Roasted Tomato Pasta Dinner
This Roasted Tomato Pasta Dinner is a healthy and delicious dinner that can be on your table in under 1 hour!
– – – – – –
It’s January and many of us have resolved to eat more healthy, so I got together with 11 other bloggers to bring you some healthy and scrumptious meal ideas for you and your family!
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be daunting. In fact, with easy to access nutritious recipes and quick meal ideas, eating healthy can be easy! I never resolve to lose weight at New Years, because I know myself well enough to know that the second I give myself constraints like a diet, I will fail. It’s just the way I am. Instead I will choose to try to eat healthy, and not compromise on taste or quit any particular ingredient. I won’t stop eating pasta or bread or dessert, instead I will choose to eat less of these things, or choose a more healthy option like whole grain bread or whole grain pasta and maybe a smaller piece of pie instead of half a pie. Ha! Really, I try to eat as healthy as possible all year round, so I can sneak in the occasional slice of chocolate cake or my favourite cookies.
But I can always use new healthy meal ideas in my recipe box, and maybe you can too? So after my recipe, at the end of this post, make sure to check out 11 more meal ideas!
Without further ado, as part this Healthy Dinner collaboration, I brought this Roasted Tomato Pasta Dinner to the table.
The homemade sauce of this dish is loaded with healthy ingredients like roasted tomatoes, garlic and spinach, which is served over a plate of ancient grain noodles, and with a sprinkling of ricotta cheese. Just look at how bright and delicious this pasta looks!
What I love the most about this dish are the roasted tomatoes. Roasting tomatoes in the oven with olive oil and slices of fresh garlic, makes for THE most tasty pasta sauce, because by roasting the tomatoes, their flavour becomes so rich and bold.
Then tossed with noodles, fresh spinach, chopped basil and fresh ricotta this dish is a winner! Winner winner pasta dinner!
Roasted Tomato Pasta Dinner
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
Ingredients
Roasted Tomatoes
- 2 lb grape tomatoes (cut in half)
- 6 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- salt & pepper
Pasta
- approx 1 lb dried pasta of your choice ((See Notes))
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 1/4 cup fresh basil (chopped)
- 1 juice from 1 lemon ((optional))
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup crumbled ricotta cheese
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic:
- Cut the grape tomatoes in half.
- Slice the garlic lengthwise.
- Toss the tomatoes and garlic in 3 tbsp of olive oil.
- Season with salt and fresh ground pepper.
- Spread the mixture out onto a cookie sheet, then roast for 20 – 25 minutes.
Putting together the pasta:
- While the tomatoes are roasting, chop the fresh basil.
- Then start making your noodles according to the package directions.
- In the last 30 seconds of boiling your pasta, toss in the fresh spinach. This is just to wilt it slightly. Then drain the noodles and spinach.
- Once the tomatoes and garlic are roasted, pulse them in a food processor with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Pulse for only about 10 seconds just to slightly break down the tomatoes and garlic.
- Toss the noodles and spinach with the roasted tomatoes, chopped fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
- Squeeze on some lemon juice, then toss again.
- Sprinkle with the ricotta cheese and enjoy!
Notes
You can use any kind of pasta that you like with this dish. I used an ancient grains rotini noodle for some extra nutrition, but whole wheat or your favourite noodle would work great as well!
Make sure to stop by the links below for more delicious meal ideas!
Here are more Healthy Weeknight Dinners:
- Lighter Mac n Cheese by Fuchsia Freezer
- Roasted Tomato Pasta Dinner by Me!
- Chicken and Chickpea Stew by Imagelicious
- Citrus + Soy Shrimp Lettuce Cups by Killing Thyme
- One Pot Chicken, Barley and Veg by My Kitchen Love
- Tofu Fajitas with Guacamole Crema by The Refreshanista
- Steamed Rice with Red Curry Coconut Squash by Sugar Love Spices
- Parmesan Polenta with Poached Egg and Spinach by Un Assaggio of Food, Wine & Marriage
- Lentil Tacos by Cocoa Bean,The Vegetable
- Apple and Acorn Squash Soup by I Say Nomato
- Mexican Ground Beef Zucchini Skillet by 365 Days of Easy Recipes
- One Pan Baked Salmon and Roasted Veggies by She Bakes Here
Have a delicious day!
mmm…we love pasta at our place, must be ’cause we’re Italian? 🙂 Your pasta with roasted tomatoes, ricotta and spinach is healthy and delicious at the same time. Perfect for weeknight dinners!
Thank you Nicoletta! I could eat pasta morning, noon and night! 😉
Mmm, your pasta looks so delicious, I love adding spinach and ricotta cheese. And I completely agree with you on the resolution front. I never say the words “diet” or “lose weight” at this time of year because it sounds so negative and makes me feel like I’m depriving myself. Right now, my goal is to incorporate more vegetables into my meals and I’m also getting into the habit of cutting up lots of fruit and veggies for snacks. If I feel like having bread with my meal or dessert at the end of the day, I’ll have it! 🙂
Exactly! We have to enjoy life!
This looks so fresh! And it’s so simple too, I love a chunky pasta with all sorts of veggies in it. Yum! I agree with you on the diet front – better to have everything in moderation!
Thank you Cristina! This is such an easy way to load up on veggies!
Looks delicious! I’m much like you where I don’t do diets – it’s a recipe for failure (in my case). A new year is a great time to hit refresh and focus on eating more nutritional foods and I love the way you added spinach to the sauce and used a more nutritional pasta! YUM!
Thank you Samantha!
Winner winner pasta dinner is right!!! Oh my gawd this looks absolutely divine!! So bight I can just imagine the flavours. Love the addition of the spinach in the sauce, I’ve been trying to add in more leafy greens so I can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Thank you Meaghan! Putting a dish like this together is such a great and easy way to load up on veggies! YUM!
I’m with you on no resolutions in January – I also know I’ll fail and instead I try to eat healthy (isn) throughout the year. This pasta looks amazing – so colourful and vibrant! I can’t believe it’s healthy and so filling!
Thank you Julia! Yep…diets and me just don’t work!
I fell in love with roasted tomatoes a few years ago and I think I ate them in everything including scrambled eggs. I kept a jar of them in the fridge to put on crackers, pasta, spaghetti sauce… everything! I know I would totally love this pasta dish with the fresh basil. Looks so pretty!
Oh what a great idea! I love roasted tomatoes too…love the idea of having them on hand to add to so many other dishes!
This looks SO GOOD. Totally the kind of meal that my husband and I would love for dinner. Adding this to my list of dinner recipes!
Thank you Mel! And thank you so much for organizing all of this!
I just *love* the look and sound of this dish, Jo-Anna. Simple flavors like this are the best in muchly-needed weeknight pasta dish. I bet the ricotta adds so much creaminess.
Thank you Dana! And yes the ricotta is a perfect addition…so creamy and delicious!