This pasta with burst cherry tomato sauce is ridiculously simple, fresh and elegant. It’s perfect for a weeknight summer meal or to impress your dinner guests and best of all, it only takes 15 minutes! This recipe is all about celebrating summer’s bounty with sweet cherry tomatoes at their peak. The sauce is simply allowing the tomatoes to burst in a warm bath of olive oil, garlic and shallots to come together in a luxurious sauce. The pro trick here is adding just a touch of pasta water to the sauce. The salty, starchy water adds flavor, thickens and makes the sauce cling to and coat the pasta, creating a silky texture.
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This is always heavy in the rotation during the summer in our house. Top it off with some fresh herbs, an unapologetic amount of parm and you got yourself a restaurant quality meal.
You definitely want to make sure that you use a deeper pot or dutch oven to cook the tomatoes as they will sputter a bit as they start to burst. The recipe below with one pint of cherry tomatoes will feed about 2-3 hungry people. Double (or triple) it if you’re feeding a larger crew. You won’t be mad about having leftovers.

15-Minute Pasta With Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ lb thin spagetti
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 small shallot minced
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ cup reserved pasta water
- fresh basil leaves and oregano sprigs
- parmesan
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package directions and reserve ¼ cup of pasta water before draining.
- Heat olive oil in a deep pot or dutch oven. Add in garlic and shallot and cook gently till just fragrant.
- Add in cherry tomatoes and continue to cook gently until they start to burst and bubble.
- Stir in pasta water, toss with pasta and top with fresh herbs and parmesan. Serve immediately.
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