Pasta with Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato sauce)
Jul 17, 2020, Updated Feb 11, 2025
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Chopped fresh tomatoes, basil, and garlic, then mix together with good quality olive oil then toss with pasta and Mangia!
In Italian “salsa fresca” means fresh tomato sauce. This is an easy summer recipe you will make every season with any variety of your fresh garden tomatoes. The juicy ripe tomatoes get a bath in luxurious olive oil, basil and garlic creating the most delicious sauce to coat your pasta. Enjoy this dish warm or cold. It’s one of those recipes that tastes even better the next day. This meal comes together quickly and makes for an easy and tasty summer dinner recipe.
I call this sauce- “KISS”. Keep It Simple Sauce. Let the fragrant flavors of the fresh quality ingredients shine without over seasoning or over doing. That is the beauty of simple, rustic, and fresh, Italian recipes. Once you try it you will kiss this “KISS” sauce too! Enjoy!
What can I do with all my garden tomatoes?
Make this fresh and authentic Italian Salsa Fresca! It is fresh, light, and bright. Perfect for summer and early fall with all the vine ripe tomatoes. This dish is the bright colors of Italy in a bowl!
What tomatoes are BEST for Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato sauce)?
Any ripe, fragrant, juicy tomato will do for this recipe. The juices of the tomatoes will create a delicious sauce when mixed with the olive oil. It is a simple meal that requires only a few ingredients to let the fresh in season tomatoes shine.
Some TOMATO varieties are listed:
- Roma
- Cherry tomatoes of any kind (simply cut in half)
- Beefsteak
- Plum
- Campari
Really, any tomatoes that are ripe, sweet, and not mushy or tasteless :).
Great Basic Extra Virgin Olive Oil for This Recipe COLAVITA
The photo at the bottom of this post is of me eating one of my favorite simple summer pasta dishes- pasta con salsa fresca. We have it for lunch weekly at the beach house in Italy. The sauce takes minutes to prepare and we let it sit and marinade while we are at the beach then toss it with hot pasta when we come home. I am laughing while I eat. I love it. I love the pasta and I love this moment. This describes the many moments at our family table in Italy- years and years on repeat. We eat. We discuss. We share. We yell (it’s the Italian way of “talking” when passionate- it took my husband years to understand this). We eat. We laugh. We love. That’s it. Mangia. Mangia. Life is short and we only have so much we can eat every day. Make it worth your time.
If you make this recipe please write a comment to tell me your thoughts! I want to connect with all of you through your experience with my recipes.
Love, Elena
Table of Contents
- Chopped fresh tomatoes, basil, and garlic, then mix together with good quality olive oil then toss with pasta and Mangia!
- What can I do with all my garden tomatoes?
- What tomatoes are BEST for Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato sauce)?
- Great Basic Extra Virgin Olive Oil for This Recipe COLAVITA
- From my Cucina to Your Table. Mangia! Mangia! (Eat!)
- Made with Amore, Elena
- More Recipes for YOU
- Pasta with Salsa Fresca (fresh tomato sauce) Recipe
From my Cucina to Your Table. Mangia! Mangia! (Eat!)
Made with Amore, Elena
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Pasta with Salsa Fresca (Fresh Tomato Sauce)
Ingredients
- 2 pints tomatoes (cherry, roma, garden, or heirloom variety), diced, 560 grams
- 2 cloves garlic, slivered
- ¼ cup fresh basil, torn by hand
- ½ cup good quality olive oil
- 1 package package good quality pasta, 454 grams
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Salt for cooking pasta
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl combine the tomatoes, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Stir to combine, Cover with plastic wrap and leave on the counter for 30 min and up to 2 hour.
- Bring a large pot of water to salted water to boil. Salt pasta water generously (about 10 grams of salt per liter of water). Cook pasta according to package until ‘al dente’. Add salt and pepper to the tomatoes right before serving.
- Drain pasta and toss with the marinated tomatoes. Serve warm or cold. Great as leftovers!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is delicious and lovely. I never Would have imagined that these simple ingredients marred together could change sauce as I knew It. I let mine sit for 2 hours and I think that’s when the magic happened. Love it!!!
Yes! So simple and delicious! You may also love the panzanella salad recipe.
This is an easy delicious meal when I want something light and easy. It takes no time at all. I like this one especially in the summer!