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 is one of my absolute favorite uses of fresh summer tomatoes. So simple but so incredibly flavorful. I just made a double batch of this sauce. When I made it last time, I happily ate it every day until the leftovers ran out!
Thanks Asha- glad you enjoyed. I like this one too. 🙂
I made this last night after a friend gave me more tomatoes than I knew what to do with. Our dinner was amazing! What a flavorful fresh tomato sauce!
Glad you enjoyed this- one of my favorites!
Will canned tomatoes work in this recipe?If so, are there any adjustments I would need to make? Thank you
Hi- I’d use canned WHOLE Marzano tomatoes (28 ounces) and their juices (break them apart). Be sure to adjust seasonings to taste.
This was the best spaghetti ever! Fast, easy and fresh! Amazing, considering NO “IItaluan Seasoning”!
I am considering canning garden tomatoes now, so as to be able to mske this delush dish i. Winter!!!
I love this one too Deb! Glad you enjoyed!
Very yummy recipe, it took me a while to find one with fresh tomatoes that looked like it would be flavorful and wasn’t disappointed. Def add the capers
thanks Stefani! Glad you enjoyed!
I loved this one! I have made many of your recipes and some of them I have on a ‘hard repeat’ around our house. And my family loves them too. This is the first time I have commented though. I just want you to know how much I appreciate you… you make me a pretty damn good cook! THANK YOU!
Ahaha! I’m so glad you like this one Erin! And I really appreciate you rating and commenting! It truly does help the blog- but totally get that it is a pain. Anyways THANKS! xoxo
This was so simple to make and unbelievably tasty!
What type of vermouth would you recommend? I have sweet and dry at home.
Either will work here!
This is so fresh tasting and very good – thank you! (Since it is a looser sauce, I found it made enough for about 12 ounces of pasta, according to my family’s tastes.)
Thanks so much Terry and so happy you liked it!
Made as written using vermouth for the wine option, adding in some capers (great suggestion – thank you) and choosing spaghetti for the pasta. Outcome was delicious and perfect use for tomatoes that were just shy of being too ripe for ‘out of hand’ eating (thanks to a generous neighbor who had gifted us with an abundance from his garden). A keeper!
Thanks Michele- glad you enjoyed!
So easy and tasty. Will use this over and over.
Great to hear!
Looks fabulous but is 8 garlic cloves correct? Seems like a lot of garlic although we love garlic.
You can add less but I love a lot of garlic here- up to you!
This was not great pasta sauce this was OMG blew my socks off. I am a serious meat eater and this was not short of flavour. Easy to make amazingly tasteful and delightful. We just found are new favorite thing to make. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Haha! Glad you liked it Mark!
I had so many tomatoes this last summer. I fell in love with its freshness and honesty.
I can’t wait to make it again next summer! It makes me feel happy, excited, hopeful and nourished just thinking about it.
I love this one too- especially with fresh ripe tomatoes!!!
Delicious warming way to make use of our plentiful tomato harvest! Can’t wait to make it again.
great recipe and perfect for the end of tomato season. I bet you are very pretty but that’s only a bet as your photo just shows your hair!! Would love to see your face!
Haha, thanks, I’m shy. 😉
Simple. Quick. So good. Made a double batch for the freezer.
Glad you liked it! One of my favorites!
This was an easy and delicious tomato sauce.
I used tomatoes from the garden as well as basil.
I added some other veggies. Just a delicious recipe – thank you so much!
🙂
Oh perfect! love that you added other veggies!
What a delicious meal! I love Spaghetti. this looks so delicious and yet so simple to make. I will do for starting a new day!
Enjoy it…thanks for visiting!
Wow, this looks so delicious and yet so simple to make – my kind of recipe! Such beautiful photography, as well.
What a delicious meal! I love its taste. A good menu for strating a new day!
Thanks Lawrence…glad you liked it!!
I totaly love SPAGHETTI WITH FRESH TOMATO SAUCE. Thanks For Recipe
Sounds absolutely delicious! I am all about using fresh tomatoes while they are (still) in season! Gotta give this a go before they disappear!
I hope you do.. I think you will like it!
No reason to be embarrassed. Spaghetti sauce is fun to variate. I like the easiness of your recipe. Makes a great weekday meal.
It does! Love how simple it is…. the tomatoes have so much flavor when in season!
Oh my goodness this looks like an amazing pasta! Fresh pasta is the best and I love how saucy this is, aah I just want a big bowl!! <3 <3
Thanks Claudia, yes, it is a saucy one! Hope you are having a great start to your week.
Adapted the recipe with what I had. Followed the recipe but used one 28 oz can of organic tomatoes and 1/3 cup red wine (give or take). Added a cup of finely chopped organic spinach, 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon dried chili flakes and 1/3 or so cup sliced Kalamata olives. Reduced sauce and it was thick and yummy. Added to good quality spaghetti. Best sauce I’ve made in a long time. Thank you.
Thanks Susan!