Butter Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta

5 from 13 votes

Butter Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta

A deliciously simple recipe for Butter Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta! It's the perfect summertime dinner that also happens to be vegetarian friendly! Roasting the cherry tomatoes in butter really takes this recipe to the next level!

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Total Time45

Course: dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian, Italian-american

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 562kcal

Author: Teri & Jenny

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

US Customary - Metric

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

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.

Nutrition