This simple recipe for tomato and basil pasta sauce uses storecupboard ingredients, including basil-infused Italian olive oil, and is ready in under 10 minutes! Serve with your favourite pasta and toppings.
Is pasta the ultimate comfort food?
A bowl of hot pasta in tomato sauce is one of those perfect, nostalgic comfort foods, to me. I grew up living off spaghetti with Ragu sauce, sprinkled liberally in that fake Parmesan cheese (remember that stuff, it was kept in the cupboard?!).
Best dinner, ever.
Now, I find it’s cheaper (and tastier) to make my own sauce. I stock up on jars of passata rustica at the supermarket when I find them on offer and it takes just a matter of minutes to transform them into a delicious pasta sauce.
Perfect for those busy midweek meals when I can’t be bothered to cook.
Ingredients for tomato and basil pasta sauce
- passata rustica (sieved tomatoes)
- garlic – lots of fresh garlic, but you can use lazy garlic too if that’s all you have
- olive oil (to cook)
- basil-infused olive oil (to add at the end) – or add a big handful of fresh basil leaves along with a glug of extra virgin olive oil
- fusilli pasta, to serve (my kids call this ‘normal pasta’)
- sea salt, to add to the pasta water for cooking
How to make tomato and basil sauce
- Heat olive oil in a small saucepan
- Add the chopped or crushed garlic. Cook for one minute until fragrant.
- Add passata rustica (sieved tomatoes).
- Bring to a simmer.
- Remove from the heat and stir in a few spoonfuls of basil-infused olive oil or some extra virgin olive oil and a handful of torn, fresh basil leaves.
- Pour over cooked pasta, top as desired and enjoy!
This basic tomato sauce in a bowl of fusilli (aka “normal pasta”) is my children’s favourite go-to comfort food. Sometimes I jazz it up with a sprinkling of dried oregano added along with the garlic, or I use regular olive oil at the end and add a generous handful or two of torn basil leaves. Sometimes I add capers, anchovies and kalamata olives to make spaghetti puttanesca.
It’s an incredibly versatile base, too. You could leave it to simmer and thicken for an hour or so to make pizza sauce, or throw in some overripe tomatoes and freeze the sauce for use at a later date.
How do you like your tomato sauce? Let me know in the comments!
Recipe Difficulty Levels
Easy
Requires basic cooking skills and ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen.
Moderate
Requires more experience, preparation and/or cooking time. You may have to source special ingredients.
Challenging
Recipes requiring more advanced skills and experience and maybe some special equipment.
Comfort Food Pasta Bowl with Tomato and Basil Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
for the tomato and basil pasta sauce
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 4 garlic cloves crushed or finely chopped
- 350 ml passata rustica
- 2 tbsp basil-infused olive oil (I use Pomora)
to cook the pasta
- 160 grams dried fusilli pasta or your favourite pasta
- 1.5 tsp Shetland sea salt
- 2 litres water
toppings
- freshly ground black pepper
- Parmesan cheese grated, or Cheddar (as pictured, DD’s favourite)
- chilli-infused olive oil (my favourite)
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Instructions
- Bring a pan of water to the boil. Add salt and pasta. Stir, and set timer according to packet instructions – between 8-11 minutes, usually, depending on the type of pasta.
- Heat olive oil in small saucepan. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about one minute.
- Stir in the passata rustica and bring to a simmer. Cook for a few minutes.
- Remove from the heat, stir in the basil-infused olive oil.
- Serve with your favourite pasta and toppings.
Notes
- One year ago: Lazy Sunday Morning Scrambled Eggs with Scottish Salmon & Roasted Tomatoes
- Two years ago: Keeping Our Children Safe Online
- Three years ago: 20 of the Best Fish Supper Recipes
- Four years ago: Cheesy Mashed Tatties & Kale
- Five years ago: Bear Paws (Old-fashioned Soft Molasses Cookies)
- Six years ago: Pierogi: Cheese, Onion & Potato Dumplings
Saag Aloo – Indian Spinach and Potato Curry
Hi Elizabeth, I am really loving your blog. I recently listened to your interview with Sheila Dillon on The BBC Food Programme in her series on Shetland. It was really fascinating. I’m definitely visiting Shetland sometime. I am also a Canadian, originally from Toronto but lived in Halifax 1998-2004. I remember the Health Food Store that you worked at, as I would shop there occasionally. We’re in Ottawa now and enjoying this area too. Good luck with your blog…recipes and photos are amazing! (p.s. you don’t have to print all of this, I just wanted to say Hi) Suzanne
Aw thank you! Hi back! 😀 I bet I served you at the health foods shop at that time – I was the redhead! I left in March 1999.
Sounds lovely 🙂
What a great alternative when I’m out of fresh basil. I love quick pasta sauces like this one
sounds lovely use as salad dressings
Dish sounds yummy. I would use the oil to make a Melanzane parmigiana
Sounds lovely
Perfect. In fact so perfect I’m actually craving some now. Thanks for a great, easy recipe- ideal for me as I often try to over complicate things.
The recipe sounds tasty but easy. I like the idea of the flavoured oil, would be good for dressings and drizzling over meals to serve
Sounds lovely-olive oil on my salads would be great
This recipe looks really simple and easy to do which makes it a good ‘go to’ meal after school. I have never cooked with infused oil but perhaps it’s time to give it a go.
sounds yummy would love to use it in some pasta dishes
Love the recipe! i would use this lovely oil for dressings, and pasta dishes
The recipe sounds fabulous! I’ve never tried flavoured oil before so I’d have to experiment! I’m sure it would be great with lots of pasta dishes and salads
Recipe is great. I’d love to bake some delicious bread and dip it in the oil for maximum flavour.
Sounds nice. I’d use it to make pasta bake with tomatoes from the greenhouse.
the dish looks really tasty i use olive oil a lot in cooking x
I’ve used garlic and chili infused oil for home made crutons 🙂 I think it would be good for stir frys a wel
Although personally I am not a great pasta fan my husband loves it so I cook it regularly. The recipe looks delish and I haven’t tried a flavoured olive oil before so would be interested to give it a go.
I think this recipe sounds beautiful and i think i would use the oil in a simple pasta dish
I love this recipe, it’s so simple and sounds delicious! I’d use flavoured oils to add extra flavour to meals using those herbs
It looks really good, i’d like to give it a try. I would use it with bread and balsamic vinegar
Sounds lovely and as I’m vegetarian I always like to expand my recipe repertoire. I’d definitely add the kalamata olives too!
the recipe sounds great and I love italian food so I’d use this in al my dishes
Looks very delicious. I love flavoured oils in my salad dressings
I’d use it in a Pesto and Goat’s Cheese Linguine for an extra layer of taste!
This looks really tasty. I would use it in all my pasta recipes and as a salad dressing.
Looks yummy, quick and easy, my sort of food, plus the kifs love any sort of pasta dishes.
It sounds delicious! I’d use it to add extra flavour to my salad dressings.
This looks like a lovely recipe, I use Olive oil for lots of different recipes, from salad dressings to pasta and vegetarian cooking
Recipe sounds yummy, would love to try it with the anchovies
Basil oil is lovely dribbled over a pizza! Lovely idea for use in this pasta dish though, must try!
This recipe looks fab, I think I would just use the oil on it’s own drizzled over fresh pasta!
I would like to try this in pastries
I only find oils useful in the summer months, something about the humidity and temperature – in the winter months I revert to moisturisers
Bet it would be amazing for dipping bread
Looks really good
Sounds nice and be something different to try for a change
we use alot of flavoured oils in our dressings for salads
Pasta was one of those foods I was worried I wouldn’t be able to eat anymore as I was recently diagnosed with coeliacs – fortunately there is lots of gluten free pastas, though I still have to be careful with the sauces so making my own is much safer (and easier). As I’m having to cook a lot more from scratch now (no ready meals or frozen pizzas for me) I think infused olive oils sound like a great idea to add some subtle flavour to a simple dish.
This looks really tasty and easy too. I use flavoured oil sometimes for roasting chicken (particularly lemon or basil)
I love pasta dishes, though I would add some protein to this recipe. I would use the oil to drizzle over roasted vegetables.
The recipe sounds simple but tasty just like Italian food should be, I would use it to drizzle over a simple pizza
The recipe sounds amazing, tomatoey pasta is one of my favourites! I love using olive oil simply drizzling over a caprese salad or just to dip bread in!
This sounds like a great recipe. My 17yo is very happy to make herself this kind of meal – I’m trying to train up up so she will cook at least a little while she’s at uni 🙂
I eat a lot of pasta but have never tried flavoured oils. The chilli oil sounds fantastic and just up my street as I like heat in my pasta sauce.
I think this recipe looks amazing and I’d like to cook pasta with this flavoured olive oil.
Love the recipe – anything with tomato and pasta I enjoy but this goes one level above. Never cooked with flavoured oil before so I’d be interested to try it out and see how it compares to plain oil.
I would cook some saltimbocca alla romana
It sounds great, nice and simple. I like to add some roasted peppers to a tomato sauce too and keep some in the fridge ready to add to some white fish.
Will def try this as I’m looking for quick recipes esp for kids! We love using garlic oil
Love the sound of this recipe
sounds so tasty
Id love to try and make it, think the kids would love it!! I love using the flavoured oils
The recipe looks easy and tasty. I have never used a flavoured olive oil.
This recipe sounds delicious and sooo easy. Can’t wait to give it a go.
I would add some chillis and veg to the recipe. I would have the olive oil with some bread
The basil infused oil looks amazing!
Sounds yummy, but best of all quick and easy
The recipe looks simple but tasty. Never considered cooking with flavoured oil. But this has given me some ideas.
I make something very similar with tinned tomatoes instead of passata. It is so easy and a hundred times better than bought sauce. The flavoured oils are a quick and easy way to add variety too
Recipe looks really simple and delicious. Would use the flavoured oils in dressings as well as cooking stir fry etc.
it is a simple recipe and good base for other pasta sauces – I always try to sneak in more veggies because of the children 🙂
They sound lovely I’d use on salad
Love the sound of this recipe I’m going to try it. I love cooking with flavoured oils it makes the dish much tastier.
Recipe looks really simple, great for a busy day. I’d love to use the flavoured oils, I can see me using them for baking (focaccia, breadsticks etc), not just cooking.
Sounds delicious. I love to use flavoured oils in quick salad dressings and to drizzle over veggies for roasting.
This sounds really tasty i thinkthese oils would be yummy in salad dressings
Love this easy recipe and flavoured oil would give it a perfect zing
I would like to try this in the bread I make
Sounds absolutely delicious, its very similar to a meal we have often because it’s so quick and easy but super tasty! I wouldn’t mind trying the Basil olive oil in a pesto…
Love a good pasta recipe, I’ve never tried flavored oils before so would be great to test this out
This sounds really tasty. I like flavoured oils in salad dressings.
It would definitely jazz up salad dressings and make eating my veg more appealing!
Sounds very tasty and easy to make
I’m definitely going to try this. It sounds lovely and very simple. I like Basil and will look out for this infused oil
Beautifully simple recipe. I do something very similar but also add bits of chorizo for a hint of spice.
I’ve bookmarked this and will try it next week – that’s how impressed I am !
I will be trying the recipe as it looks very appetising. Just now I’m doing lots of veggie stir fries with flavoured oils.