Easy, Fresh Tomato Pasta Sauce
This simple cherry tomato pasta sauce comes together in no time and is bursting with flavor! It's delicious on pasta or flatbreads or even as a dip in your favorite charcuterie board.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- ½ large shallot minced
- 2 large garlic cloves minced
- 2 lb fresh cherry or grape tomatoes some halved or quartered - see note below
- 1 cup chopped fresh basil leaves lightly packed
- ½ - 1 cup pasta water swap for broth or regular water if omitting pasta
- 16 oz fresh pappardelle pasta if serving sauce with pasta
Instructions
- On medium low heat, melt the butter together with the oil.
- Sauté the shallots in the butter and extra virgin olive oil for 2-3 min or until they're soft. Add in the garlic for another 2-3 min, making sure it doesn't brown.
- Add the tomatoes and salt and stir together with the shallots and garlic. Increase the heat to medium and cover for about 5 minutes or until most tomatoes burst.
- Uncover, add your shredded basil and pop the softened tomatoes that still remain whole. Reduce heat to medium low and stir well for about 2 minutes.
- Add in half of your pasta water, the al dente pasta and stir together for another 1-2 minutes. If you'd like your sauce a bit looser, add more pasta water until you reach your desired consistency. If you're not adding pasta to the sauce, sub in the pasta water for regular water or broth.
- Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed.
Notes
- A time saving trick - halve or quarter the largest of your tomatoes prior to putting them in the pan. This will help "burst" them quicker and extract all of their juices while cooking.
- Store the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- To freeze the sauce, make sure it's completely cooled before adding into freezer-safe bags or containers for 3-4 months. I like to keep this sauce in a freezer-safe, zip-top bag that I freeze horizontally. That way, I can break apart a part of the thin block if I want to defrost a smaller portion
- This sauce thickens up as it cools. If you want to reheat it and thin it out a bit, feel free to add more water while you reheat it until it reaches your desired consistency.
- If you can't find good quality basil in the produce department of your grocery store, buy a basil plant! I find that herbs at some grocery stores are not the freshest or the most bountiful, especially basil. When that happens, I love buying a small, potted plant and just using the leaves.
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