There is nothing simpler than fettuccine with cherry tomato butter sauce. Bright cherry tomatoes are sauteed in butter with chopped onion, tossed with al dente fettuccine, and finished with fresh parsley and basil. Perfect for weeknights or when you're short on time but don't want to compromise on flavor.
Inspired by Italian culinary Queen Marcella Hazan's tomato butter sauce, our version has just a few tweaks.
Hazan's famous recipe calls for canned crushed tomatoes, an entire onion (not chopped and removed after cooking), and butter.
We opted for fresh cherry tomatoes and chopped onion for ours and it's every bit as delicious.
Because we are using butter, the sauce has an incredibly rich body and a velvety texture that will leave you wondering why you haven't been adding butter to your tomato sauce all along.
Sometimes the best things in life really are the simplest...
How to make it
Each number corresponds to the numbered written steps below.
- Begin by slicing in half 3 pints of cherry tomatoes. Also, dice 1 medium onion.
- In a large pan, saute the onion in 1 stick of unsalted butter for 5 minutes over medium-low heat or until the onions become soft and translucent.
- Add the cherry tomatoes to the pan and season with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Cook the sauce over medium heat for 30-35 minutes (stir frequently and lower heat if scorching).
- At this time bring a large pot of salted (2 tablespoons kosher salt per gallon of water) water to boil. After about 20-30 minutes the cherry tomatoes will burst and soften and the butter will completely blend in with the tomatoes. When the sauce is almost to your liking begin boiling the fettuccine to 1 minute less than al dente. If needed, you can turn the heat down or remove the tomato sauce from the burner while waiting for the pasta to cook.
- A few minutes before the pasta finishes cooking, add 1 cup of pasta water to the sauce and stir to combine. Cook the sauce over medium heat. Make sure to reserve extra pasta water in case it's needed later on. Top tip: Get in the habit of reserving your pasta water for all pasta recipes you make. It's always good to have extra pasta water to reconstitute a dried-out pasta or to help emulsify many types of sauces through tossing or rapid stirring.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Cook until the pasta is just al dente then turn off the heat.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper to get the flavors just right.
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add a ¼ cup of minced parsley and a ¼ cup worth of hand-torn basil leaves, toss once more, then plate. If the sauce is at all dry add more of the reserved pasta water a few ounces at a time to loosen it up. Serve with grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Top tips for velvety cherry tomato butter sauce
- The tomatoes. This recipe uses 3 pints of red cherry tomatoes. Feel free to add another pint - if you want more sauce - or experiment with different colored cherry tomatoes, like orange, yellow, or even the green cherry heirloom type. This is a simple sauce with relatively inexpensive ingredients - the best type of sauce to experiment with. Feel free to add some canned crushed tomatoes to substitute for part of the cherry tomatoes as well.
- The butter. We used unsalted butter for this recipe. If you prefer to use salted butter you can, however, just be sure to taste test as you may not need to add much additional salt at the end.
- Save your pasta water. As with most of our recipes, we recommend saving some pasta water. The pasta water can really help reconstitute the butter and cherry tomato sauce pasta if it becomes too dry. Start by adding just a few ounces at a time to prevent the pasta from becoming overly watery.
- The herbs. We finished this pasta with some hand-torn basil leaves and chopped fresh parsley. These are optional and can be omitted if you don't have them on hand. We don't recommend using dried herbs or seasoning for this recipe.
More simple pasta recipes
One of the great things about fettuccine with cherry tomato butter sauce is that it can be made in about 35 minutes and requires just a few ingredients. Here are a few other simple pasta recipes that are perfect for when you're short on time and don't want to run to the grocery store.
- Fettuccine Alfredo - Butter, Parmigiano Reggiano, starchy pasta water and fettuccine - simple but always delicious.
- Penne puttanesca - Olives, capers, anchovy, tomato, and penne are tossed together in this super flavorful pasta dish.
- Roasted cherry tomato pasta - Cherry tomatoes and garlic are roasted and tossed with pasta, extra virgin olive, and fresh basil.
- Linguine al limone - Lemon zest and juice, fresh basil, Parmigiano Reggiano and butter are tossed with linguine.
- Linguine aglio e olio - The simplest of them all, pasta is tossed with garlic, oil, crushed red pepper, and parsley.
- Tuna pasta - also known as Pasta al tonno, this is made with canned yellowfin tuna, garlic, capers, and fresh parsley.
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Ingredients
- 1 pound fettuccine or linguine, spaghetti, etc
- 3 pints cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- salt and pepper to taste
- ¼ cup parsley minced
- ¼ cup basil hand torn
- 2 cups reserved pasta water will most likely not need it all
Instructions
- In a large pan saute the onion in butter over medium-low heat until soft (about 5 minutes) then add the tomatoes. Season the tomatoes initially with a teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Cook the sauce over medium heat for 30-35 minutes (stir frequently and lower heat if scorching) or until the cherry tomatoes have burst and softened and the butter has completely blended in with the tomatoes.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted (2 tablespoons kosher salt per gallon of water) water to boil. When the sauce is almost to your liking begin boiling the fettuccine to 1 minute less than al dente.
- A few minutes before the pasta finishes cooking add 1 cup of pasta water to the sauce and stir to combine. Continue to cook the sauce over medium heat.
- Add the pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. Cook until the pasta is just al dente then turn off the heat and season to taste with more salt and pepper as required. Add the herbs, toss once more, then plate. If the sauce is at all dry, add more of the reserved pasta water a few ounces at a time to loosen it up. Serve with grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Notes
- Some tomatoes will be juicer than others. If you need a bit more tomato, feel free to increase the amount of cherry tomatoes or supplement with 14 ounces (half of a can) of crushed plum tomatoes.
- Make sure to reserve extra pasta water, to thin the sauce as much as required to avoid it drying out.
- Leftovers can be saved for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the microwave.
Pretty good and easy. For me, three 10oz containers of cherry tomatoes and 1 cup of pasta water made more than enough sauce for a pound of linguine. My tomatoes cooked down in to a thick sauce in about 20 minutes. Just before adding the pasta in, I decided to give my immersion blender a whirl around the pan for a smoother sauce. I’ll add more basil and maybe some garlic for even more flavor next time.
Hi Amber, glad the recipe was successful for you and thank you for sharing your experience!
I made this for dinner tonight using whole grain fusilli pasta and it was delicious! Small tweaks to my dish - added 2 garlic cloves; added crumbled chicken sausage to the sauce toward the end of the cooking process. Another great recipe Jim, thanks for sharing and keep them coming!
Hi Brian, thanks for sharing your tweaks and so happy you liked the recipe!
Easy and delicious!
Are those actually cherry tomatoes, or are they perhaps grape tomatoes? They look more oval-shaped in the first couple of photos (before you chopped them). And does it matter? Thanks!
Hi Louis, yes, these were a bit more of an oval shape but I've found most groceries will label grape and cherry tomatoes as cherry. I use them both interchangeably so no, it wouldn't really matter which ones you use. Thank you for your comment!
I made this tonight and thought it had great flavor -- I've been using the Marcella Hazan spaghetti sauce for years as part of the rotation, and I actually think I preferred this take on her recipe even more. I made some grilled chicken breasts with it, and the combo was excellent.
I will say it did not look like yours does in the video or still images; it had more of an orange color, and the tomatoes were more broken down, so it wasn't as aesthetically pleasing, but the taste was really good. I've made probably a half-dozen of your dishes now and this was my favorite. Appreciate you sharing these recipes.
Thank you, HC! I'm so happy you enjoyed it!
Cooking this right now! I had leftover cherry tomatoes + used a can (14.5oz) of crushed tomatoes (liquid and all). Sauce tastes amazing already! I'm going to garnish with feta cheese!
Thanks, E! Feta sounds like a great addition!
I did this with 4 pints of cherry tomatoes and it had enough moisture that no pasta water was necessary. I also cooked it till it was more of a uniform sauce instead of the partially formed tomatoes, which was around the amount of time you have in your recipe. Ultimately, this was spectacular! It was good as leftovers too, but it was magic when fresh.
Thank you, Scott! So happy you enjoyed it!
I accidently came by this video today, when working. Decided to watch it. It was calming, I liked the energy of the host. Then decided let's make it for dinner. My picky 5 year old helped me cook this. He wouldn't eat the basil or cheese, but he loved the sauce.
Then told me I was the best spaghetti cooker. He thanked me and asked me to make this again.
Yes it was a lot of butter, but seriously priceless that he ate his bowl and thanked me. And bonus, the adults really liked it too. Adding to the rotation.
Hi, Nicole. Thank you for sharing that experience! So happy you and your son enjoyed it!
Pretty good! To be honest with you, I wasn't expecting it to be as tasty as it is, I also accidentaly burned tomatoes a bit and slightly oversalted the dish at final step, but in the end it turned out to be very delecious and hearty. It is probably not the cheapest dish you can cook in a dorm, but I definitely will look forward to cook it again someday.
My deep bow for you, Jim, your genius amazed me again.
Thank you, Raman! I'm happy you enjoyed this one!
Made this the first time for 7 people. Although it was my first try, I was really confident that it was gonna be good. Turned out exceptionally delicious, everybody loved it and they couldn't get enough of it! Supreme recipe
Hi Blaz, thank you so much for letting me know. I'm so happy you all enjoyed it!
Any thoughts about using this recipe with other varieties of tomatoes? When my harvest comes in, I'm always looking for good uses of many different types of delicious heirloom tomatoes. I would use them unpeeled.
Hi there. It really depends on the type of tomatoes you're using. Some types, like brandywines, will be more watery so you'll need to keep that in mind.
Absolutely delicious. I didn't have the herbs unfortunately but that did not matter. The butter and the juicy soft tomatoes combination was so good. I was honestly not expecting it to be that good without garlic and herbs but I was pleasantly surprised. The cheese grated on top made it all the more yummier.
Mine turned out exactly as the video. I don't understand the comment saying theirs didn't.
Hi Michelle, thank you for letting me know! I'm so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
We had this tonight. I made the sauce two days ago, so it had time to mellow - it was was delish and had a sweet flavor! I did add about a tsp of sugar in the sauce.
I served it with Baked Chicken Caprese and steamed cauliflower. The sauce did double duty as I actually used it over the chicken also.
Hi Karen, thank you for the comment and so happy you enjoyed the recipe! Serving it over chicken is a great idea!
So delicious and really simple to make!
Hi Beth, thank you and so happy you liked it!