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This healthy Spaghetti recipe with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil comes together in under 20 minutes and highlights fresh summer tomatoes. Vegan and GF adaptable. With a video!
I’m a little embarrassed to tell you how much I’ve been making this Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce lately. Like every single night this past week! Summer tomatoes are so juicy and flavorful right now, so tomato-ey, and I can’t get enough of them! This recipe really highlights them in a simple, flavorful way. It’s a meal that can be whipped up very quickly – like in 20 minutes flat, yet feels like a feast, somewhere on a Tuscan hillside. Great for busy weeknights, it’s a snap to make, kids love it and it is deeply nourishing.
Keep it light and vegan, embellishing with capers, chili flakes or kalamata olives, or add a little fresh grated Romano or salty cheese to add richness. And of course you can always use gluten-free pasta! Either way, I know you’ll love this.
Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce | 60-second video
What makes this recipe so good:
Fresh Summer Tomatoes! The success of this recipe lies in the quality of the tomatoes. Fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes taste so good, they need little else to boost their inherent flavor. And guess what? It just happens to be tomato season here in the Northwest. Juicy, ripe and full of flavor, they are at their peak. Knowing they won’t be here too much longer, makes me want to eat them at every meal.
What you will need for the recipe:
Step by Step Instructions:
Step 1:
Set the pasta to boil.
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 vermouth or wine.
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.
(Note: Some people remove the seeds and skins, but I’ve found the seeds have so much flavor. The skins, well they don’t bother me, easily dissolving 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!
Then feel free to embellish a bit.
Add capers or Kalamata olives if you want.
Dish it up and either keep it vegan or add some fresh grated Romano or Parmesan.
You could also top this with Vegan Cheesy Sprinkle!
Or keep it plain!
And that is it – the simplest of recipes for healthy Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce made with vine-ripened summer tomatoes and basil- one of my favorite dinners.
Have a good week!
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Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 2-4 1x
- Category: Main, pasta
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Healthy Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil – a simple, quick and healthy recipe featuring fresh summer tomatoes that can be made in 20 mins flat!
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
Keywords: healthy spaghetti with tomato sauce, fresh tomato sauce, pasta with fresh tomato sauce, homemade tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, fresh tomato sauce recipe
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!