This caprese pasta with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil is the perfect speedy dinner – only a handful of ingredients and ready in 15 minutes!
My family loves pasta dishes and I love quick and easy dinners. That’s why caprese pasta is a hit in my home. Some other family pasta favorites are cheeseburger pasta and taco pasta.
Who is loving tomato season? I sure am! We plant a garden every year and the one thing I must absolutely have is at least half a dozen tomato plants. The older girls are old enough now to know not to pick the tomatoes until they’re ripe, and they run to the garden every day to check on their progress. Once the tomatoes are even somewhat ripe they beg to eat them every day until finally I agree. Not many tomatoes actually make it from the yard into the house to cook with, but oh well, that’s what the farmer’s market is for, right? I can’t complain too much because they’re enthusiastically eating produce, got to take advantage of that while it lasts! Whether you grow your own or buy them at the store, this recipe for caprese pasta is a simple way to enjoy tomatoes.
How Do You Make Caprese Pasta?
I use angel hair (also known as capellini) pasta for this caprese pasta – it’s like an ultra thin spaghetti and it cooks in about 5 minutes or less.
This pasta has all the ingredients of a classic caprese salad – fresh mozzarella, olive oil, basil and tomatoes, with a little garlic for extra zing. When you make this, be sure to let the noodles cool for a few minutes before you add the mozzarella. You want the mozzarella to soften but if it gets too hot it’ll completely melt and make your pasta clumpy and stringy.
So minimal ingredients. Fifteen minutes. And you won’t have to turn on your oven on a hot summer day. Sold? I sure am. I will be repeating this all summer long, both as a meatless main course and an easy side dish. Maybe I can even convince the girls to hand over some of our garden tomatoes this year!
Other Recipes You’ll Love
- Pizza Stuffed Shells
- Chicken Alfredo Stuffed Shells
- Jalapeno Popper Mac And Cheese
- Stuffed Pepper Soup
- Slow Cooker Kitchen Cacciatore
Still hungry? Follow Dinner at the Zoo on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for more great recipe ideas!
This post was originally published on April 23, 2015 and was updated with new photos on August 9, 2017.
Quick and Easy Caprese Pasta
Ingredients
- 12 ounces angel hair pasta
- 8 ounces of fresh mozzarella cheese cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 6 ripe tomatoes I used roma, cored, seeded and chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic finely minced
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves roughly chopped
- kosher salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (or equal parts dried basil, parsley and oregano)
Instructions
- Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain.
- Meanwhile, in a heavy large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes and saute just until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta. Remove the skillet from the heat. Add the cheese and basil, and toss to coat. Season the pasta, to taste, with salt and pepper. Serve.
Amy says
Very good! My whole family loved it! My daughter is a very picky eater! I added mushrooms which was delicious.
John Charles Munna says
Made it tonigh. very nice. added some capers instead of salt . topped it with a little lemon zest.
Bob says
I loved it – my family loved it! We’ve used other recipes for this and far too many of them come out as rather bland. This one was perfect and flavorful and easy to make. We added some roasted chicken to it and nearly doubled the recipe and still ran out for six people. They couldn’t get enough!
Manal says
Quick, easy, and yum!!