Pasta napolitana

Pasta napolitana is a simple and light pasta dish from Italy. This popular meat-free Italian dish is made with a handful of basic ingredients but is very flavorful and delicious. It gets ready in just 30 minutes and is a great option for weeknight dinner.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Diet Vegan, Vegetarian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 20

Total Time 30

Servings

Calories 437kcal

Author Vandana Chauhan

Equipment

1 Large cooking pot
1 large skillet or pan

Ingredients

350 grams spaghetti or any pasta of choice
400 grams canned cherry tomatoes or crushed tomatoes
1 brown onion finely chopped
3-4 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley or basil
2 tablepsoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning blend
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Salt to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
Water to cook pasta

Instructions

Cook pasta al dente as per the instructions given on its packet. Just before draining the pasta, collect around 1 cup of pasta water in a bowl and keep it aside. Strain the pasta and keep it aside too.
Heat olive oil in a pan and add chopped onion. Saute until the onion becomes translucent.
Add minced garlic and saute it for a minute or until its raw smell goes away.
Add tomato paste and saute for a minute.
Add Italian seasonings, salt, ground black pepper, and canned cherry tomatoes.
Cook for around 10 minutes. If the sauce is too thick add some reserved pasta water to adjust the consistency of the sauce.
Add cooked pasta and toss until the sauce evenly coats the pasta strands.
Garnish with chopped fresh parsley or basil. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

Cook pasta al dente, overcooked pasta will spoil the dish.
Instead of using canned cherry tomatoes, you can also use canned crushed or diced tomatoes.
To reserve the pasta, collect it just before draining the pasta. If you collect the water too early, it won't be starchy enough.
If you are not a vegan or vegetarian, you may add some grated parmesan to pasta napolitana before serving. In case you are a vegetarian and didn't know, parmesan cheese is not a vegetarian ingredient.
Use a large cooking pot or pan to make this dish so that it becomes easy to mix the pasta and sauce.
More recipe tips and tricks are shared in the post above, please follow them to make this recipe.

Nutrition