Sometimes you just need a simple dinner and this is one of my go-to favorites, especially in the summer when tomatoes have their peak flavor. You don’t need to be a gardener to enjoy this pasta, though. It’s hard to have a green thumb. It doesn’t even need to be summer! With just 6 ingredients and only 15 minutes to make, you can have a dinner that feels garden-fresh in no time!
Put your tasty tomatoes to good use with our Balsamic Tomato Salad or Caprese Pasta Salad recipes.

Why Our Recipe
- It’s all about keeping things simple with 6 ingredients and loving some fresh tomatoes and basil.
- Ready in 15 minutes, or let it sit and marinate for extra flavor. It’s ready to eat whenever you are!
- Serve it hot or cold. You can also add some grilled chicken if you are in the mood.
If you’ve got that green thumb and have tomatoes piling up, then this is a great recipe for you. Or maybe it’s just dinner in the cold winter months, and you just want something simple to make. Listen, we’re eating this one year round too. It’s simple, it feels light and fresh, and it’s always delicious.
Ingredient Notes
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Use a good quality, cold-pressed olive oil. You won’t be cooking this oil. You’ll want to taste the bright, sometimes peppery, olive flavor.
- Spaghetti: Just use from the box and cook to al dente.
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic provides the best flavor, but jarred minced garlic does work too. Jarred just has a less sweet, slightly more bitter flavor.
- Tomatoes: Use any tomato you like, enough for about 2 cups. Dice into small, bite-sized pieces.
- Fresh Basil: Freshly chop your basil leaves or slice into ribbons. Stack several fresh basil leaves on top of each other, then roll the bunch lengthwise and cut it into slices and voilร โperfect basil strips.
Tomato Time!
Any type of garden variety tomato would work in this recipe, but the fresher and more flavorful the better. You can’t go wrong with a few good heirloom tomatoes here, or a couple of large juicy beefsteak tomatoes.
3 or 4 tomatoes on the vine are a good option, same with 3 to 4 Roma tomatoes. Or you could even halve 1 pint of either grape or cherry tomatoes. Different varieties of tomatoes will all produce a slightly different flavor, but any tomato will work.
Pasta Options
This recipe calls for spaghetti pasta, but you can use any kind of pasta you’d like. Other pasta options that would work well with this recipe include angel hair pasta, shells, penne pasta, and linguine.
Add Vegetables
If you’re looking to add some extra nutrition to this pasta dish, try adding in some steamed vegetables. Asparagus and spinach are both great options. You can easily steam the asparagus in the microwave in a steamer bag and can even find them packaged that way in the grocery store. Spinach can be tossed right in without being cooked.
Storage & Reheating Instructions
Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Reheat portions in the microwave on high in 30-second increments.
More pasta recipes…
Followed your recipe and directions to the letter and it turned out delicious! Great for a quick snack and yummy lunch too.
– Christine Cook
Very good for beginners and yummy too
Love this!!
Love love love pasta salads, so thankful i found this one on Pinterest!
Canโt wait to prepare this for lunch today!
I haven’t tried this yet but I will. I’m giving this 5 stars for the simple reason that it doesn’t have cheese. So hard to find pasta recipes without cheese. Thank you!
Well now, you do have an excellent point! Can’t argue with you!
Just so you don’t ever wonder, I actually still had to remove the 5 star review itself. We try hard to make sure that our recipe reviews are based on feedback after making the recipe. Since people rely on the reviews to make decisions about how they spend their time and money, we want to make sure to preserve their integrity. Loved your feedback though! I just sadly cannot accept a 5 star review I have not yet earned, but suspect I may earn one from you in the future after you enjoy this one.