This wholesome tomato pasta recipe makes a wonderful weeknight dinner! This feel-good recipe is warm, comforting, and lightly creamy, but not heavy. It’s bursting with Mediterranean flavors—roasted cherry tomatoes, hearty chickpeas, creamy goat cheese, pops of briny olives, and garlic. Each one benefits from the heat of the oven, and the end result is just fantastic.
I love how this recipe comes together and I think you will, too. Basically, we’ll cook the pasta on the stovetop and roast the remaining ingredients in one baking dish. Stir it all together, add fresh basil, and you’re ready to eat. You’ll have plenty of time in between steps to tidy the kitchen or chat. This recipe is a variation on last summer’s Baked Feta Dip with Cherry Tomatoes, which was inspired by the viral TikTok roasted cherry tomato and feta pasta and Deb’s version of it. It’s always fun to see how recipes morph over time, and this one is a real winner. Please give it a try and let me know what you think!
Tomato & Chickpea Pasta Tips
This recipe comes together beautifully! You’ll find the full recipe below, but here are a few tips before you get started. Choose small cherry tomatoes at the store, if possible. Grape tomatoes will work if that’s what they have. Bigger cherry/grape tomatoes have tougher skin that can be distracting in the final dish. Be sure to salt your pasta cooking water. The water should taste a little salty, but doesn’t need to taste “like the sea” (if you’re taking that phrase literally, you’d have to use an incredible amount of salt). Use at least 1 teaspoon of salt here, or more. In my experience, if pasta water is insufficiently salted, it’s impossible to get that flavor back by adding salt later. Most of it gets poured out, anyway. Arrange the garlic cloves (peeled but left whole) in one corner of the dish. That way, they’re easy to find later. They develop irresistible caramelize flavor as they roast, and we’ll simply smash them against the side of the baking dish when we’re done. Leftovers keep well for up to four days. That’s my standard time frame for all recipes of this nature. Leftovers make a great lunch, warmed in the microwave or even served cold like pasta salad.
Watch How to Make This Pasta
What to Serve with this Pasta
This pasta dish is rather hearty and doesn’t need complex accompaniments. The easiest option is my Super Simple Arugula Salad, which goes with just about anything. This Chopped Greek Salad or Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad would complement these flavors, and you can simplify the additions if you’d like. Outside of salads, green beans are in season along with tomatoes. Try my Perfect Roasted Green Beans for a simple side that can roast in the oven with the tomato mixture, or my Green Beans Amandine for a special occasion.
More Tomato Pasta Recipes to Make
All of these fresh pasta recipes make use of ripe summer tomatoes. Make them while you still can!
Caprese Pasta Salad Creamy Cherry Tomato & Summer Squash Pasta Double Tomato Pesto Spaghetti with Zucchini Noodles Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Orzo Pasta Summertime Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce
As always, please let me know how the recipe turns out in the comments. I love hearing from you.
Make it gluten free: Substitute sturdy short-cut gluten-free pasta noodles. Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the goat cheese. Top the finished dip with a dollop of vegan sour cream, if you wish, and/or a heavy sprinkle of vegan Parmesan.
