Simple Angel Hair Pasta recipe has only 5 ingredients but feels like an Italian feast. Add your favorite protein or leave as is for a favorite vegetarian meal. Perfect for a quick and easy dinner.
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This week is my sweet baby niece’s 5th birthday and I can’t believe how fast these last 5 years have flown.
It was just yesterday that she was running around with her little diaper booty sucking on her binky while pretending to be Tinker Bell.
It kind of breaks my heart that the days of big toothless grins and playing hours of “stinky feet” laughing until our bellies hurt, are over.
I definitely miss the baby stage but watching her grow into the sweet young lady makes me so happy.
Of all her childhood passions I can tell a love for cooking is starting to develop.
Often when I am cooking she will open each jar of spices and loves to smell the different aromas of each.
She adores garlic!! I mean really adores it (that’s a genetic thing right there) and loves to ask what each of the ingredients are.
Just in the last couple of weeks I can tell that her picky taste buds are starting to fade away.
She is open to eating things she would have never touched 6 months ago.
Even though we have had our picky eating moments over the last 5 years though I NEVER had an issue with her eating noodles and garlic.
Not surprising that this Simple Angel Hair Pasta recipe has saved many a night.
I could always get her to eat this meal with a homemade salad.
I loved it because not only was I sneaking those veggies in but this recipe is just so incredibly easy and tasty.
Tips about Simple Angel Hair Pasta:
- This Simple Angel Hair Pasta recipe is so incredibly easy and fast. Put your water on to boil and then cut your tomatoes and garlic. By the time the tomatoes are just about simmered down the water should be at a full boil and the angel hair pasta will only take about 3 minutes to cook.
- Once the water is boiling, that is when you add the salt. The water should be heavily salted, about a 1/2 cup. This will help to flavor the pasta. Without it, the pasta just tastes flat.
- Once the pasta is cooked reserve about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add to the Simple Angel Hair Pasta at the very end. The addition of this beautifully starchy and salty water helps the sauce and pasta to marry. Also, since you will be using all fresh ingredients the addition of the water adds a very minimal amount of sodium.
- I highly recommend vine ripened tomatoes. They just taste so much better. I used a 2 lb container of Roma tomatoes on the vine from Costco that cost about $4.
- The beauty of this Simple Angel Hair Pasta recipe is that it tastes phenomenal on it’s own but is also great with chicken, shrimp and believe it or not, leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
- Here is my favorite dried basil. (affiliate)
- Love this organic angel hair pasta made with Jerusalem artichoke inulin and here is why. Just know that you will need two packages for this Simple Angel Hair recipe. (affiliate)
- There is something so special about serving your Italian feast in a beautiful pasta bowl like this one or this one. (affiliate)
- If you are looking for the perfect gift for the health conscious cook who is in need of pots and pans this is a great set. (affiliate)
Simple Angel Hair Pasta
Ingredients
- 1 lb angel hair pasta
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 6-7 lg garlic cloves *thinly sliced
- 4 tsp basil
- 2 lbs tomatoes *diced
- 1/3- 1/2 cup pasta water
- chopped parsley to garnish *optional
Instructions
- Put a large pot of water (approximately 5- 5 1/2 quarts of water) onto boil over high heat.Meanwhile prepare tomatoes and garlic.In a large frying pan heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic to oil. Cook until garlic becomes aromatic and just starts to brown on edges about 3 mins, stirring often. Stir in basil and cook for an additional minute. Stir in diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer over same heat. Cook until tomatoes dices are soft and just start to fall apart, about 8-10 mins. Once water is boiling heavily salt the water. Add pasta and cook according to directions on package. Reserve 1/3- 1/2 cup pasta water. Add pasta and reserved pasta water to frying pan. Toss well. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley.
Notes
Nutrition
Follow along on Facebook and Pinterest for more savory inspirations.
If you love Italian food then check out these recipes:
Heirloom Tomato Pesto Naan Pizza
[email protected] says
Wonderful video. The pasta looks absolutely beautiful and delicious. I’m definitely gonna give it a try this week, I bet the kids will love it.
Heather says
Thank you Diane! That is so sweet for you to say. Yes, my niece definitely gobbled it down. She is a little girl who loves her garlic. ????
Cara says
I made this tonight and it was absolutely perfect. Loved it!
Heather says
That makes me so happy Cara!!!! ???? Thank you for letting me know!
Qpixidust says
a half a cup of salt? Is that correct or a typo? That seems like an awful lot of salt for the water. In the past when I have used a lot of salt in the water as per the instructions of some other recipe, it made the pasta too salty and I could not eat it.
Heather says
I am so glad you asked and no, that is not a typo. I realize that I need to update the post with a little better explanation of the amount of water to salt.
One of the approaches to cooking pasta is to use plenty of water. Every time I cook 1 lb of pasta I use about 5 1/2 quarts of water with about 1/3- 1/2 cup of salt added to the water once boiling. All of the water is then drained with the exception of 1/2 cup. Once the recipe is completed there is really only approximately 2-3 tsp of salt (maybe 1/2 tbsp at most) for the whole recipe.
Please feel free to use less salt but let me just reassure you, if you use plenty of water there should not be an issue.
I hope you enjoy!
Joanne says
Love how easy this is to make, but there’s still so much flavor!
Heather says
That makes me so happy to hear!
Jennifer Farley says
So simple and beautiful!
Heather says
Thank you Jennifer. The simplicity on busy nights is so wonderful!
Melissa Sperka says
My boys will gobble this up!
Heather says
Yay! I hope you enjoy!
Aysegul Sanford says
Simple never looked better! I can have this pasta dish every day. So good!
Heather says
Thank you Aysegul! I could eat it everyday too.
Lori @ RecipeGirl says
Love simple pasta dishes like this!
Stephanie says
Can you use canned tomatoes in place of fixing them yourself? Thanks!
Heather says
Hi Stephanie
Yes, you can definitely give it a try to see how you enjoy the final product. There is something about fresh tomatoes though that make this recipe a little more heavenly, but in a pinch I think canned tomatoes would work just fine.
Ken says
I’m a student who was assigned a cooking project. At first, I was so nervous about it but then I found this recipe. It is so easy to make and was delicious. Thank you so much!
Heather says
Ken I can’t even tell you how happy this makes me! This is one of my biggest goals, to make cooking approachable and fun. Thank you so much for giving this recipe a shot and for taking the time to come back and rate it.
Bella says
Easy to make and very flavorful
Heather says
Thank you so Bella. I am so glad you enjoyed!
Shellie says
This was delicious! I added chicken to mine but shrimp would be good too. Quick and easy. Loved it
Heather says
Yay! I am happy to hear you enjoyed it. Thank you for taking the time to rate it!
Seraphina says
2/3 cups seems like a lot of olive oil! Confirming that measurement is correct as well?
Heather says
Hello Seraphina. Yes that is accurate.
Norma says
Tried something new for my grandkids, ages 7 & 5, and they absolutely loved this dish! And I loved how easy it was to make, giving me more time to play with them! We will be trying more of your wonderful recipes!
Heather says
I am so happy to hear this. Thank you so much for taking the time to make the recipe and coming back to comment.