Quick and easy spicy cherry tomato sauce. Have dinner ready in less than 30 minutes!
What’s for dinner? It’s the dreaded question almost every night.
Here’s a super quick fix for those busy weeknights. This simple pasta meal comes together in 30 minutes. Serve it as is, or along side grilled chicken or other protein.
One of my best friends gifted me this farfalline zebra pasta. It’s a traditional bow tie pasta colored with squid ink to make the black stripes. This special pasta requires a simple, delicate sauce.
Use any kind of pasta for this recipe. It’ll work with spaghetti, angel hair, fusilli, and more. For a protein packed option, try chickpea pasta or red lentil pasta.
Table of Contents
Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce
This has become my favorite summer tomato sauce. Not only is it simple and easy to make it, it sure tastes a lot better than the store-bought pasta sauces.
While this recipe specifically mentions cherry tomatoes, you may substitute in any tomatoes you happen to have. Grape tomatoes, mini heirloom tomatoes, and plum tomatoes are great options.
These yellow cherry tomatoes are some of the prettiest and tastiest tomatoes I’ve had all summer.
I bought a ton of it and have been concocting all sorts of ways to incorporate them into my meals- like my yellow cherry tomato pesto tart.
Roughly chop the fresh cherry tomatoes in a food processor or high speed blender. Pulse a few times to simply break up the tomatoes.
Meanwhile, cook minced garlic in a sauce pot. Once the garlic is fragrant, add in all the tomatoes (including all the expelled juices).
Season with agave syrup, red pepper flakes, and kosher salt. Mix together and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened.
Stir the sauce occasionally to ensure the tomatoes do not burn along the sides of the pot.
Serving Suggestions
Toss pasta in a spoonful of tomato sauce. Season with fresh basil and finish with a generous amount of parmesan cheese shavings.
The spicy tomato sauce can also be spread on top on crostini or served in a charcuterie board.
Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three days.
Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves,, minced
- ½ Tbsp agave syrup, or granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes,, reduce to ¼-½ for less spice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- fresh chopped basil,, as needed to taste and garnish
- dried oregano,, as needed to taste and garnish
- shaved parmesan cheese
- 8 oz pasta of choice,, cooked to package directions
Instructions
- Place cherry tomatoes in a food processor or blender. Pulse for a couple seconds until coarsely chopped.
- Meanwhile in a small sauce pan, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil. Once oil is warm, add minced garlic. Stir to combine and cook for 30-45 seconds on medium high heat until fragrant.
- Add chopped tomatoes and juice to sauce pan. Add agave, red pepper flakes and salt. Stir to combine. Turn heat to high and bring mixture to a boil.
- Once mixture has boiled, reduce heat to low and let mixture simmer for 15-30 minutes until sauce has thickened. Let mixture simmer uncovered. Stir from time to time to make sure tomatoes do not burn at the bottom or edge of pan.
- After about 20 minutes, the sauce should be thick. Remove from heat. If using sauce immediately, season with basil and oregano. If reserving for later use, allow sauce to cool to room temperature before storing in the fridge or freezer. Add herbs when you reheat sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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