Pasta with Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce and Italian Sausage: This incredibly flavorful and naturally sweet tomato sauce is made simply with cherry tomatoes, garlic, and a hint of basil, combined with savory Italian sausage all served over al dente pasta.
It is a dish that I have been making for over 15 years, and one of my absolute favorite recipes ever. The sauce, when choosing the right cherry tomatoes, is so delicious, fresh, and unique.
Like this Pasta with Pancetta and Peas, the simple layering of flavors fills the kitchen with the most amazing smells, making the process of cooking almost as good (maybe better?) than actually eating the meal.
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🍅 The Trick to Making a Great Cherry Tomato Sauce
Here’s the trick: Because cherry tomatoes are naturally sweet, this sauce will be good no matter what cherry tomatoes you use. However, if you want a really, really great sauce you’ll need to find some really great cherry tomatoes.
The best cherry tomatoes that are available year round are cherry tomatoes called Hiiros sold by Nature Fresh Farms, which can be found at Costco and Whole Foods. Though they are significantly less expensive at Costco.
The other excellent option is to use home grown cherry tomatoes, or cherry tomatoes from your local farmers market or farm share, which makes this a great dish for the end of summer when all the tomatoes are coming in.
🛒 Ingredients
Below are the ingredients needed to make this Pasta with Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce and Italian Sausage.
- Italian Sausage: I prefer sweet Italian sausage for this recipe rather than hot Italian sausage, but you could use either. I also recommend buying uncooked sausage and removing the meat from the casing to chop up in the pan and add to the sauce. However, you could use precooked sausage (either pork or chicken) and slice it into rounds, then pan-fry.
- Cherry Tomatoes: I recommend using home-grown cherry tomatoes from the garden, farmers market cherry tomatoes, or Hiiro cherry tomatoes by Nature Fresh Farms sold at Costco or Whole Foods.
- Olive Oil: Use extra virgin olive oil if possible.
- Garlic: Minced and added after the cherry tomatoes have started to simmer to reduce the likelihood of the garlic burning.
- Basil: I highly recommend using fresh basil, especially if you’re putting in all the effort to make the sauce from scratch.
- Salt: The recipe calls for ½ teaspoon of salt, but you can absolutely reduce or increase that depending on your salt preference.
- Pasta: I recommend rigatoni or penne to soak up the sauce. Cook the pasta to al dente, keeping in mind that not all packages give the correct timing for cooking to al dente. For a really excellent dish, buy high quality slow dried, bronze cut pasta imported from Italy.
- Parmesan: This is optional. We often don’t add it, but if you do, I’d recommend buying a block of Parmesan and grating or shaving it yourself.
See the recipe card further below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
📝 How to Make Pasta with Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce and Italian Sausage
Note: The recipe card with instructions, ingredient list, and quantities is included further below these step-by-step photos.
Step 1. Cook the Italian Sausage: Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat. Add the sausage and a tablespoon of olive oil if needed.
Chop the sausage in the pan with a stiff spatula and cook for 10-15 minutes until the sausage starts to caramelize at the edges. Remove the sausage and set aside. This will be added back to the sauce later.
Tip: I like to chop the sausage into really small pieces in the pan with a stiff spatula so that the small pieces of sausage dispurse will into the sauce.
Be sure to cook the sausage long enough so that it is not only cooked through, but it starts to get caramelized and crispy. This makes for a great addition to the sauce, and takes the dish up a notch.
Step 2. Start the Cherry Tomato Sauce: Add 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil to the large sauté pan at slightly lower than medium heat (a setting of #4 out of #10). Add the cherry tomatoes. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes until the tomatoes have started to break down.
Tip: Covering the pan at the beginning of the process keeps the heat in the pan higher, which allows the tomatoes to start to break down sooner.
Remove the lid, add the garlic, and stir occasionally for 10 more minutes (keep the lid off). Press down on the tomatoes with the back of a slotted spatula to help break down the tomatoes.
Step 3. Blend the Sauce: Add the tomato sauce to a blender and blend until smooth.
Tip: If you like a chunky sauce, you can skip this step and add the sausage directly to the sauce in the pan (Step 5). While I do this occasionally, most of the time I prefer a super smooth sauce. So I blend the sauce and strain it through a fine mesh strainer before returning it to the pan (see Step 4 below).
Step 4. Strain the Sauce: Pour the sauce through a fine mesh strainer to remove any small bits of tomato skins and tomato seeds. Return the sauce to the sauté pan.
Step 5. Add the Sausage and Basil: Add the cooked Italian sausage and minced fresh basil to the pan, and stir. Simmer on low for 5 minutes to allow everything to warm through and the sauce to thicken slightly.
Serve over al dente pasta like rigatoni or penne, along with shaved or freshly grated parmesan if desired.
🍴Serving Ideas
Here are a few ideas for what you can serve along with this Italian pasta dish.
- Roated Beet and Goat Cheese Salad: When recipes don't include a green veggie, I typically make a salad to have before the main course. Try this one with roasted beets and creamy goat cheese with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
- Dinner Rolls: These go with pretty much anything, but they're great alongside this pasta. You could even spread them with garlic and butter and toast them to make garlic bread.
- Italian Olive Oil Cake: This simple and not overly sweet cake pairs well with this Italian dinner.
💖 If You're Looking for More Pasta Recipes, You May Love These:
If you tried this Pasta with Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce and Italian Sausage Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Pasta with Homemade Cherry Tomato Sauce and Italian Sausage
Ingredients
- 1½ lbs sweet Italian sausage removed from casing
- 3 lbs cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 8-10 leaves basil, minced
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 lb pasta such as rigatoni or penne, cooked to al dente
- parmesan shaved or grated for serving
Instructions
- Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat. Add the Italian sausage breaking it up into smaller pieces with a firm spatula, stirring occasionally until cooked through, 10-15 minutes. The sausage should not only be cooked through, but it should be left long enough for the fat to start to caramelize. Remove and set aside.
- Add the olive oil, cherry tomatoes, and salt, and cover at just under medium heat for 10 minutes (a setting of “4” out of “10”). Remove the lid, stir, and add the garlic. Stir occasionally. As the cherry tomatoes break down, press the tomatoes down with the back of a slotted spoon or spatula to release the juices. Simmer on low for another 10 minutes.
- Remove the tomatoes, add them to a blender and blend until smooth. If desired, strain through a fine mesh strainer (I prefer straining the sauce for an ultra smooth consistency to remove any tomato skins and seeds).
- Add the sauce back to the pan along with the basil. Stir and simmer on low for 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened. This should result in 4½ cups cherry tomato sauce.
- Add the sausage to the pan and stir to combine. Serve the sauce over the pasta and top with shaved or freshly grated parmesan cheese.
Notes
- Cherry Tomatoes: For a really great sauce, choose cherry tomatoes from your garden, local farm or farm share, or cherry tomatoes called Hiiros sold by Nature Fresh Farms, which can be found at Costco and Whole Foods. Though they are significantly less expensive at Costco.
- Italian Sausage
- I prefer sweet Italian sausage for this recipe rather than hot Italian sausage, but you could use either. I also recommend buying uncooked sausage and removing the meat from the casing to chop up in the pan and add to the sauce. However, you could use precooked sausage (either pork or chicken) and slice it into rounds, then pan-fry.
- Chop the sausage into really small pieces in the pan with a stiff spatula so that the small pieces of sausage disperse into the sauce.
- Cook the sausage long enough so that it is not only cooked through, but it starts to get caramelized and crispy. This makes for a great addition to the sauce, and takes the dish up a notch.
- Pasta: I recommend rigatoni or penne to soak up the sauce. Cook the pasta to al dente, keeping in mind that not all packages give the correct timing for cooking to al dente. For a really excellent dish, buy high quality slow dried, bronze cut pasta imported from Italy.
- Chunky Sauce: If you like a chunky sauce you can skip puréeing and straining the sauce and add the sausage directly to the sauce in the pan.
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