Quick garlic basil brown butter pasta: bucatini tossed in nutty browned butter, caramelized garlic, black pepper, and Pecorino, topped with fresh cherry tomatoes. An 8-ingredient, 20-minute dinner.

Prep time: 5 minutesCook time: 15 minutesTotal time: 20 minutesServings: 6 servings

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Get a head start on tomato season with this 20-minute garlic basil brown butter pasta. Buttery, garlicky, black-pepper-laced noodles are topped with fresh cherry tomatoes. It is a garden-fresh pasta made mostly from pantry staples and ready in about 20 minutes, perfect for any night of the week from now through fall.

You know the dish you crave on your busiest, most chaotic days? This is that dish, or as close as it gets. It is so good and so simple it is almost embarrassing. Is it really worth sharing what is essentially buttered pasta? Yes, because this pasta is too good to keep to ourselves.

When there is zero time and zero energy to cook, this is a go-to dinner, and it is 100 percent inspired by my mom, which makes me love it even more. Her specialty (besides her chocolate chip cookies) is buttered pasta: butter, pasta, and a pinch of salt. Simple, and still one of her favorites, though she now prefers this version with plenty of fresh basil and cherry tomatoes.

It starts out much like a classic cacio e pepe, but along with the black pepper there is a generous amount of garlic. If you are not a garlic fan, feel free to leave it out. But for those of us who love it, the garlic is the key. It caramelizes in the butter, turning mellow and slightly sweet, and tossed with pasta, garden basil, and lots of black pepper, it is absolutely delicious. You can stop right there and serve it as is.

But cherry tomato season is just around the corner, so this buttery pasta gets topped with fresh cherry tomatoes and a squeeze of lemon. Not strictly necessary, but if your garden or farmers market is overflowing with sweet tomatoes, it is wonderful. That is it: 15 to 20 minutes, fresh and buttery with a hint of garlic, plenty of basil, and sweet cherry tomatoes that burst in your mouth. Eight simple ingredients that taste really, really good. Dinner tonight, done.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (450 g) bucatini pasta
  • 6 tablespoons salted butter
  • 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced or grated
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 cup (50 g) freshly grated Pecorino cheese
  • 1 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped
  • 2 cups (300 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Crushed red pepper flakes
  • Kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions. Reserve 1 cup (240 ml) of the pasta cooking water before draining.
  2. In a large skillet, melt 4 tablespoons of the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and pepper and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until the butter browns and the garlic is golden and fragrant. Reduce the heat to low and add 1/2 cup (120 ml) of the pasta water, the pasta, the remaining butter, and the Pecorino. Toss until the cheese melts. Remove from the heat and stir in 3/4 cup of the basil, adding more pasta water if needed to loosen the sauce.
  3. In a bowl, toss together the tomatoes, the remaining 1/4 cup basil, the olive oil, red pepper flakes, and a pinch of salt.
  4. Divide the pasta among bowls, spoon the tomatoes over the top, and enjoy.

Nutrition information is an estimate only. Calories: about 467 kcal per serving.

pastabrown buttercherry tomatoesbasilquick dinner20-minute meals

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