Spaghetti al Pomodoro is the perfect recipe to highlight ripe and juicy summer tomatoes. This simple pasta dish is fresh and light!
“OMG – this was so delicious we couldn’t believe it! We have fresh grown tomatoes from our garden and wanted to do something like this – found your recipe and will make this on a regular basis till my tomatoes are done!”
We’ve reached the portion of summer when it’s so hot the cicadas start buzzing mid-morning and become absolutely deafening by bedtime.
The all-day cicada choir is usually an indication that garden tomatoes are ready to be picked, then promptly used to make Spaghetti al Pomodoro.
This simple, light, and refreshing Italian tomato sauce is like summer on a plate, and I look forward to making it all year long.
Pomodoro is the ULTIMATE fresh tomato sauce!
Watch How to Make It
Pasta Pomodoro Sauce
Pomodoro means “tomato” in Italian, and pomodoro sauce is a pasta sauce made from fresh tomatoes, olive oil, salt, fresh garlic, and fresh basil.
Are you sensing a theme here? Fresh, fresh, fresh!
Spaghetti al Pomodoro, or simply spaghetti pomodoro, is the tomato sauce swirled with cooked spaghetti. Angel hair or linguine are fantastic choices too.
Pomodoro Freezes Beautifully
When tomatoes are growing faster than we can eat them, I love doubling or tripling the sauce recipe, then freezing so we can enjoy the flavors of summer in the middle of winter.
Cool the sauce then scoop into Ziplock freezer bags and freeze flat for 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then reheat gently over medium heat.
Pin this now to find it later
Pin ItMain Ingredients Needed
- Fresh tomatoes: I typically use vine-ripened tomatoes, but this recipe will work with any ripe, fresh, preferably local tomato.
- Shallots and garlic: add craveable flavor to the sauce.
- Fresh basil: torn into the sauce near the end of the cooking process so its herby flavor is still at its peak when serving.
- Butter: isn’t typically added to pomodoro sauce, though I personally love how it smoothes out the flavor.
- Parmesan cheese: is freshly grated on top of each bowl just before eating.
Family Friendly Recipe
Making this recipe always reminds me of the trip my husband and I took to the Amalfi Coast nearly 100 years ago (give or take a year or two). We stayed in the quiet, tiny town of Praiano, just down the coast from touristy Positano, and on our daily walks up and down the stone stairways that got you everywhere you needed to go, we could hear and smell the residents cooking.
There were several times I had to hold my husband back from knocking on someone’s door, asking to stay for dinner!
Here in the present day, my entire family adores this dish. Spaghetti al Pomodoro is the perfect example of simple is best. Combine a few fresh, everyday ingredients to make this swirly, irresistible dinner tonight.
Gluten Free Focaccia pairing optional, but recommended!
How to Make Spaghetti al Pomodoro
Step 1: Prep the tomatoes.
Start by peeling large, vine-ripened tomatoes. We do this by scoring the bottom of the tomatoes with an “X” then boiling them briefly to loosen the skin.
Carefully add the scored tomatoes to a large pot of boiling water then cook for 30 seconds.
Transfer the tomatoes to a colander to drain then, once they’re cool enough to handle, peel away the skins and discard. Easy!
Don’t Drain the Water
Don’t drain the water in the pot after this step! Turn the heat down to low to keep it hot, as we’ll use the water to cook the pasta in a bit.
Chop the peeled tomatoes then transfer – seeds, juices, and all – to a bowl and set aside.
Step 2: Start the sauce.
Heat a large skillet with high sides, or a medium-sized Dutch Oven, over medium heat then add extra virgin olive oil.
Once hot, add chopped shallots then saute until tender, 3-5 minutes. Add pressed or minced fresh garlic cloves then saute until extremely fragrant but not browned, another 30 seconds.
Step 3: Simmer the sauce.
Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan with a pinch of sugar then simmer for 30 minutes, smashing the tomatoes against the bottom and sides of the pan every so often with a rubber spatula to smooth the sauce out, and turning the heat down to medium-low if necessary to reduce splatters.
When the sauce has 5 minutes left to cook, add fresh basil leaves torn into small pieces, plus butter, salt, and freshly cracked pepper.
Step 4: Boil the spaghetti.
When the sauce has 15 minutes or so left to cook, bring the pot of water you used to boil the tomatoes in back up to a boil and season generously with salt. Add spaghetti noodles then you have two options:
- Drain the pasta: Cook the pasta until it’s al dente, drain, then scoop onto plates and serve the pomodoro sauce on top.
- Finish the pasta in the sauce: Cook the pasta until it’s just shy of al dente then transfer it to the sauce pot with tongs to finish cooking directly in the sauce. Add splashes of pasta cooking water if needed to cook the pasta all the way through.
Personally, I prefer method 2 because it infuses the pasta with the sauce.
That’s all she wrote! I’m telling you, make this once and you’ll be planting tomatoes next summer JUST so you can make it on demand.
SO fresh, SO light, SO darn delicious. I hope you love every last bite of Spaghetti al Pomodoro – enjoy!
More Easy Italian Dinner Ideas
- Crispy Gluten-Free Chicken Cutlets
- Chicken Meatballs
- Gluten Free Lasagna
- Gluten Free Meatballs
- Pink Sauce Pasta
- Pasta Fresca
- Gluten Free Focaccia
Ingredients
- 2-1/2 lbs ripe vine-ripened tomatoes, ~4 large tomatoes
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
- pinch of sugar
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- freshly cracked pepper, to taste
- 12 oz spaghetti
- freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving (optional)
Directions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Score the bottom of the tomatoes with a shallow “X” then carefully add to the pot and boil for 30 seconds. Remove tomatoes to a colander then place a lid on top of the pot and turn heat down to low to keep warm for cooking the pasta.
- Once tomatoes aren’t hot to the touch, peel away and discard the skins. Chop tomatoes then add – juices, seeds and all – to a bowl and set aside.
- Heat extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet with high sides or medium-sized Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallots then saute under tender, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic then saute until very fragrant but not browned, 30 seconds.
- Add chopped tomatoes and sugar then stir to combine and simmer until sauce reaches desired consistency, 25-30 minutes, smashing tomatoes against the sides and bottom of the skillet with a spatula every so often and turning the heat down if necessary to reduce splattering.
- During the last 5 minutes of the cooking process, tear in fresh basil leaves and add butter, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine then taste and add more salt and pepper if desired.
- When the sauce has 15 minutes left to cook, bring the pot of water back to a boil then add 1 Tablespoon salt. Add spaghetti then cook until al dente and drain. Scoop cooked pasta into bowls then top with desired amount of pomodoro sauce and parmesan cheese, if using.
- Tip: If you’d prefer to finish cooking the pasta in the sauce (vs draining it and serving the sauce on top) use tongs to transfer the pasta when it’s just shy of al dente into the sauce then stir and cook until al dente. You may need to add a splash of pasta cooking water if necessary to cook the pasta all the way through.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
Photos by Ashley McLaughlin
This is so good! My kids love spaghetti and this is so much better than a jar of premade sauce. I didn’t have a shallot so I did a little white onion and it turned out great. It’s so fresh and light – perfect for a hot summer day in Iowa!
SO glad you and you your family love it!! My daughter special requests it too. ;) Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
We had a lot of ripe heirloom tomatoes in our garden in NC plus lots of fresh basil, so my wife found this recipe and we made it last month. We didn’t have any scallions so I chopped up some Vidalia onion. It was outstanding. We liked it so much that we made it again and had another couple over and they really liked it and asked for the recipe and we referred her to your website. I told my 87 year old mother in Florida about it and she made it this past week. We made it one more time last week. The only problem is that my garden can’t keep up and I had to buy tomatoes at our local farmer’s market plus another produce stand so that today I could triple the recipe and make it again. I hope that you see a lot more website traffic because we’ve been telling a lot of people about this recipe.
Oh my gosh, I am so so thrilled you loved the recipe that much, Tom, and thank you so much for sharing my recipe and website with your friends!! I can relate – one of my husband’s friends just sent him a photo of his overflowing tomato garden, and I had him ask if we could take some of his bounty just so I could make and freeze more sauce. Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
Do you know if this can be canned? ????
Hi Lauren! Unfortunately I don’t know enough about canning to say what makes a recipe a good candidate to be canned. I’m sorry I can’t help you out more here!
I was looking for a simple weeknight dinner for my family. I like to make vegetarian dishes that everyone in my family will enjoy, and GF as much as possible. I made your recipe tonight with brown rice pasta and it was delicious! Next time I will double the sauce as we all loved it and wanted more! I served the pasta with a simple arugula salad drizzled with balsamic glaze, toasted almonds, and fresh shaved parmesan. Your recipe is a keeper!
Sounds absolutely divine, CP!! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
My family has been making this recipe, ever since you posted it, every single Tuesday night. It is the most delicious pasta we’ve ever had. So fresh and light, but scrumptious at the same time. Some weeks we add shrimp or scallops to it, others we don’t. We look forward to it every week. My little one adores it. I’m glad she thinks this is what “pasta” is supposed to taste like. Thank you for posting such a fabulous recipe.
Oh my gosh, this totally warms my heart!! Love the shrimp and scallop addition, too. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Fabulous recipe – just added some red pepper flakes for a little kick.
The most delicious tomato sauce I’ve ever had!
Hello, it’s winter and tomatoes are not local…Would jarred diced tomatoes work? What size? Thanks a lot!
Just came here wondering the same thing. No tomatoes in Michigan in February :(
I have used cherry or grape tomatoes from Costco in the winter.
I might use a can of high quality canned whole tomatoes – San Marzano if you can find it!
Wow I love it am going to buy some Tomato’s and try it.
Cheers and Thanks.
Made this the other night from some beautiful farm-fresh tomatoes I snagged while I was in Tennessee. It’s a great sauce and only gets better with some time! Thanks for the recipe!
I agree! I had another plate of it a couple days after making my last batch and it was even better than fresh. So glad you liked it!
This was so wonderful. Grabbed some heirloom tomatoes, basil, and shallots from the downtown farmers market and proceeded to make some bliss.
Thanks!
Fresh and local – doesn’t get much better! So glad you liked the dish, Shane!
My tomatoes are just about ready and I will be turning them into this asap!! I love promodoro and your recipe sounds perfectly simple. Excited! Pinned!
When I saw this recipe, I new I had to make it ASAP. So, I made it tonight for dinner. We both loved it, so much! Kristin thank you, for this amazing recipe. I used heirloom tomatoes and it could not have been better. I’m going to make this again and freeze a big batch for winter.
So glad to hear, Amy, thanks for the great feedback!
Oops, just read thru the comments and you already answered the freezing question….thanks!