Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce (Spaghetti al Pomodoro)
Spaghetti tossed in a bright, simple sauce of tomatoes, garlic and fresh basil. Just a handful of ingredients, handled the right way, make this one of Italy's most comforting dishes.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Crush the tomatoes
Tip the canned tomatoes into a bowl and crush them with your hands or a fork, breaking them into rough, uneven pieces. Doing this by hand instead of blending keeps a bit of texture in the finished sauce.
- 800 g whole peeled tomatoes
✅ Done when: the tomatoes are broken into coarse pieces, no large chunks left
Infuse the oil
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat and add the crushed garlic. Let it sizzle gently for about 2 minutes, just until fragrant and pale gold — garlic turns bitter if it browns too fast, so keep the heat low.
- 60 ml olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
✅ Done when: the garlic is fragrant and lightly golden at the edges, not brown
Simmer the sauce
Add the crushed tomatoes and salt to the pan. Simmer uncovered over low-medium heat for 18–20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens and loses its raw, watery taste. Tear in half the basil partway through, and add the sugar only if the sauce still tastes sharp.
- 800 g tomatoes (from step 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- half the handful basil leaves
- 1 pinch sugar
✅ Done when: the sauce has thickened, no longer looks watery, and tastes sweet rather than sharp
Cook the pasta
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil (it should taste like the sea). Cook the spaghetti until just shy of al dente, about 1 minute less than the package time, then scoop out and reserve a cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.
- 400 g spaghetti
- to taste salt (for the water)
✅ Done when: the pasta still has a firm bite in the centre, not fully soft
Marry pasta and sauce
Tip the drained spaghetti straight into the pan with the sauce, add a splash of the reserved pasta water, and toss vigorously over medium heat for about a minute. The starch in the water helps the sauce cling to every strand instead of pooling at the bottom. Finish with a drizzle of fresh olive oil, off the heat.
- to finish olive oil
✅ Done when: the sauce looks glossy and coats the pasta evenly, with no watery pool in the pan
Serve
Divide among warm plates right away, scatter with the remaining fresh basil and black pepper, and finish with grated Parmigiano or Pecorino. Spaghetti al pomodoro waits for no one — serve it the moment it's tossed.
- remaining basil leaves
- to taste black pepper
- 40 g grated cheese
Crush the tomatoes
Tip the canned tomatoes into a bowl and crush them with your hands or a fork, breaking them into rough, uneven pieces. Doing this by hand instead of blending keeps a bit of texture in the finished sauce.
- 800 g whole peeled tomatoes
✅ Done when: the tomatoes are broken into coarse pieces, no large chunks left
Infuse the oil
Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat and add the crushed garlic. Let it sizzle gently for about 2 minutes, just until fragrant and pale gold — garlic turns bitter if it browns too fast, so keep the heat low.
- 60 ml olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
✅ Done when: the garlic is fragrant and lightly golden at the edges, not brown
Simmer the sauce
Add the crushed tomatoes and salt to the pan. Simmer uncovered over low-medium heat for 18–20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce thickens and loses its raw, watery taste. Tear in half the basil partway through, and add the sugar only if the sauce still tastes sharp.
- 800 g tomatoes (from step 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- half the handful basil leaves
- 1 pinch sugar
✅ Done when: the sauce has thickened, no longer looks watery, and tastes sweet rather than sharp
Cook the pasta
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil (it should taste like the sea). Cook the spaghetti until just shy of al dente, about 1 minute less than the package time, then scoop out and reserve a cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.
- 400 g spaghetti
- to taste salt (for the water)
✅ Done when: the pasta still has a firm bite in the centre, not fully soft
Marry pasta and sauce
Tip the drained spaghetti straight into the pan with the sauce, add a splash of the reserved pasta water, and toss vigorously over medium heat for about a minute. The starch in the water helps the sauce cling to every strand instead of pooling at the bottom. Finish with a drizzle of fresh olive oil, off the heat.
- to finish olive oil
✅ Done when: the sauce looks glossy and coats the pasta evenly, with no watery pool in the pan
Serve
Divide among warm plates right away, scatter with the remaining fresh basil and black pepper, and finish with grated Parmigiano or Pecorino. Spaghetti al pomodoro waits for no one — serve it the moment it's tossed.
- remaining basil leaves
- to taste black pepper
- 40 g grated cheese
The Story Behind the Dish
Tomatoes arrived in Italy from the Americas in the 16th century but took a couple of centuries to be fully embraced in the kitchen. It was in and around Naples, where tomatoes grew easily in the volcanic soil, that cooks first thought to simmer them into a simple sauce — the pummarola — and spoon it over pasta.
From those Neapolitan streets, where maccheroni sellers served it to workers, spaghetti al pomodoro spread across Italy and became the dish every home cook keeps in their back pocket: fast, cheap and always satisfying.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It proves that a handful of good ingredients, treated with care and no shortcuts, can make one of the most comforting dishes in the world.
💡 Fun Fact
Many Italian cooks consider a well-made spaghetti al pomodoro the real test of skill in the kitchen, precisely because with so few ingredients, there is nowhere for a mistake to hide.
Naples, Campania
40.85°N, 14.27°E
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