This Creamy Cherry Tomato Pasta is so easy to make and full of flavor! The cherry tomatoes are blistered and simmered in a pan and blended into the most luscious and flavorful sauce. The recipe is on the table in about 30 minutes, and you can serve it on its own or with your choice of protein!
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Why You'll Love This Creamy Tomato Pasta
Blended and full of flavor - I chose to add an extra step and blend the cherry tomato sauce instead of keeping it chunky, and it creates the most luscious creamy sauce and gets rid of those annoying tomato peels. The tomatoes are blended with heavy cream, fresh basil, sauteed onion, and other spices to create a delicious, flavorful sauce
Easy and simple - The sauce has a few simple steps, and while you do have to blend it, it's still very easy to make and very straightforward. The sauce has 10 simple ingredients (plus salt and pepper), and it takes about 20 minutes to make.
Ingredients
- Pasta - You can use practically any regular or gluten-free pasta here. I went with rigatoni because they look pretty and hold the sauce well.
- Cherry tomatoes - Both cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes work. They'll taste the best in the summer while they're in season.
- Tomato paste - I like enhancing the tomato flavor by adding some tomato paste. I often use double concentrate for an even stronger flavor, but regular tomato paste works great too.
- Aromatics - Yellow onion and garlic cloves are where a lot of the flavor comes from. The onion gets caramelized in the pan first, and then it's blended with the tomatoes and sauteed garlic at the end.
- Heavy cream - Classic heavy cream makes the tomato sauce extra creamy and decadent. If you don't want to use heavy cream, I have a few substitutes you can use in the paragraph below. My favorite is soft goat cheese.
- Parmesan cheese - Parmesan thickens the sauce, adds saltiness, and flavor. I often use pecorino romano, which is made with sheep or goat milk and is even more flavorful and salty than Parmesan. I recommend either buying a block of Parmesan you grate yourself or buying one that's pre-grated but without any additives.
- Spices - The sauce has dried thyme and oregano, but you can use fresh herbs as well. I also add fresh basil right before I blend the sauce to really tie everything together. My secret ingredient here is balsamic vinegar, added along with the basil. You can't really taste it, but it adds that little something and brings all the other flavors out.
Variations and Substitutions
- No heavy cream - You can use soft, unripened goat cheese or cream cheese instead of heavy cream. Alternatively, you can also use non-dairy heavy cream or good creamy cashew milk, or coconut milk.
- Different tomatoes - Theoretically, you could make this with other types of tomatoes if you don't have cherry tomatoes, but they won't be as easy to cook in a pan because they're not as small as cherry or grape tomatoes.
- Add spinach - Once you toss the pasta with the sauce, add some fresh baby spinach and stir it in to allow it to wilt down.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta until al dente according to package instructions, and drain. While the pasta cooks, make the sauce. Reserve at least ½ cup of the pasta water.
- Into a large skillet over medium-high heat, add avocado oil, sliced yellow onion, and sea salt.
- Cook the onion for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally until glossy and slightly caramelized.
- Take the onion out and add cherry tomatoes. Cook them for 5 minutes to blister and caramelize them. Deglaze the pan with a splash of water if it starts to burn too much.
- Add the onions back, add minced garlic, tomato paste, dried oregano, dried thyme, and ½ cup of pasta water to deglaze the pan.
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- Stir everything to mix and use the back edge of your wooden spoon or spatula to squish the tomatoes to help them cook and create sauce.
- Simmer the mixture for about 5 minutes on medium heat or until it releases more water and becomes saucy.
- Take the sauce off the heat and blend with heavy cream, grated parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and black pepper until smooth and creamy. Use an immersion blender or a high-speed blender.
- Toss the sauce with your cooked pasta and add more salt or pepper to taste.
- Serve with more Parmesan and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Serving, Storing, and Reheating
Storing: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. I don't recommend freezing the finished pasta, but you could freeze the sauce on its own.
Reheating: Reheat the pasta in a saucepan or a pan on the stove until warmed through. Add a splash of water to prevent it from sticking.
FAQs
It's great with medium-sized pasta like rigatoni, fusilli, rotini, penne, or similar, but it would also be amazing with spaghetti as well!
Heavy cream will give you the best amount of creaminess without making the sauce too thin, but half-and-half would work in a pinch. You can also use soft, unripe goat cheese or cream cheese.
Some of the flavor of the sauce comes from blistering and caramelizing the cherry tomatoes in the pan, but if you only have canned cherry tomatoes or canned Roma tomatoes, they'll make a great sauce as well. I don't recommend using sundried tomatoes because they would give the sauce a completely different flavor. I have a different recipe for Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta you can check out!
Similar Tomato Pasta Recipes
Below are four of my favorite creamy tomato pasta recipes you can try if you like this one. To see all the latest ones and a variety of other pasta dishes, head over to Pasta Recipes.
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Print📖 Recipe
Creamy Cherry Tomato Pasta
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 3-4
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This Creamy Cherry Tomato Pasta is so easy to make and full of flavor! The tomatoes are blended into the most luscious and flavorful sauce. The recipe is ready in just 30 minutes, and you can serve it on its own or with your choice of protein!
Ingredients
- 12 oz rigatoni (or other pasta shape)
- 1 tbsp avocado oil (or other cooking oil)
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- ½ tsp sea salt
- 16 oz cherry tomatoes
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ cup pasta water (plus more as needed)
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (plus more for serving)
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4-5 large fresh basil leaves
- ¼-½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your pasta according to package instructions, and drain. While the pasta cooks, make the sauce. Reserve at least ½ cup of the pasta water.
- Into a large pan over medium-high heat, add avocado oil, sliced yellow onion, and sea salt.
- Cook the onion for 6-7 minutes, stirring occasionally until glossy and slightly caramelized.
- Take the onion out and add cherry tomatoes. Cook them for 5 minutes to blister and caramelize them. Deglaze the pan with a splash of water if it starts to burn too much.
- Add the onions back, add minced garlic, tomato paste, dried oregano, dried thyme, and ½ cup of pasta water to deglaze the pan.
- Stir everything to mix and use the back edge of your wooden spoon or spatula to squish the tomatoes to help them cook and create sauce. Cook for about 5 minutes on medium heat or until they release more water and become saucy.
- Take the sauce off the heat and blend with heavy cream, grated parmesan cheese, balsamic vinegar, fresh basil, and black pepper until smooth and creamy. Use an immersion blender or a high-speed blender.
- Toss the sauce with your cooked pasta and add more salt or pepper to taste.
- Serve with more parmesan and fresh basil. Enjoy!
Equipment
Notes
The best pan and blender: If you have a large saucer pan for pasta, you can blend the sauce right in the pan with an immersion blender. If your pan is low, you might have to transfer it to a blender to avoid splatter. I transferred it to a medium pot to blend with an immersion blender and tossed the sauce with the pasta right in that pot. Be very careful blending hot liquids, and make sure the blender is never completely closed so the steam has a way to escape.
Storing and reheating: Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 days. Reheat the pasta in a small pot on the stove with a splash of water until warmed through.
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