Orecchiette with Roasted Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan
This Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta recipe is super simple, but bursting with fresh flavors. The basil and roasted tomatoes pair perfectly together!
Creating This Roasted Tomato Basil Pasta
I hate to admit this, but it turns out that I haven’t been a very good gardener this year. In fact, I almost wish I hadn’t planted at all except for some herbs and a tomato plant.
This summer ended up being much, much busier than I anticipated. With a conference, vacation, busy kids, work, and family life I haven’t had a whole lot of free time to care for the garden.
After days (or weeks?), I went to pick some tomatoes and ended up with tons and tons of the sweet million and yellow pear. Too many, I thought, to do anything with before they went bad.
Then i saw this great post on Simple Bites for Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. I was salivating!
It was a few days before I had time to make them, but I’m sure glad I did. They’re great for snacking and I also used some to toss with pasta for a meal.
Orecchiette is such a fun pasta and I loved it with these slow-roasted cherry tomatoes. The roasted tomato pasta tasted fresh and full of simple flavors. There’s absolutely nothing fancy about this meal, but we loved it!
Roasted Tomato Pasta Ingredients
You need just six basic ingredients to make this roasted tomato and basil pasta.
I’ve suggested some optional ingredients in the list below, should you have them on hand and want to amp up the flavor of this pasta dish even more.
- Cherry or grape tomatoes
- Fresh thyme
- Salt and pepper
- Garlic (optional)
- Shallots (optional)
- Pasta of choice
- Fresh basil
- Grated Parmesan cheese
For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.
How to Make Roasted Tomato Pasta
Here’s an overview of how I made the roasted tomato and garlic pasta. Slow roasting tomatoes takes time, but the process is so easy!
- Roast the tomatoes: Cut the tomatoes in half end-to-end, and place cut side up on a pan.
- Optional: Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic, and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Roughly chop 2 large shallots and add to the tomatoes.
- Strip several sprigs of fresh thyme, and sprinkle the leaves over the tomatoes.
- Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil liberally over all of the tomatoes.
- Place in the oven at 200°F for 6-8 hours.
- Assemble the pasta dish: Toss the slow roasted tomatoes, garlic, and shallots (plus the oil) with the cooked pasta.
- Sprinkle with fresh basil and lightly toss to combine. Serve with shavings of fresh Parmesan on top.
The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.
Can This Recipe Be Made in Advance?
Yes, you can prepare a big batch of slow roasted tomatoes up to 5 days before you plan on assembling the pasta dish. The tomatoes can quickly be reheated in a skillet over medium-high heat, then tossed with the pasta.
Can This Recipe Be Made Gluten-Free?
Yes! When cooking with gluten-free pastas, I prefer to use either the Jovial brand or the Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli Pasta.
What to Serve with Tomato Basil Pasta
Serve this slow roasted tomato pasta with one of the following easy sides:
- Lemon Roasted Broccolini
- Italian Mixed Greens Salad
- Bleu Cheese BLT Salad
- Roasted Asparagus
- Easy Roasted Cauliflower
More Easy Pasta Recipes:
You can find all of my pasta recipes here. A few of my favorites are the following:
One Skillet Baked Ziti with Meat Sauce is the perfect, easy comforting pasta dish. Baking it in a single skillet makes for quick preparation and very minimal clean up.
This super simple One-Pot Pasta features fresh spinach and sun dried tomatoes for a pop of flavor and color.
This Brown Butter and Sage Gnocchi made from scratch, sautéed with a little butter and sage, is pure comfort food!
A simple, just-spicy-enough Arrabbiata Sauce you can make fro
m pantry ingredients. Serve it with anything — chicken, sausages, pasta, even your morning eggs!
This Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes comes together in just 20 minutes! Perfect for busy weeknights when you need to get food on the table quickly.
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Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta
This slow roasted tomato pasta recipe is super simple, but bursting with fresh flavors. The basil and roasted tomatoes pair perfectly together!
Ingredients
Slow roasted tomatoes:
- Cherry or grape tomatoes (I used enough to cover a whole baking sheet)
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- Sea salt and black pepper
- 5 cloves garlic (optional)
- 2 shallots (optional)
Pasta:
- 8 ounces orecchiette, cooked according to package instructions
- 1 1/2 cups slow roasted tomatoes (see above)
- 1 very large handful of sliced, fresh basil
- Grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes in half end-to-end, and place cut side up on a pan.
- Optional: Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic, and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Roughly chop 2 large shallots and add to the tomatoes.
- Strip several sprigs of fresh thyme, and sprinkle the leaves over the tomatoes.
- Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil liberally over all of the tomatoes.
- Place in the oven at 200°F for 6-8 hours; the tomatoes will collapse, but not completely dry out. (since they’ll be in there a while, preheating is not necessary).
- Toss the slow roasted tomatoes, garlic and shallots (with the oil) with the cooked pasta.
- Sprinkle with fresh basil and lightly toss to combine.
- Serve with shavings of fresh Parmesan on top.
Slow roasted tomatoes:
Roasted tomato pasta:
Notes
For the slow roasted tomatoes: I filled an entire baking sheet with the tomatoes and also added 2 very large shallots, sliced, and 5 cloves of sliced garlic. I used sweet million and yellow pear tomatoes.
Roasted tomatoes recipe by Simple Bites.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 2 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 69Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 203mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy. This provided information is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Amy from She Wears Many Hats says
Totally with ya there on the garden. It's so hard to keep up with when you're not home. Beautiful dish!
dining table says
I am looking for a very different dish that I can serve for my parents this coming weekend. I think this Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes is perfect. They haven't try this one.
delicieux says
This looks so delicious and full of flavour. It's so colourful as well. I love slow roasted tomatoes. I always add slow roasted cherry tomatoes to risotto.
Cookin' Canuck says
Slow-roasting tomatoes has been on my "to-do" list since last summer, but I still haven't got around to it yet this year. As soon as we pick the next batch, they are going straight into the oven. Beautiful pasta dish!
Rebecca says
Ditto on the favorite pasta type!! 🙂 It looks like a nice plate of summer's harvest!
We Are Not Martha says
Orecchiette is my very favorite pasta too! And this is the perfect dish to make with all those tomatoes. It's so pretty, too :)Sues
Alison @ Hospitality Haven says
I could definitely eat that off the screen! 🙂 Looks fabulous.
Katie says
Same with my garden. I had high intentions. My heirloom tomato plants are all shriveled up from the heat. I have peppers and my herbs are thriving. I love slow roasted tomatoes…they're yummy! And the cherry tomatoes seem to produce like crazy. This dish is beautiful 🙂
Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction says
I've been making a lot of orecchiette lately… Love this pasta dish. I'm sure the slow roasted tomatoes were amazing!
Shaina (Food for My Family) says
This looks delicious! Simple is sometimes best, and I can't think of anything I'd change for this meal.
Karen says
Yum! My favorite comfort food looks just like this.
Rachel says
This is fantastic! My garden is overflowing with cherry tomatoes and basil right now, and this sounds perfect. Thanks! ~Rachel 🙂
Erin says
My tomatoes are just ripening…This would be the perfect use or them!
Dana says
I just wanted to say how much I really like your site. The recipes and food always sound and look so delicious.(Seriously, even the foods I KNOW I don't like look so good, I start to wonder…)Plus the layout and design are easy on the eyes and to navigate! 🙂
Kerstin says
Such a gorgeous summer pasta dish – yum!
Jessica @ How Sweet says
Orecchiette is my favorite pasta. Love it!