Orecchiette with Roasted Tomatoes, Basil, and Parmesan

This Slow Roasted Tomato Pasta recipe is super simple, but bursting with fresh flavors. The basil and roasted tomatoes pair perfectly together!

Creating This Roasted Tomato Basil Pasta

I hate to admit this, but it turns out that I haven’t been a very good gardener this year. In fact, I almost wish I hadn’t planted at all except for some herbs and a tomato plant.

This summer ended up being much, much busier than I anticipated. With a conference, vacation, busy kids, work, and family life I haven’t had a whole lot of free time to care for the garden.

After days (or weeks?), I went to pick some tomatoes and ended up with tons and tons of the sweet million and yellow pear. Too many, I thought, to do anything with before they went bad.

Then i saw this great post on Simple Bites for Slow-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes. I was salivating!

It was a few days before I had time to make them, but I’m sure glad I did. They’re great for snacking and I also used some to toss with pasta for a meal.

Orecchiette is such a fun pasta and I loved it with these slow-roasted cherry tomatoes. The roasted tomato pasta tasted fresh and full of simple flavors. There’s absolutely nothing fancy about this meal, but we loved it!

Roasted Tomato Pasta Ingredients

You need just six basic ingredients to make this roasted tomato and basil pasta.

I’ve suggested some optional ingredients in the list below, should you have them on hand and want to amp up the flavor of this pasta dish even more.

• Cherry or grape tomatoes
• Fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• Garlic (optional)
• Shallots (optional)
• Pasta of choice
• Fresh basil
• Grated Parmesan cheese

For the complete ingredient list and detailed instructions, scroll to the bottom of this post for the FREE printable recipe card.

How to Make Roasted Tomato Pasta

Here’s an overview of how I made the roasted tomato and garlic pasta. Slow roasting tomatoes takes time, but the process is so easy!

1. Roast the tomatoes: Cut the tomatoes in half end-to-end, and place cut side up on a pan.
2. Optional: Slice 4-5 cloves of garlic, and sprinkle over the tomatoes. Roughly chop 2 large shallots and add to the tomatoes. 
3. Strip several sprigs of fresh thyme, and sprinkle the leaves over the tomatoes.
4. Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper and drizzle extra-virgin olive oil liberally over all of the tomatoes.
5. Place in the oven at 200°F for 6-8 hours.
6. Assemble the pasta dish: Toss the slow roasted tomatoes, garlic, and shallots (plus the oil) with the cooked pasta. 
7. Sprinkle with fresh basil and lightly toss to combine.  Serve with shavings of fresh Parmesan on top.

The above is simply a quick summary of this recipe. Check out the full recipe in the free printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for all the detailed instructions.

Can This Recipe Be Made in Advance?

Yes, you can prepare a big batch of slow roasted tomatoes up to 5 days before you plan on assembling the pasta dish. The tomatoes can quickly be reheated in a skillet over medium-high heat, then tossed with the pasta.

Can This Recipe Be Made Gluten-Free?

Yes! When cooking with gluten-free pastas, I prefer to use either the Jovial brand or the Trader Joe’s Organic Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli Pasta.

What to Serve with Tomato Basil Pasta

Serve this slow roasted tomato pasta with one of the following easy sides:

• Lemon Roasted Broccolini
• Italian Mixed Greens Salad
• Bleu Cheese BLT Salad
• Roasted Asparagus 
• Easy Roasted Cauliflower

More Easy Pasta Recipes:

You can find all of my pasta recipes here. A few of my favorites are the following: 

One Skillet Baked Ziti with Meat Sauce is the perfect, easy comforting pasta dish. Baking it in a single skillet makes for quick preparation and very minimal clean up.

This super simple One-Pot Pasta features fresh spinach and sun dried tomatoes for a pop of flavor and color. 

This Brown Butter and Sage Gnocchi made from scratch, sautéed with a little butter and sage, is pure comfort food! 

A simple, just-spicy-enough Arrabbiata Sauce you can make fro

m pantry ingredients. Serve it with anything — chicken, sausages, pasta, even your morning eggs!

This Shrimp Scampi with Tomatoes comes together in just 20 minutes! Perfect for busy weeknights when you need to get food on the table quickly.

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