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This creamy tomato pasta recipe comes together quickly and uses everyday ingredients. You’ll love the silky tomato sauce!
You may also like my Easy Pink Sauce Pasta or Best Penne alla Vodka Recipe.
Why you’ll love it
Making a creamy tomato pasta sauce from scratch with canned tomatoes is simple! The best part is that it can be ready by the time your pasta has cooked. It’s perfect for those on-the-go weeknights.
This sauce uses a can of tomato sauce for liquid, and I also add in some tomato paste to punch up that tomato flavor. Garlic, Italian seasoning, butter, and cream complete it. Add some freshly grated parmesan cheese to take it over the top!
What you’ll need
- Pasta – you can use whatever pasta you’ve got on hand. I love penne for this sauce because those little tubes are so nicely coated.
- Butter – for sautéing
- Garlic – adds savory goodness
- Tomato paste – for concentrated tomato flavor
- Tomato sauce – I’ve been asked by a few UK readers what to use instead of tomato sauce, and passata would be a good equivalent
- Heavy cream – to make the sauce luxuriously creamy
- Italian seasoning – it’s a great all-purpose herb blend
Pro tip
Canned tomato brands can vary, and some tomatoes are more acidic than others. My favorite brands are Mutti and DeLallo. If you find the sauce is a little bit too tart, you can add a pinch of sugar to balance the flavors/enhance the sweetness of the tomatoes.
How to make creamy tomato pasta
This is an overview with step-by-step photos. Full ingredients & instructions are in the recipe card below.
Cook the pasta until al dente. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a skillet. Sauté the garlic for a minute. Stir in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, cream, and Italian seasoning until smooth.
Let the sauce gently bubble until thickened to your liking. Season generously with salt & pepper. Add a pinch of sugar if desired. Toss with the drained pasta, and top with parmesan cheese if using.
Tools for this recipe
Check out Natasha’s favorite kitchen essentials, gadgets, and cookware!
- This is the skillet I use for this pasta.
- Easy mince garlic with one squeeze of a garlic press, and store the rest of the cloves in a garlic saver.
- I love this butter dish because it has measurement markings right on it for ease.
Substitutions and variations
- I don’t recommend subbing the cream for half-and-half or something with less fat. The sauce is likely to curdle due to the acidity of the tomatoes.
- You could definitely change the herbs up a bit… some dried oregano or basil would work great. You could even add fresh herbs if you happen to have some.
- You could stir in some spinach or other veggies towards the end of cooking if you want to dress it up a bit.
What to serve with creamy tomato pasta
- Pair it with a salad to round out the meal. Try my 10 Minute Caesar Dressing or this homemade Italian Dressing.
- Go all out and make some Cheesy Garlic Bread to go with it.
- This sauce will actually work for other things (like over chicken or shrimp, for example), so you could skip the pasta altogether if you want! Or you could add a bit of cooked chicken/shrimp/your protein of choice to the sauce for a more filling meal.
Leftovers and storage
- You can keep this sauce in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it for up to 3 months if you’ve got some left over.
- I’d re-warm it over a low heat in a saucepan.
Will you give this creamy tomato pasta a try? Questions? Let me know in the comments below! Tag me #saltandlavender on Instagram if you’ve made one of my recipes.
Creamy Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2-3 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 (14 ounce) can tomato sauce
- 3/4 cup heavy/whipping cream
- 1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Freshly grated parmesan cheese for serving, to taste
Instructions
- Boil a large, salted pot of water for your pasta and cook it al dente according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile (once the pasta starts to cook), add the butter to a skillet over medium-high heat. Once it melts, add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, stirring constantly.
- Add in the tomato paste, tomato sauce, cream, and Italian seasoning. Stir until it's nice and smooth. Let the sauce cook for about 5 minutes or until it's thickened to your liking (it should be very gently bubbling, so you may need to turn down the heat).
- Season the sauce with salt & pepper as needed (I'm pretty generous with both). If the sauce is a little too acidic/tangy for your liking, add in a pinch of sugar.
- Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce (add a splash of hot pasta water if the sauce gets too thick). Serve immediately with plenty of parmesan cheese over top.
Notes
- I don’t recommend subbing the cream with something that has a lower fat content as it’s likely to curdle due to the acid in the tomatoes.
- This recipe can also be found in the Salt & Lavender: Everyday Essentials hardcover cookbook.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Super good! I didn’t measure anything i just guessed but it turned out very well. I used milk instead of heavy cream and that was perfect. Thank you!
Fab!
Found this recipe when looking for something quick and easy but also with plenty of flavour and this was definitely it.
I have 3 boys and they all love their food. My 5 year old was actually the first one to finish his food and asked for more, my 16 year old took some to school for his lunch the next day so it must have been good haha and my husband and 8 year old son loved it too, as did I. Only alteration I made was to double the ingredients for bigger portions and I added some chorizo in also. We will definitely be making this again, not just for the quick & easiness of the recipe but also because how delicious it actually is.
I have even been sending the link to your website to friends and family to sample your delicious recipes ☺️
That’s awesome!! I love when everyone in a home likes a recipe! 🙂 Thanks for your kind review, and I really appreciate you passing my website along to friends/family.
Super tasty with minimal effort! I followed the recipe exactly as written except added some fresh spinach 😊
Wonderful!! 🙂 Thanks, Jess!
This was really easy to make, and super good! I doubled the amount of garlic it called for (because more garlic is always better) and added red pepper flakes, and it came out perfect. I will be adding this to my dinner rotation 🙂
I totally agree on the garlic hehe. So happy it’s going in your rotation, Charlotte!
Delicious and easy! Wonderful recipe.
Thanks so much!! 🙂
My whole family ate this – WIN! We used chickpea pasta to make it a little healthier.
Oh and it was SUPER fast – Double win!
🙂
Wonderful!!
SO good! This recipe is so simple and can be whipped up in no time. I added spicy Italian sausage and it was delicious. Will be making this my go-to sauce for weeknight Italian dinners, as it’s now my husband’s favorite sauce that I’ve made.
I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂
Oh my goodness. I cannot wait to make this for friends when we can gather again! This tastes better than anything I’ve had at a restaurant and it wasn’t hard at all! I posted a picture of the final product on instagram and everyone said it looked restaurant quality – can’t beat something that tastes great AND looks pretty! I’m a noob in the kitchen so I’m very excited about this recipe and plan to make it over and over again. It does reheat well, too. The possibilities for this are endless… you can add anything your heart desires.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂 Thanks so much!
I made this for dinner last night. It was easy and so flavorful. I was surprised because of so few ingredients. Full disclosure, I added crumbled Italian Sausage and spinach. I topped the serving with sliced grape tomatoes, toasted pine nuts and freshly grated parmesan. Heaven. It’s a keeper. While I was searching for this recipe I saw in Instagram I found a few more I need to try.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Sausage makes everything even better haha.
Could someone tell me how well this freezers? Looking to this for school lunches and freezing leftovers.
Thankyou
Hi Sarah! I haven’t tested freezing it, so hopefully someone who has will chime in. I think you’ll probably be ok, but the sauce may separate a bit (that tends to happen w. creamy sauces), but it should still taste good.