Fresh Summer Spaghetti
Fresh summer spaghetti is an easy, 20-minute dinner recipe bursting with bright flavors. Cherry tomatoes are quickly sauteed with garlic and olive oil then tossed with a generous handful of basil. The pasta and sauce are tossed together then drizzled with some sweet balsamic glaze and served with burrata on the side. Summer pasta doesn't get better than this!
This recipe was originally published back in 2018. We've updated the post with some new photos and more information. We've also reduced the amount of oil we use in the recipe to make it even healthier.
Summer and slow-cooked spaghetti sauce are two things that generally don't go together, but this pasta recipe is 100% summer spaghetti approved. The sauce is light and fresh yet still bursting with flavor.
Big time bonus: the sauce will be ready to go before your water boils and pasta cooks. It's crazy quick and easy to make. Read: more time to spend soaking up the warm evenings!
What is summer spaghetti?
Forget a pot of sauce simmering on the stovetop for hours. Summer spaghetti is all about tasting the freshness of sun-ripened tomatoes. It's easy and simple and the individual flavors shine.
- A vegetarian spaghetti sauce that is bursting with flavor.
- Only 5-ingredients and that includes the salt!
- Your favorite olive oil, sliced garlic, sweet cherry tomatoes, and loads of basil all well-seasoned with sea salt.
- Cooked in just 5 minutes.
- It's a little piece of summer pasta heaven.
How to make summer spaghetti
This summer pasta recipe is a breeze to make!
- Put a pot of water on your stove to boil and cook the spaghetti just like you've done a million times before.
- Sauté some sliced garlic then add the cherry tomatoes and let them cook until they begin to burst – about 5 minutes.
- Stir some basil into that simple tomato sauce you just made and season it with salt.
- Now mix the pasta with the sauce, drizzle some balsamic glaze over the top, and serve it with a big piece of burrata on the side.
Full recipe instructions in the recipe card below.
Summer pasta FAQs
It totally can be! The sauce is 100% vegan. In the pictures, you'll see a big chunk of burrata sitting on top of the pasta. But it's totally not necessary for the recipe to be delicious. I've eaten and love this recipe both as a vegetarian pasta and as a vegan pasta recipe.
The thing that you definitely shouldn't skip is the reduced balsamic vinegar. The sweetness it adds to the pasta is absolutely all things amazing.
Once again, it totally can be. Choose your fav gluten-free spaghetti noodles and turn this into a gluten-free pasta recipe. It's that easy.
While the sauce will keep for 4-5 days in your fridge, the fresh flavors are best enjoyed right away.
What to serve with summer pasta?
Like most pasta recipes, summer spaghetti is easily a meal in itself. But sometimes we like to serve it with a big salad on the side. An arugula salad tossed in our lifesaving lemony dressing or our Greek salad recipe both go well with this pasta.
You can also serve this summer pasta as a side to a main cooked on your BBQ. Here are a few of our favorites:
- Best Grilled Chicken Breast
- Juicy Grilled Pork Chops
- Roasted Red Pepper Dip Grilled Shrimp
- Grilled Garlic Butter Mushrooms
Popular summer pasta recipes
- Creamy Coconut Peanut Noodles
- Chicken Pesto Pasta
- Lemon Chicken Pasta
- Mango Thai Noodle Salad with Sesame
- Dreamy Vegan Cauliflower Alfredo
Fresh Summer Spaghetti
If you love this recipe as much as we do, let us know with a 5-star rating!
Ingredients
- 1 lb. dried spaghetti (gluten-free, if needed)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 8 cups about 2 ½ lbs. cherry tomatoes, half of them cut in half
- ½ ounce basil, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, more, to taste
- ½ lb burrata or buffalo mozzarella, omit for vegan
- Balsamic glaze, to drizzle (don't skip this!)
Instructions
- Put a large pot of salted water on high heat. When it comes to a boil, cook the spaghetti according to the package direction. Before you drain the spaghetti, remove a cup of the pasta water and set it aside.1 lb. dried spaghetti (gluten-free, if needed)
- While the water is heating, begin cutting half of the tomatoes and making the sauce. Heat the olive oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and let it cook for 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and let them cook, stirring occasionally, until the whole cherry tomatoes begin to burst, about 5 minutes.2 tablespoons olive oil, 8 cups about 2 ½ lbs. cherry tomatoes, half of them cut in half, 4 cloves garlic
- Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the basil and sea salt.½ ounce basil, 1 teaspoon sea salt
- When the pasta is cooked and drained, add it back into the pot you cooked it in. Add the sauce to the pan and mix it into the pasta. If the sauce seems a little dry, add a splash of the reserved pasta water.
- Serve the pasta with the burrata on top (if you're using it) and a generous drizzle of balsamic glaze.½ lb burrata or buffalo mozzarella, Balsamic glaze
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Delicious!
Easy!
A wonderful summer meal!
This was great! I had some friends over and we made homemade pasta that I threw with this. It was delicious! I also added a few more vegetables (because I don’t think you can ever go wrong with more vegetables!) and it came out wonderful.We didn’t have burrata on hand, so we substituted that for some fresh-grated parmesan cheese. It was a nice, lighter dinner that we were all happy to have.
I’m so happy you liked the recipe! It must have been extra delicious with homemade pasta!!
This is now my favorite spaghetti recipe. The flavors are simple but incredible. I was hesitant about the balsamc vinegar but it was delicious!
I’m so happy you like the recipe! Sometimes simple is best, isn’t it?!!