Oven-Roasted Tomato Bucatini Recipe

If you're looking for an impressive pasta recipe with just a few ingredients and minimal work required, meet our oven-roasted tomato bucatini. This dish is big on flavor and little on effort — our favorite kind of cooking.

Roasted cherry tomatoes are the star of this dish. When you combine tomatoes with olive oil, herbs, and lots of sliced garlic — and then let them hang out in the oven for a bit — you end up with the most satisfying, savory-sweet-sour flavor bombs, perfect for tossing with pasta. This recipe also features capers, which play off the tanginess of the tomatoes, and basil, which adds herby freshness and color contrast.

This bucatini is easy enough for weeknights and fancy enough for guests. Add a green side salad and garlic bread to complete the meal. Alexandra Shytsman of the plant-based blog The New Baguette walks us through this delicious dish.

Gather your ingredients

To make this recipe, you'll need bucatini, grape or cherry tomatoes, garlic, capers, dried oregano, some chili flakes, extra-virgin olive oil, and fresh basil.

Bucatini (sometimes called perciatelli) is a classic pasta shape. It's a long pasta — like spaghetti — and its defining characteristic is a hole running through the center. Bucatini is particularly popular in Rome and is commonly served "all' Amatriciana," in a traditional sauce made with tomatoes and guanciale. However, this roasted tomato sauce technique will work with any kind of pasta — long or short.

Roast the tomatoes

To start this recipe, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Next, halve the tomatoes and put them in a large roasting pan. Add the olive oil, thinly sliced garlic, oregano, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Toss everything so the tomatoes are evenly coated, and pop them into the oven for about 40 minutes, tossing them halfway.

If you only have large tomatoes, you can go ahead and use them for this dish. Just be sure to cut them into roughly 1-inch chunks.

This step is a good time to incorporate other flavors, too. For instance, instead of dried oregano, you can add fresh thyme or rosemary, or experiment with other dried herbs, like herbes de Provence.

Cook the pasta

When the tomatoes are about halfway cooked, bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta. Season the boiling water generously with salt; a good rule of thumb is pasta water should be as salty as the ocean. Be sure not to cook the pasta past al dente. Before draining the bucatini, reserve some of the starchy pasta cooking water.

Finally, combine the cooked pasta with the roasted tomatoes, capers, lots of black pepper, and the reserved pasta water. Top the pasta with fresh basil, and prepare your taste buds to be transported!

Oven-Roasted Tomato Bucatini Recipe
5 from 46 ratings
If you're looking for an impressive pasta recipe with just a few ingredients and minimal work required, meet our oven-roasted tomato bucatini.
Prep Time
10
minutes
Cook Time
40
minutes
Servings
6
servings
oven-roasted tomato bucatini bowl
Total time: 50 minutes
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ pounds cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
  • 3 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more for the pasta water
  • freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 pound bucatini
  • 3 tablespoons drained capers
  • Fresh basil, cut into strips, for serving
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a roasting pan, combine the tomatoes, garlic, oil, oregano, red pepper flakes, ½ teaspoon salt, and black pepper to taste. Toss to coat. Roast until the tomatoes are shriveled up and jammy, about 40 minutes, tossing once after 20 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.
  4. Season the boiling water generously with salt and cook the pasta until al dente according to package directions.
  5. Reserve about ½ a cup of the starchy pasta water and drain the rest. Return the pasta back to the pot and immediately add the roasted tomatoes (with all their juices), the capers, and the reserved pasta water. Toss to combine and season to taste with more salt and pepper, if needed.
  6. Garnish with basil before serving.
Nutrition
Calories per Serving 386
Total Fat 10.4 g
Saturated Fat 1.5 g
Trans Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Total Carbohydrates 62.1 g
Dietary Fiber 4.2 g
Total Sugars 5.1 g
Sodium 305.6 mg
Protein 11.2 g
The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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