Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta
Updated May 31, 2025
Roasted tomato pasta recipe with blistered oven tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic. Cooked penne is tossed in the sauce. Finished with basil and parm cheese.
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My Roasted Tomato Pasta Is So Fresh!
This roasted cherry tomato pasta usually happens when I’ve got a couple pints of tomatoes sitting on the counter that need to be used up. I toss the tomatoes in the oven with garlic and olive oil to roast, boil some pasta, and call it dinner. Everything goes into the same pan at the end, and it goes great with air fryer salmon, balsamic chicken, or lemon garlic shrimp.
Happy Cooking!
– Yumna
Roasted Tomato Pasta Ingredients
- Cherry tomatoes: You’ll need about 2 pints if you’re feeding a family of 4. If you have a larger family, you’ll need an extra pint per every 2 people.
- Penne: I like to use penne because it’s easy to handle for little ones, but feel free to use any type of pasta you like.
- Fresh garlic: If you’ve never had roasted garlic before, you’re in for a treat! The garlic becomes sweet and fragrant when roasted. You can eat the whole clove or just use the roasted garlic to add flavor to the sauce.
- Olive oil: You can also use avocado oil.
- Seasoning: A simple mixture of dried thyme, salt, and pepper is all you need to season this dish.
- Fresh basil: You can use dried basil but fresh is best.
How to Make Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta
Roasted Tomato Pasta Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 pints cherry tomatoes
- 6 garlic cloves
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 8 ounces penne pasta
- ¼ cup fresh basil finely chopped
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the cherry tomatoes and garlic in an oven-safe baking dish. Pour the olive oil on top, and season with salt, pepper and thyme. Toss until well combined.
- Roast in the preheated oven until the cherry tomatoes burst and become fragrant, about 30 minutes.
- While the tomatoes are roasting, cook the pasta in a pot of salted water according to package instructions until al dente. Drain, reserving ½ cup of the cooking liquid.
- When the tomatoes are cooked, transfer the cooked pasta to the baking dish along with ¼ of the reserved cooking liquid and toss to combine. Add more cooking liquid if desired.
- Garnish with basil and serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information provided is an estimate. It will vary based on cooking method and specific ingredients used.
If you try this Roasted Cherry Tomato Pasta recipe or any other recipe on Feel Good Foodie, please rate the recipe and leave a comment below! It helps others who are thinking of making the recipe.
Recipe Variations
- Toss in some greens. As soon as the tomatoes come out of the oven, toss the pasta along with greens like kale, spinach, or arugula into the baking dish. It bulks it up. I originally created this recipe with arugula.
- Serve with cheese. Use freshly shredded or grated Parmesan cheese. I also love serving this with some crumbled feta cheese (the way I originally made the recipe) or goat cheese.
- Roast onions with the tomatoes. Slice a large onion into wedges, toss with olive oil and seasoning, then roast along with the tomatoes.
- Give it some kick. Red pepper flakes are an easy way to add a little heat to this dish. Add them at the end, to taste.
Recipe Tips
- Use ripe but not overripe cherry tomatoes. Ripe cherry tomatoes yield the best flavor for this sauce. If they’re overripe, they may turn to mush when roasted.
- Don’t overcrowd the pan. You want there to be enough space between the tomatoes so that they have room to blister and char. If they’re too close together, they’ll steam instead of roast.
- Don’t forget the garlic! The roasted garlic really takes this sauce to the next level. It’s sweet and fragrant and pairs perfectly with the tomatoes.
- Cook the pasta until just al dente. You don’t want to overcook the pasta because it will continue to cook when you add it to the sauce.
- Add the pasta to the sauce while it’s still hot. This will help the pasta absorb all of the delicious flavors of the sauce.
Serving Ideas
- Roasted Balsamic Chicken
- Chicken Stuffed with Spinach and Feta
- Grilled Beef Kabobs
- Pecan Crusted Chicken
- Panko Crusted Sheet Pan Salmon
- Garlic & Herb Skillet Dinner Rolls
More Pasta Recipes
- Spinach Pasta Salad
- Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes (similar but with skillet!)
- Creamy Avocado Pasta Salad
- Lemon Ricotta Pasta
- Baked Feta Pasta
- Creamy Cashew Tomato Pasta
- Pasta Bolognese
- Arrabiata Pasta with Shrimp
- Pasta in Yogurt Sauce
This Roasted Tomato Pasta recipe was originally published on March 23, 2017. The recipe has been modified to remove the arugula and feta cheese that are added after cooking in order to simplify the recipe and the ingredients. The post now includes new step-by-step photos for how to make the pasta.
Comments
Delicious! I will definitely make again! I love garlic so I’ll have to add more!
So happy you enjoyed this one!
By far our favourite tomato recipe we discovered this summer. Can’t wait for “too many tomatoes” to be ripe at the same time again!
So happy to hear! This is such a nice quick and easy recipe.
This is my new favorite pasta dish! It’s simple, easy, and so tasty. Next time, I’ll go lighter on the salt though.
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Kris! It is crazy good for how simplistic it is!
This just became my new favorite pasta recipe, and I cannot wait to make it again! Quick and easy, but so flavorful. I accidentally added way too much pepper, but after scooping out as much as I could, I found I actually liked a little extra pepper in it.
That makes me so happy to hear!! That’s perfect. Yay!