This cherry tomato pasta recipe is our favorite way to use up those end of the season tomatoes to make a flavorful pasta dish that the whole family will love.  Serve it with some grilled broccolini or a simple salad like our fennel salad for a complete meal.

The Best Cherry Tomato Pasta

If you’re on the hunt for cherry tomato recipes, look no further than this simple pasta dish!  It’s our favorite way to use up those last summer tomatoes and is a great dish for busy weeknights as it doesn’t take a lot of time to get this tasty recipe on the table.

What You Will Need

• fresh garlic – We love lots of garlic to help us get the most flavorful sauce.
• cherry tomatoes – The summer months are a perfect time to gather up all the fresh tomatoes from your garden or local farmers market.
• olive oil – avocado oil can work too.
• kosher salt & ground black pepper – Just a bit to enhance flavors.
• spaghetti – regular or gluten free will work.  You could also use zucchini noodles.  Or feel free to use your family’s favorite pasta shape.
• reserved pasta water – Don’t forget about saving some pasta water, as this is an important step to ensure that your sauce is the right consistency.
• high-quality olive oil – Just a small amount to ensure that your veggies roast perfectly. 
• parmesan cheese – What’s a pasta dish without cheese?
• fresh basil leaves – Enjoy a sweet and slightly spicy flavor throughout your dish thanks to this little herb.

Next, prep your garlic by cutting off the knobby end of the head of garlic, exposing the cloves. Now take that cut head of garlic and place it in the middle of a large piece of foil or parchment, with the cut side facing up.  Now pour olive oil on top and add salt and butter on top as well.  Completely wrap the head of garlic with the foil or parchment paper, keeping the cut side facing up.  Place your wrapped and seasoned garlic on a cookie sheet and place it in the middle rack of the oven and let cook for 25 minutes or until the cloves are soft and spreadable. 

​While the garlic is roasting, get started with prepping your cherry tomatoes.  Place them in a medium-sized bowl and drizzle them with olive oil.  Toss them to ensure they all get coated with the oil and then set them aside.

Once your garlic is done roasting, remove the pan from the oven and add your prepped cherry tomatoes to the same pan.  Once they’re well seasoned with salt and ground black pepper, pop them back in the oven on the middle rack and let everything cook for 20-30 minutes, or until the tomatoes start to char and/or burst.  Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let everything cool slightly.

Now for the pasta! Cook your spaghetti until it’s al dente in a dutch oven according to the package instructions.  Now this next part is important!  Once your noodles are all finished cooking, use a liquid measuring cup to carefully scoop out 1/2 a cup of pasta water and set it off to the side.  You will need this later!  Once you have your reserved water, use a colander to drain the rest of the water and place your al dente noodles back into the dutch oven.

Take your roasted garlic cloves and add them to the dutch oven along with the roasted tomatoes.  Drizzle everything with olive oil, add 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, and just a splash of pasta water, which will thicken your sauce a bit.  Lastly, season everything with a last sprinkling of salt and toss to combine.  

Now for the fun part, taste testing!  Take a bite of your pasta with cherry tomatoes and add additional salt and pepper as desired.  Also feel free to add a few more splashed of pasta water as needed if the pasta feels dry.  Serve your newest favorite pasta dish with copious amounts of grated or shaved parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, and fresh cracked pepper.

Recipe FAQs

• Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. 
• Cherry Tomatoes: You can really use whatever kind you wish – we used on-the-vine cherry tomatoes for testing this recipe and they turned out so good! 

Made this simple recipe of roasted cherry tomato pasta and loved it?! We would love it if you would take a minute and leave a star rating and review – it is also helpful if you made any substitutions or changes to the recipe to share that as well. THANK YOU! 

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