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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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Me and my friend made this tonight and it was amazing!! We had so much fun making it and her family thought it was delicious! Great recipe!
Yay!! That’s great to hear, Ella!
I literally never write reviews (usually because I’m either too lazy or forget), but there is no way I could forget this one. It was absolutely delicious! I’m a broke college student, so it was nice to find a recipe that requires literally $10 or less in ingredients and to finally have a different home-cooked meal. I added a pinch of basil leaves just because I like to experiment, and it was great! Even my roommate was obsessed and I’d catch her eating it almost every day 😉
I love that!! 🙂 Appreciate you taking the time to write me a review!
I cooked this and added smoked sausage and red pepper flakes. It was a hit! So good.
Excellent! Love those ideas!
So quick and yum!
Excellent!!
Hello! I made this recipe and totally forgot the heavy cream so I substituted it with cream cheese. I don’t know much about cooking and it came out super sour. What should I have done differently? If I make it next time with the heavy cream that is called for will it taste less sour?
Hi! Yes, cream cheese is quite tangy. Heavy cream is not. Cream cheese works great in recipes where you want it to be a bit tangy.. sort of like a sour cream flavor. I use it in my taco soup, for example. This recipe is very tomato heavy (and they’re quite sour to begin with), so I am not surprised it turned out too sour. I would definitely try with the cream next time. That’s what cooking is all about, though… experimenting. 🙂
This was so easy and so delicious i added some cheddar to the recipe as well
10/10!!
Fantastic!! Glad it was a hit, Selena!
Looks great Natasha! Made this for the kids and they LOVED it, big hit!
That’s awesome!! 🙂 So glad to hear it!
This recipe is AWESOME! I completely forgot the tomato sauce at the store, so I took the remaining tomato paste and diluted it with water (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups, added Italian seasoning, garlic powder and onion powder.) I added some mild Italian sausage as well as a bit of extra butter in the sauce before adding the sausage. Tastes amazing! I added some chili’s flakes at the end for an extra kick. I also added a bit of sugar (to taste) to get rid of the acidity. Loved this recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it! Thanks for your review!! 🙂
Absolutely delicious. My dad is Italian so I try to stay away from recipes he didn’t teach me but this recipe is so easy and delicious. I added a lot of sugar (around 2 tbsp) before adding the cream and salt and once I felt it wasn’t acidic I added oregano, salt and touch of cinnamon and the cream. In loveeee with this. I will make it over and over again. Thank you for sharing it!!!
Aww I’m so glad it’s a hit! 🙂
I was out of heavy cream and only had half n half. I kept your note in mind about the sauce potentially curdling so before I added the half n half I let the sauce come to a simmer, added a pinch of baking soda to help cut the acidity. Let that bubble for a minute. Then I slowly poured the half n half in the sauce … no curdling!
I’m so glad it worked out, Vanessa!
Can I make this with ground beef?
Sure!