What is the secret to the best spaghetti? Fresh pasta sauce! Made with fresh tomatoes and basil, this healthy meal is ready in 20 minutes! Video.
I’m a little embarrassed to tell you how much I’ve been making this spaghetti lately! After catering weddings over the summer, the last thing I want to do is spend hours cooking at home, so this meal has become a godsend during our wedding season. It’s on repeat!
It’s fast and easy and feels like a feast…. taking me away to a Tuscan hillside village. A little vacation, if only in my mind…
The secret is the fresh pasta sauce! Fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes taste so flavorful this time of year they melt into the perfect pasta sauce. Add fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil, and it’s done simultaneously as the pasta gets cooked. Great for busy weeknights, it feels wholesome and nourishing, and kids love it too. Here’s why!
Spaghetti with Fresh Pasta Sauce | Video
Healthy Spaghetti Ingredients
- Fresh tomatoes- vine-ripened if possible. Use any variety or color!
- Onion and garlic cloves- add savory depth.
- Extra Virgin olive oil – add richness to the sauce.
- Pasta– spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, ziti, penne or gluten-free pasta
- Basil– fresh basil leaves, a must!
- Salt, pepper and red pepper flakes!
pasta sauce recipe with fresh tomatoes (Instructions)
Step 1: Set the pasta to boil in a large pot of salted boiling water.
Step 2 :Add olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until fragrant and golden, reduce heat, stir occasionally.
Step 3: Add the fresh ripe tomatoes, their seeds and juices, and a splash of wine (optional).
Step 4: Add salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes on medium heat, covered. In 5 minutes flat, the tomatoes will break down just a bit, and a look like this below.
( Some people like to remove the seeds and skins, but I’ve found the seeds have so much flavor. And the skins don’t bother me; they contain healthy lycopene and easily dissolve in the sauce.)
Step 5: Add the cooked pasta. Drain the pasta and add it to the tomato sauce. Continue cooking the pasta in the tomato sauce for just a few more minutes, letting it soak up the delicious flavor.
Step 6: Add the fresh basil!
Optional: Then feel free to embellish a bit. Add capers or Kalamata olives if you want.
Serving Suggestions
Divide among bowls and keep it vegan with a drizzle of olive oil, or add some fresh grated Romano or Parmesan. You could also top this with Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle! Serve with a leafy green salad like our Caesar Salad!
Storage
This healthy spaghetti will last up to four days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
And that is it – the simplest of recipes for healthy spaghetti with pasta sauce made with fresh summer tomatoes and basil- one of my favorite dinners ever! I hope you try it. 🙂
Have a good week!
Other Favorite Pasta Recipes:
- Spaghetti and Beetballs! (Vegan Meatballs)
- Roasted Spaghetti Squash w/ Eggplant Puttanesca
- Roasted Cauliflower Pasta with Toasted Walnuts, Parsley, Garlic & Lemon zest
- Orecchiette with Creamy Carrot Miso Sauce
- Creamy Pea Pasta (Vegan)
- Creamy Avocado Linguine with Meyer Lemon and Arugula
- Fast and healthy weeknight dinners
- Our 20 BEST Vegetarian Pasta Recipes! (Vegan-adaptable)
- Simple Oven-Roasted Tomato Sauce
Spaghetti with Fresh Pasta Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2-4
- Category: Main, pasta
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
This healthy spaghetti recipe with fresh pasta sauce comes together in under 20 minutes. It’s incredibly easy and completely delicious! Vegan and GF adaptable. Video.
Ingredients
- 8 oz pasta (linguini, spaghetti or angel hair )
- 1/2 an onion- diced
- 8 garlic cloves, rough chopped
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 lbs juicy ripe tomatoes, diced (about 6 cups chopped, save juices)
- 1/4 cup splash vermouth, red wine or white wine
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
- 15–20 basil leaves, torn, more for garnish
- Pptional: fresh grated Pecorino Romano cheese (or Parmesan), or vegan parmesa, or try this Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle
- Optional additions: chili flakes, Kalamata olives or capers
Instructions
- Set a big pot of salted pasta water to boil on high to cook pasta. Cook pasta according to directions on the package.
- Make the Fresh Tomato sauce. In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add chopped onions, saute 3-4 minutes, until tender. Turn heat to medium. Add the rough chopped garlic. Saute a few minutes until garlic is fragrant and golden. Add the chopped tomatoes and all their juices and seeds. Turn heat up to medium-high.
- Add vermouth or wine, cook this off then bring to a simmer and simmer 5 minutes until tomatoes begin to break down and wine cooks off a bit.
- Stir in salt and pepper.
- Turn heat to low, simmer on low, covered, until pasta is cooked is ready to add.
- When pasta is cooked to al dente, drain and add it to the fresh tomato sauce, continuing to cook pasta on low for a few minutes in the sauce. Stir in the basil leaves.
- Divide among bowls and top with fresh grated Pecorino cheese and top with fresh basil ribbons.
Notes
Feel free to use vegan parmesan or Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 362
- Sugar: 8.4 g
- Sodium: 598 mg
- Fat: 11.9 g
- Saturated Fat: 1.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 55.5 g
- Fiber: 5.1 g
- Protein: 10.1 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
This recipe was last night’s dinner with a small portion left over for today’s lunch! 🙂 So easy, so quick and so delicious! I added kalamata olives and a drizzle of our best EVOO for serving. We have an over abundance of tomatoes, so was able to deploy a good portion of our recent harvest and some garden basil. Every recipe I’ve tried from this site has been wonderful! Thank you!!
So great to hear! Thank you for taking the time to review.
Made this last night. It was amazing!
Great to hear!
I’ve made this a few times already and it’s so light and delicious! For those who are wondering, I froze some of this sauce last year – no problems at all!
Good to know Dena! Happy you are enjoying. 🙂
This was absolutely fantastic!
It took a while chopping all the tomatoes but the results were so worth it, far better than any jar of store bought sauce. In fact, on a par with, if not better than, my local italien restaurant.
Thank yo so much! 👍
Glad to hear you enjoyed Nick!
I made this a few nights ago with my heirloom tomatoes that are still ripening in my garage after being picked green in October! Heaven. So easy and so delicious. This sauce will be on my regular rotation when the tomatoes are is season.
So smart and resourceful! Glad you enjoyed.
Hi! Great recipe! We don’t drink so what can I substitute for alcohol in this recipe?
You can just leave it out, and if it seems dry add a tiny splash of water. 🙂
This is one of our favorite recipes. We made it using our home grown tomatoes. Felt like we were in Italy while enjoying this meal!
Yay!!! Glad you enjoyed this on – I love it too!
Absolutely delicious. I wasn’t sure it would pack a flavour punch with so few ingredients, but how wrong I was. I did add a dash of chilli flakes for a bit of extra kick. This is now a go to dish for us.
Great to hear Christine!
Unbelievably simple recipe and a meal that made me feel I was back in Italy. My partner and I were talking about this recipe for days after I made it for dinner!
Awesome Amanda- I love this one too. very simple. 🙂
This is quite possibly the best pasta sauce I’ve ever eaten. I was leery of the called-for 8 cloves of garlic; nonetheless, I pressed on and oh my…incredible! I added a little more pasta than the recipe stated but felt the pasta-to-sauce ratio was perfect (my tomatoes were very juicy!). Thanks for an amazing recipe. I don’t know what I’ll do this winter w/o fresh tomatoes and have to resort to canned again. This recipe has ruined me. 😉
Haha Arj, so glad you pressed on and enjoyed!
This is such an easy recipe and so delicious! We’re traveling for a few months in an RV so picking up some local produce was fun. It’s full of flavor and doesn’t take much time.
Great to hear Kathy. Happy travels!
Absolutely delicious! I agree that tomatoes fresh from the garden are required. I use cherry tomatoes early in the season, as we always have them before the larger tomatoes ripen. This dish screams summer!
Glad you enjoyed this!
Do you have GF pasta that you recommend? BTW, My husband and I recently started eating clean and your website is a LIFESAVER!❤️❤️❤️
Thanks Shannon! I like Banza brand, made with chickpeas, but there are lots out there!
Thank you! Picked some up today!
Really tasty, quick and easy to make tomato pasta sauce. I added a chopped large fresh green chilli for a little extra kick and served with linguini pasta, absolutely delicious!
Will definitely be making again.
Glad you enjoyed this!
Great and easy recipe! I added some sweet peppers
Perfect!