Pasta Napoletana: How to Make Spaghetti Pomodoro

Pasta Napoletana (also known more commonly as Spaghetti Pomodoro) is a simple and quick pasta dish made with tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil, and garlic.

It’s meant to be ready in just about 20 minutes, so it’s perfect for a weeknight meal (but also tastes so fresh and delicious that you can get away with it on a lazy Sunday).

Traditionally this dish is made with either spaghetti or bucatini, but I had an open pack of this gorgeous fusilli col buco and decided to use it — and girrrl, it did not disappoint.

Pasta Napoletana Ingredients

Honestly, one of my favorite things about traditional Italian cooking is that you don’t have to fuss with tons of spices or dozens of ingredients. The key is to cook with high-quality, fresh ingredients and really let their natural flavors shine.

That’s exactly what this dish does.

Pasta: Traditionally you would use spaghetti or bucatini, but feel free to use another long pasta if you’re feeling fancy (like this fusilli col buco).

Extra virgin olive oil: Use a good quality EVOO. This is going to make up a decent portion of the sauce.

Cherry tomatoes: Halved.

Garlic: Since we’re going more traditional today we’re going to keep the garlic cloves whole and remove it later (contrary to popular belief, Italian cooking tends to only infuse garlic flavor rather than chop it up and toss it all it — I think there’s a time and place for both, of course).

Fresh basil: Torn.

Red pepper flakes: Optional but delicious.

Salt: To bring it all together.

How to Make Pasta Napoletana

Here’s how to make this simple and delicious dish.

Step 1: Let your garlic and oil infuse.

Add your olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes (if using) to a cold skillet. Bring the heat to medium allowing the garlic and red pepper flakes to come up to temperature with the oil. If it’s heating too quickly, turn the heat down a bit (we aren’t trying to burn anything here).

(In the meantime, add a pot of water to boil.)

You’re only looking to get your garlic a bit browned here, so this should only take about 4-5 minutes. Make sure to swirl the garlic around so that it doesn’t burn.

Step 2: Add the tomatoes.

Add the tomatoes and a generous pinch of salt to the skillet. Stir everything. Don’t worry if there’s too much oil right now, once the tomatoes begin to soften it will all melt together beautifully.

After a few minutes, toss in the fresh basil.

At this time, you can add your pasta to the boiling water.

Lower the heat to low so that we aren’t scorching the tomatoes, but instead letting them gently simmer and soften while the pasta is cooking (~13 minutes, depending on which pasta you’re using).

Step 3: Smash some tomatoes.

When the pasta is almost done, you can take the back of your wooden spoon and smash some of the tomatoes, allowing their juices to mingle with the olive oil. The sauce should be thickening up beautifully now.

Taste the sauce and adjust (add more salt if needed, or more red pepper flakes if you want a touch of heat).

Step 4: Add the pasta to the sauce.

Now I like to add the pasta directly from the pasta water to the sauce, allowing for some pasta water to make its way into the pot as well (you can always add a touch more of the starchy pasta water if needed).

Add some more torn basil, pick out the garlic cloves, and toss everything together.