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Pasta · 30 min

Garlic Butter Pasta with Blistered Tomatoes

There is no recipe here so much as a timing problem. The garlic must stay pale, the tomatoes must blacken in patches, and the pasta has to land in the pan one minute short of done so it can finish in the sauce instead of the water.

MRWords by Marcus Reyes · 24 September 2026
Steaming bowl of creamy garlic butter pasta with parsley and blistered tomatoes on a marble counter

Total time

30 min

Serves

4

Level

Easy

Reading

5 min

01

The Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (450g) spaghetti or bucatini
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • 1½ cups cherry tomatoes
  • ¾ cup finely grated pecorino, plus more
  • Large handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • Fine salt

Serves 4 · 30 min in total

Method

  1. 01

    Salt the pasta water like the sea and bring it to a rolling boil. Cook the pasta one minute short of tender.

  2. 02

    Meanwhile melt the butter with the olive oil over medium-low. Add the garlic and chilli and cook until the garlic is pale gold, about 3 minutes. Do not let it brown.

  3. 03

    Tip in the tomatoes, turn the heat up, and leave them alone for 4 minutes until the skins split and blacken in patches.

  4. 04

    Ladle in a cup of the pasta water and swirl the pan until the butter turns glossy and slightly thick.

  5. 05

    Add the drained pasta and toss hard off the heat for 90 seconds, then beat in the pecorino and parsley. Season, and serve immediately.

A note from the kitchen

If the sauce breaks, it wants more starchy water and more agitation — not more time on the heat.

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