Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto
on Jul 19, 2019, Updated Jun 22, 2025
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This is the easiest summer pasta dinner, with roasted tomatoes and basil pesto — all of the summer love.
When you are looking for a summery pasta recipe that is easy to make, and easy on the eyes, this is the answer. Roasting the tomatoes brings out their sweetness and flavor. Once that’s done (and that can be done ahead of time), the rest of the dish takes as long as the pasta takes to cook. It’s a great way to use up leftover basil pesto, but store-bought is just fine.
This could be a meal all on its own, with absolutely nothing else. Or, if you want to make a serious spread, serve it up with some grilled chicken breasts, maybe add some grilled onions, or a salad with a mustardy dressing.
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What's In This Post?
Ingredients
- Tomatoes – The star of late summer produce.
- Fresh thyme – To impart earthy and herbaceous flavors when roasting the tomatoes.
- Olive oil – For cooking and helping achieve the perfect pesto texture and flavor.
- Garlic – For a bit of spiciness in the pesto.
- Basil leaves
- Pecorino Romano cheese – Pecorino Romano is similar to pesto but with a bit more nuttiness and tanginess.
- Cavatappi – Any pasta will work, but Cavatappi is definitely a favorite.
How to Make Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Pesto
- Make the pesto.
- Cook the pasta.
- Assemble: Toss the pasta with the reserved cooking water, some olive oil, and the roasted tomatoes. Top with a dollop of pesto, mix to combine, and add more olive oil if desired.
Quick Tips
If you have leftover basil pesto hanging around (even store-bought), that all works great. Also, this calls for a lot of tomatoes, but they really shrink down during roasting. If you only had two pints, you’d still be in business. Just place them on the top to serve so they don’t get lost in the tossing. Serve hot, warm, or cold.
What to Serve With Cavatappi, Roasted Cherry Tomatoes, and Pesto
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Pasta with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Pesto
Ingredients
- 4 pints cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- ½ cup olive oil (approximately, divided, plus more for serving as needed; this is a very subjective amount — you'll see)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 cup packed basil leaves
- 3 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino Romano cheese
- 1 pound cavatappi (or other chunky pasta)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper and coat it with nonstick cooking spray. Place the tomatoes and thyme sprigs on the baking sheet and toss them with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30 minutes, until they are wrinkly and slightly collapsed.
- While the tomatoes are roasting, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. While the water is coming to a boil, make the pesto. Place the garlic and basil in a food processor or blender and pulse until everything is roughly chopped. Add 1/3 cup of the oil, a bit of salt and pepper and process, scraping down the sides, part way through, until everything is well blended. If it is very thick, add a bit more olive oil. Add the cheese and pulse until blended in.
- Cook the cavatappi according to package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water, and drain the pasta. Toss the pasta with the cooking water, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil (more if it seems dry), and half of the roasted tomatoes (discard the thyme sprigs), and transfer to a serving bowl. Distribute the rest of the tomatoes over the pasta, dollop the pesto on top, and toss. Add more olive oil if desired. Serve hot, warm, or cold.
My family and I love this recipe. We make it regulary and comes together in no time. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.
Heaven on a fork, perfect hot weather dinner!
This looks great. Two questions:
1) What does “5 fresh thyme” mean? Five tsp? Five sprigs? Five pounds? :)
2) “It’s hard to make a summer produce pasta that not a stunner, but this one is bursting with basil and roasted tomatoes” — English not quite is, as Master Yoda would say.
Can you clarify?
thanks for pointing that out – during the migration to the newly designed site there were a few glitches. And my grammar is not always perfect – but I think an added semicolon helps a bit!