely necessary I love using this ribbed baking dish for roasting tomatoes (and for general baking!) It really helps to prevent any tomatoes from sticking to the bottom of the baking dish.
- Although you’ll have some liquid from the butter and tomato juices the reserved pasta water is important! It adds a bit of starchy liquid to mixture, which helps create a “sauce” for the pasta, especially once the Parmesan is added.
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We just made this dish and we love it! It will definitely be added to our rotation! Thanks for sharing!
Two weeks later and I am back to comment again. A single recipe was not enough last time! I just made this fabulous recipe again….this time doubling it. Looking forward to a delish dinner tonight and leftovers. This is definitely one of my regular go to recipes now.
So delicious! My us and didn’t even miss the meat. The only thing I did was to add all the tomatoes rather than just 1/3. Loved it
I made this recipe for dinner tonight. I was trying to find a recipe to use all the cherry tomatoes I had. This recipe was very simple to make and very, very delicious. You will not be disappointed. The flavor was fabulous. Recipe saved! Thank you!
This would be a great variation on the “cook pasta like risotto” method. Instead of boiling the pasta place the dry pasta in a pan to heat then add the liquid slowly. Use whatever stock you wish or water mixed with a little passata or tomato paste then add the confit tomatoes at the end.
Great recipe! It really is hard to eat or give away all the cherry tomatoes we produce, so this is just what I was looking for! Thank you!
This is fantastic! Love how simple but flavorful it is. No garden, so I used the heirloom cherry tomatoes from Trader Joe’s. YUM!
I made this for lunch today! I have a plethora of vegetables from my garden, so this was a great, simple idea. I served it alongside roasted zucchini and everything was delicious.