Butter and tomatoes are a winning combination, popularized by Marcella Hazan’s classic tomato sauce recipe. This is my take on that butter/tomato combo, relying on the sweetness of cherry tomatoes and the richness of good melted butter. Most of these ingredients you’ll have in your pantry, and with a quick cook time as well, this is the perfect weeknight meal!
Buttery Burst Cherry Tomato Sauce
This recipe will serve one to two, depending on how big your serving sizes are. This recipe can easily be doubled to serve 4.

INGREDIENTS
- ~⅓ box long pasta, like spaghetti or fettuccine
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3-4 cloves minced garlic
- 5 oz or ½ cup of cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt, pepper, and red chili flakes to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- When pasta goes into boiling water, begin heating olive oil over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cherry tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper, and red chili flakes to taste.
- Allow garlic and cherry tomatoes to cook uncovered for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. The cherry tomatoes will begin to burst on their own with the heat–there is no need to apply additional pressure, or else the sauce will be too watery.
- Once the cherry tomatoes have begun to burst, add in butter and allow to melt, stirring everything together for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add pasta directly from pot to saucepan, allowing noodles to carry over some of the starchy pasta water.
- Toss pasta together with sauce to combine. The mixing motion and pressure from pasta will continue to help burst some of the tomatoes.
- Top with some parmesan, pepper, and/or red chili flakes if you’d like.
- Enjoy!