Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
The freshest of tomato sauce recipes, made with barely cooked tomatoes, basil and seasonings. This simple weeknight meal comes together in no time!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 30, 2024
“What do you do for a living?” they ask. I never know how my response will go over or which questions will follow. Most often, the questions are, “How did you get into that?” and, “where do you get your recipes?” On a recent flight, I got a bold, “How do you make money doing that?!” from my seat mate. All fine questions, mind you.
I never have a good answer to the recipe source question. Typically, the recipes are a composite of ideas from restaurant meals, magazines, other blogs, cookbooks and suggestions from friends and readers. Sometimes I wake up with ideas; sometimes they pop into my head when I open my refrigerator; sometimes they come to me when I’m deep in conversation during happy hour. I always try my best to give credit where credit is due.
Today’s recipe is more straightforward—it’s from an old issue of Gourmet Magazine that I’ve been wanting to try forever, courtesy of a special edition from Bon Appetit… cross-referenced with America’s Test Kitchen’s vegetarian cookbook and fiddled with to meet my expectations. That’s pretty straightforward for me these days.
I finally got a chance to try it when I came across some big, juicy, local tomatoes at Whole Foods. I knew just what to do with them and flipped open my sources when I got home. America’s Test Kitchen wanted me to chop up the tomatoes and let them marinate for up to three hours, but I was hungry-bordering-on-hangry, and a three-hour wait wouldn’t do.
Gourmet’s version suggested grating a portion of the tomatoes to get some nice and juicy pulp, then letting the mixture marinate for 10 minutes. Much better! I mixed up the sauce and let it rest while I brought a pot of water to boil and cooked my pasta. Both sources suggested simply tossing the raw tomato sauce with hot cooked pasta, but I thought it was a little too raw in that state, a little too what’s pico de gallo doing in my pasta, if you will.
I wasn’t sure the pasta was blog-worthy until I tried my reheated leftovers. They were amazing. I took that as inspiration and tried just barely cooking the fresh tomato sauce while tossing the pasta with a little bit of starchy cooking water. That was just the ticket—the tomatoes benefit from a little warmth, and the starchy cooking water turns the raw tomato runoff into a sauce that lightly coats the spaghetti.
Granted, this recipe’s flavor will be almost entirely dependent upon the tomatoes you use, so pick some good ones. You want ripe, almost over-ripe tomatoes. You can, of course, skip my suggestion to warm up the sauce and just toss it with warm pasta for Italian-flavored tomato pasta.
Last but not least, I felt like Parmesan added quite a bit of personality to this dish, but check my notes for substitution suggestions. Let’s hear it for ripe summer tomatoes!
Tomato surplus? Here are a few tomato recipes that will use them up:
- Tomato Basil Bruschetta with Balsamic Drizzle
- Easy Tomato Salad
- Heirloom Caprese Salad
- Baked Eggs on a Bed of Roasted Cherry Tomatoes
- Mediterranean Tomato and Feta Dip
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
The freshest of tomato sauce recipes, made with barely cooked tomatoes, basil and seasonings. This simple weeknight meal comes together in no time! Recipe yields 2 large (as in, restaurant-sized) portions or 4 more reasonable servings.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds ripe tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon sugar, optional
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 very small garlic clove (or ½ medium clove), pressed or minced
- ½ pound whole grain thin spaghetti or angel-hair pasta or rotini/fusilli or penne
- Optional but recommended: ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- ¼ cup chopped fresh basil
Instructions
- Core and coarsely chop two-thirds of the tomatoes. Halve the remaining tomatoes down the middle and discard the tough top part where the tomatoes met the stem, if it exists. Rub the cut sides of the tomatoes against the large holes of a box grater set in a large bowl. Leave the tomato pulp in the bowl and discard the skin.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, sugar, several twists of freshly ground black pepper and the pressed garlic to the bowl. Mix well. Let the mixture marinate while you cook the pasta.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and then cook the pasta just until al dente, according to package directions. Reserve about a cup of the pasta cooking water before draining the pasta.
- Drain the pasta, then immediately return it to the pot. Pour in all of the tomato sauce and a small splash (about ¼ cup) of the pasta cooking water. Cook over medium-low heat for about 1 to 2 minutes, tossing often (gentle now!), just long enough for the tomatoes to soften a bit and for the starchy tomato water to coat the pasta.
- Remove from heat and toss with (optional) Parmesan and (mandatory) basil. Serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Gourmet and The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Skip the Parmesan cheese. You can make up for some of the cheesy flavor with a light sprinkle of nutritional yeast or, better yet, vegan Parmesan.
Make it gluten free: Use a firm gluten-free pasta, like a corn and quinoa blend.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Your pictures are mouth-watering! They remind me of holidays in Italy, using just those dishes and large bunches of fresh basil to have dinner outside, on those large marble tables under the wistaria (and now I want to go back…).
I am always amazed at how delicious a pasta dish can be when just using the best tomatoes and olive oil you can find. I never tried heating sauces like this before, but it actually sounds brilliant, and I will definitely try it!
Thanks, Evelyn! Now I want to go to Italy again. :) I’ve been living vicariously through Love and Lemons’ trip on Instagram! Just barely heating the pasta did just the trick for me, hope you’ll agree.
God, those pictures of Love and Lemons look divine! It reminds me of my holidays to Greece and Sardegna (Sardinia?), I could stare for hours at those blue seas… And the food! Greece was wonderful, too, cold white wine, all those Greek salads and mezze, old toothless women serving your meals and pinching your cheek, and always a large platter with fresh watermelon with every meal.
But as I’m not in Southern Europe and I’m longing for that holiday feeling, I’m going to try your pasta tonight :)
Ugh, now I really want to go back to the Mediterranean! ;)
Wonderful pictures! This looks so simple and delicious – I’ll have to try it. I’m with you on the pico de gallo esque pasta potential – this would be much better slightly warmed through. Pinned!
this looks amazing! I always think of pasta sauce as more of a “sauce” but this looks perfect! Can’t wait for the tomatoes in my garden to ripen so I can give this a try!
Thanks, Angie! Please let me know how it turns out for you!
I love your recipes. That is all. :)
So simple and delicious looking! Love this!
I always look forward to that time of year when summer produces home-grown tomatoes in my garden. This is the recipe I always make – except I use cilantro rather than basil, and also toasted pine nuts and crumbled feta cheese. I never cook the sauce but serve it at room temp. It’s fantastic!
Your version sounds terrific, Becky!
This looks so dreamy! I have tons of tomatoes sitting on my counter, just waiting to be used for this. I’m super intrigued by grating the tomatoes! Definitely happening tonight with some fusilli :)
Perfect!!! Hope you love it, Katie!
I get that question frequently as well — and my answer is always “I get inspiration from everywhere!” There are so many wonderful sources, flavors, colors out there — easy to get excited about it. And I hear ya about trying something the next day and it’s even better. Thanks for posting this beautiful and delicious recipe!
Right?! Thanks, Amy!
This looks delish, I have an abundant amount of tomatoes so I may have to try this tonight!
Perfect! Hope you love it, Kendra!
So instead of the egg sandwiches we had last night, I could have made this??? D’OH!
Once again thanks for a super delicious recipe. This will definitely be one of my favorites pasta dishes many years to come!
Hooray, thanks Geske!
Pasta is ALWAYS blog-worthy! Being part Italian, I never say no when pasta is offered ;) Fresh tomato sauce is absolutely the best. My aunt has a secret recipe which she refuses to tell us! But I bet she would love this beautifully simple pasta :)
I’ve always been concerned that raw sauces wouldn’t actually make for a sauce. Barely cooked sauces like this are my favorite, especially with angel hair. Now I just have to wait for summer…
I love your simple and fresh pasta recipes. You somehow find a way to get so much flavor in so few ingredients! I love it!
Thank you, Jessie!
I am heading STRAIGHT to the farmer’s market this weekend to pick up a few heirloom tomatoes to make this! It just seems necessary.
Where in the procedure do you use the tomato pulp that you made by grating tomatoes ?? The last mention of it that I saw was to reserve it at the end of step 1. You mention later to put the chopped tomatoes in a bowl, is this when you add the grated pulp ???? This sounds great & I want to try it.
Sorry about that! I just revised step one because it was a little confusing. You grate the tomatoes into a bowl and add the chopped tomatoes to the bowl in step two.
Thanks for the lovely recipe! I made it today using tomatoes and basil from my garden. I followed your recipe exactly, with one small addition…a little splash of balsamic reduction. It was very tasty!
Thank you, Lenora! So glad you enjoyed it! Balsamic reduction sounds like a great addition.
Every time I go out for pasta I always end up going for the one with tomatoes. Tomatoes are just so vibrant and go so perfectly with pasta. Tomato season is in full swing here and I’m excited to make some fresh tomato sauce with juicy, ripe heirloom tomatoes! This pasta dish looks like my perfect summer dinner.
Made this last night with bowtie pasta and it was perfect for a satisfying, quick, crazy delicious meal! This will definitely be going into our rotation.
Thank you, Mandy! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Hey, anything sufficiently delicious is blogworthy, no matter how simple! This sounds like a perfect way to eat as many fresh summer tomatoes as possible. I wouldn’t have done a 3-hour marinade either — especially since summer tomatoes are already so good in the first place. In conclusion, yay!
Glad you’re with me on the simple recipes, Eileen! Yay back at ya!
looks so good.. love the freshness of this dish.
Thank you so much for the recipe. I just made this and it was so so good! My dad (such a fussy eater) enjoyed it too! success!
I used gluten free spaghetti and added a little bit of maple syrup to the tomato sauce for sweetness (just a tad)…
Awesome! Glad you both enjoyed it, HB!
Beautiful! I love how fresh this is! :)
Jillian
This looks like an easy fresh pasta that you can toss together in minutes! Will definitely give this a try soon. Simple ingredients, big fresh flavors. What’s not to love?
I was doing something similar with my tomatoes last year but it involved an obscene amount of ricotta cheese. Looking forward to this being a bit healthier! Making it with my CSA tomatoes along with a big salad for company tomorrow night!
Thanks, Kate! Hope it turned out great!
I made this yesterday and it was soooo good! We have a heat wave here in Germany right now so this was the perfect balance between refreshing and something warm for lunch. Will definitely make again :)
Thank you, Sam! Glad to hear it!
This recipe was great! I can’t tolerate typical tomato sauce, even homemade, but eating this mostly raw version was a delight. Our entire family loved it and it’s now on our rotation. Thanks! :)
Thank you, Sarah! That’s great!
I too love Test Kitchen recipies, but so many are unrealistic when trying to get a week night dinner on the table. I will definitely be buying some extra tomatoes at the farmer’s market to give this recipe a try. It is only a matter of weeks before the first frost will hit our area, then it is bye-bye fresh tomatoes until next summer :(
BTW does DeLallo make an angel hair pasta that doesn’t fall apart. DeLallo “whole wheat” pasta is difficult to come by locally and expensive when I do find it, so I frequently buy other brands of whole wheat pasta. Unfortunately, in switching to whole wheat, it has been difficult to find all the shapes I was used to buying, such as linguine. And I have yet to find whole wheat angel hair that doesn’t fall apart when cooked.
Hi Kristin! I haven’t tried it yet, but DeLallo makes a capellini pasta that looks about as fine as angel hair. I bet it’s great. I can attest that their whole wheat linguine is fantastic. I’ve experienced the same hesitation in the pasta aisle, but then I remind myself that per ounce, even DeLallo’s dried pasta is pretty cheap per ounce when compared to so many other foods. The whole wheat variety is much more nutritious, so that further justifies the expense in my mind. You can order DeLallo’s products on their website (not sure how their cost would compare to your local stores once shipping is applied) or in bulk on Amazon.
DeLallo is over $3 a package locally, while Bella Terra and Trader Joe’s 1 ingredient organic whole wheat pastas are only a little over a dollar per package. I can apply that $2 cost savings toward buying more produce, which with 3 kids, is where the bulk of our money goes. I usually make due with the limited whole wheat pasta shapes available. Still, I would gladly buy DeLallo linguine for my twice a year batches of Alfredo sauce.
Yeah, that is quite a difference. I hear you!
This Recipe was AMAZING! So fresh tasting. My tomatoes gave off quite a bit of juice, so I ended up straining out the liquid and reducing it down by half. Do you think I could substitute Muir Glen canned chopped tomatoes come winter and still get decent flavor?
Thanks, Kristin! That’s a good question. Maybe? It’s hard to beat fresh tomatoes in this one. :(
I can’t even begin to tell you how appealing this loos.I am going to try this soon.My two favorites in recipes are tomatoes and lemons so I am in for a real treat.Thank you for this recipe.
Thank you, Wanda! I hope you love it!
I live in the U.K. and came across your blog recently. I have been a vegetarian for 34 years and signed up for your weekly emails. Do you know that Parmesan cheese can never be vegetarian as it is made with calf rennet. I was surprised to see you recommending it. Having said that your recipes all look and sound amazing and I can see myself try quite a few of them out (without any Parmesan) (or Gorgonzola which is the same)
Hi Helen, thank you for your note. We can actually buy Parmesan made with microbial rennet at Whole Foods Markets and Bel Gioso also makes a vegetarian Parmesan.
Helen. One star for a recipe that you didn’t try? Some of us use the ratings to decide what recipes to try. When you skew the ratings for no good reason, you essentially make them pointless.
Yes, people shouldn’t rate a recipe, especially a negative rating without trying it.
Amazing post! Thanks for sharing this it’s great
You’re welcome, Mark!
I made this recipe tonight – excellent! Easy, super fresh and super tasty! A definite summertime keeper as I don’t want to eat heavy or heat up the kitchen too much. It’s in my recipe box! Thank you!
You’re welcome, Karen! Thanks so much for the review.
Greetings from Northern Ireland! I found your blog last month after deciding to become vegetarian, and my family are really enjoying your recipes. This spaghetti is my husband’s new favourite meal! It is absolutely delicious. I can’t wait to try more of your dishes!
Hello! I’m happy to hear that, Laura. Let me know what you think as you try more. I love to hear from you!
My husband loved this. I added more garlic, red pepper flakes and zucchini (had on hand and needed more veggies in my life). Really was fantastic. I tripled the recipe, we needed something for lunches.
Thanks for sharing, Cynthia! Nothing wrong with more vegetables! Thanks for your reivew.
Made this for dinner tonight and it was excellent! Thanks for a great recipe!
Thank you, Brenda!
Wow, this was so easy and delicious. Great recipe!!
You’re welcome, Carrie!
Do you discard the core of the tomatoes or coarsely chop the core as well? Thanks!
See step one: Core and coarsely chop two-thirds of the tomatoes. Halve the remaining tomatoes down the middle and discard the tough top part where the tomatoes met the stem, if it exists. Does that made sense? You discard the core.
The summertime spaghetti sauce was good but very watery even without adding the pasta water. I followed the instructions exactly using fresh ripe tomatoes. How would you thicken the sauce without compromising the fresh tomato flavor?
Came in from the garden with an armload of tomatoes and a handful of fresh basil. Looking for new ways to use my tomatoes I came across this. Simple and yummy. I also threw in a tablespoon of fresh oregano because I also had that in the garden. Next time I’m going to try replacing the lemon juice with balsamic vinegar see what that does to it. Also inclined to add a bit more garlic next time.
Fresh garden tomatoes, jealous! Thank you for sharing, Katrinca. I appreciate your review!
Hey, It looks Fantastic and delicious! I am planning to make it soon by myself. Thanks for sharing such an amazing and easy pasta sauce recipe.
The family yummed and wowed their way though this easy delicious week night dinner which was served with spicy grilled shrimp and a “Olive Garden” style salad. Loved by our 5 year old pasta critic and the 7 year old new dish skeptic as well as the resident carb resister. With an abundance of fresh garden tomatoes we are assured of repeating this repast very soon. Thanks
This was really delicious! The flavors were balanced and complex (for having so few ingredients). Mine turned out a little more liquid-ey than I was hoping for but it tasted SO good, I didn’t mind. Wonder what I did wrong?
Hi Jean! It could be your tomatoes were just more juicy. They can vary. I’m happy you liked this one!
I made this last night with some divine ripe tomatoes from the garden. For the sauce I grated some large fleshy yellow tomatoes and chopped up a variety of small red and cherry tomatoes. The sauce tasted amazing raw before I added the lemon juice. I wasn’t sure why it needed that and think it detracted from the sweet flavour. I added the sauce to the pasta and it seemed to be the right consistency without the pasta water, but I added the water because I wanted to follow the recipe to the letter. Unfortunately it made the sauce just a bit too sloppy. Perhaps I didn’t use the right amount of pasta as we work in metric measures so I might have got it wrong. I added the parmesan but think it would have been better without as that beautiful tomatoey flavour was a bit swamped by the sharp cheese. I am keen to make it again but omit the lemon and parmesan and only add water if it is a bit dry.
Amazing amazing amazing!! Love your recipes and love for food. This meal is so light and easy to make. Pair with some fresh breadsticks and you are in heaven!
a step to make this easier would be to make Tomato concasse.
It removes the shards of skin from the tomato.
I love the idea of lemon juice.
Seeds or no seeds? Did your core out the seeds?
No need to discard the seeds!
Just made this for dinner and it was so good! We had something similar in Italy this year and have been trying to recreate it ever since. I added cooked mushrooms and parsley instead of basil as that was all we had, and it was delicious served with a simple chopped salad.
Kate, you are a rock star! This tomato sauce is amazing! I want to eat the bowl up before my pasta is even done cooking. Beautiful ripe tomatoes are a must for sure, but you have a way of combining flavors that always turn out divine. Thank you for your recipes that always delight me and my family and friends.