A simple vegetarian pasta dinner with only five ingredients! Canned cherry tomatoes and garlic butter make a rich and flavorful spaghetti sauce in record speed. No chopping, everything cooks in one pot, so dinner is ready in 15 minutes flat!
Soooooo… In my last post I explained how my pregnancy (YAY!) turned my relationship with food a little upside down (NOT SO YAY!), and that I don’t even love pasta anymore. Shock! Horror! No one is more surprised than me by this turn of events.
Yeah, so these photos are old. It’s the last pasta dish I cooked and photographed back in the winter.
I was eating it nonstop and it was everything I ever dreamed of for busy weeknights, because all I needed was a can of cherry tomatoes, some garlic butter, basil, balsamic vinegar and spaghetti. And I always have those things to hand.
I’m probably going to love this again once I’m a busy Mama, aren’t I?
(2018 UPDATE : Yesssss. My love of pasta returned quickly after giving birth and now my daughter loves it too, so I just thought I’d pop back here and let ya’ll know that order has been restored to the Veggie Kitchen, new pasta recipes are flowing again, and pregnancy is just weird.)
You don’t even have to chop anything, because you’re using garlic butter. The garlicky taste will carry into the sauce with none of the fresh stuff required. Added bonus: minimal dishes to clean.
Using butter lets you cheat your way to a ton of flavour without a long cooking time required. It was really quick but didn’t have that dull taste of under-developed tomato sauce that I sometimes find with one pot tomato pastas.
I used normal garlic butter but you could totally get fancy and use roasted garlic butter, as long as it’s really strong. Or a bit of both? If you collect butters?
I think using canned cherry tomatoes is quite important here because they have that sweeter, more intense flavor. Sometimes normal canned tomatoes are a little blah and while I use them all the time, this dish has so few ingredients you kinda need them all to pull their weight.
If you can’t find canned cherry tomatoes though, just get some that you know are really flavorful. Like, not the cheap ones I hoard from Costco.
One Pot Cherry Tomato & Garlic Butter Spaghetti
Ingredients
- 300 g (11 oz) spaghetti
- 400 g (14 oz) can of cherry tomatoes
- 30 g (2 Tbsp) garlic butter
- 355 ml (1.5 cups) water
- ½ tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 bunch fresh basil
Instructions
- In a large pot or skillet, combine the water and canned tomatoes and then add the spaghetti on top.
- Cover and bring to a gentle boil. Add half of the butter now and stir for a minute or two to ensure that all of the softening spaghetti is covered in liquid and doesn’t stick together.
- Leave to simmer for about 10 additional minutes, checking and stirring the pasta regularly to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom of the pan. If it starts to get too dry before the spaghetti is cooked, add a little more water.
- Once the pasta is cooked, turn off the heat and add the remaining butter, fresh basil and balsamic vinegar. Stir until the butter is melted in.
This looks so easy and yummy – I love how coloured the pasta looks because its cooked in the sauce!
Thank you!! 🙂
Pregnancy made you hate pasta?! Good grief, pasta is how I survived pregnancy! But it did destroy my relationship with both beets (meh) and kimchi (so sad!). Hopefully the kimchi will come back. I love a good one-pot pasta and this one is definitely top notch! The garlic butter really takes things to the next level, so be sure not to skip it!
Pregnancy made you hate pasta?! Good grief, pasta is how I survived pregnancy! But it did destroy my relationship with both beets (meh) and kimchi (so sad!). Hopefully the kimchi will come back. I love a good one-pot pasta and this one is definitely top notch! The garlic butter really takes things to the next level, so be sure not to skip it!
Pregnancy made you hate pasta?! Good grief, pasta is how I survived pregnancy! But it did destroy my relationship with both beets (meh) and kimchi (so sad!). Hopefully the kimchi will come back. I love a good one-pot pasta and this one is definitely top notch! The garlic butter really takes things to the next level, so be sure not to skip it!
Can you just confirm the measurement of water please? Being in the UK I followed the “ml” and paid no attention to the cups. I ended up with spaghetti stuck together and had to add loads more water before realising that 55ml of far less than 1.5 cups. Would like to make it again, thank you in advance 😊
Oh nooo I am so sorry, that is just a typo – it should have said 355ml and I’ve just edited it to say that. I am so sorry that this error caused you so much hassle when cooking my recipe. I hope you were able to salvage your dinner and enjoy it if you make it again.
When you’re simmering the pasta, do you leave the pan covered for the 10 minutes or uncovered? Thanks so much!
I cover it, but if it feels too watery I leave it uncovered for a bit to make sure the excess moisture evaporates.
Do you think it would make a big difference if you put the spaghetti in the water first and get it softened and then add the can of tomatoes? I am really looking forward to trying this recipe!
That should be fine! Hope you enjoy it 🙂