This simple caprese pasta bake is the perfect weeknight comfort food meal using fresh summer tomatoes and basil!
This simple caprese pasta bake is a healthy comfort food at its finest! You'll love that it's:
- Low-effort - just a few minutes of hands-on work, and the oven does the rest of your work for you.
- Nutritious - all the macronutrients and seasonal veggies in one place!
- Adaptable - make it gluten-free; add or subtract ingredients.
- Summery - because tomatoes, basil, and all things caprese.
- Vegetarian - whether you regularly choose not to eat meat, or are just trying to incorporate additional meatless meals into your week.
So, what do you say we put those summer tomatoes to good use and melt some cheese all over them?
How to Make Simple Caprese Pasta Bake
- Step 1: First, we're making a tomato sauce by baking tomatoes in the oven. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and fill a ceramic baking dish (9"x13" is best, or slightly smaller such as 8"x11"). The tomatoes should be snug next to each other to create steam that will help the tomatoes cook into a sauce. Roast the tomatoes for 15-20 minutes or until most of them are bursting.
- Step 2: Meanwhile, make the pasta. Bring a large pot of a water and salt to a rolling boil. Add pasta and reduce heat slightly. Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally, until al dente. The pasta packaging usually gives an indication of how long to cook the pasta, but after 9-10 minutes I typically take out a noodle and taste test it. Al dente means the pasta is fully cooked but there's still a bit of chew. Once the pasta is done cooking, drain it in a strainer and give it a light rinse.
- Step 3: Remove the tomatoes from the oven and gently press into them with the back of a spoon to fully burst them. Transfer the pasta to the baking dish and stir to coat with the tomatoes. Cover the pasta with fresh mozzarella slices, fresh basil, and black pepper. Bake at 375 for another 10 minutes to warm everything together and melt the mozzarella. Serve warm immediately!
On that note, my friends, we've pretty much covered the whole story of the simple caprese pasta bake: a story that begins with roast-y grape tomatoes and tastes of summer, and ends in melty mozzarella noodle clusters. Thankfully it's not a long story, because I am HUNGRY.
PrintRecipe
Simple Caprese Pasta Bake
This simple caprese pasta bake is the perfect quick and easy weeknight meal! It's a warm and melty version of a summer classic -- the caprese salad.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 45
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Pasta
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 cups cherry or grape tomatoes
- ¼ teaspoon salt + more for boiling the pasta
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 8-ounce package small pasta (such as rotini or penne)
- ½ cup fresh basil, sliced into ribbons
- 16 ounces fresh mozzarella, sliced or cut into chunks
Instructions
- Prep. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and drizzle some olive oil into a 9x13-inch baking dish (slightly smaller will work).
- Roast tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, olive oil, salt and pepper to the bottom of the baking dish, and stir to evenly coat the tomatoes. They should be crowding each other, which will help create steam to make saucier tomatoes. Roast at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until bursting.
- Cook pasta. While tomatoes are roasting, bring a medium-large pot of water to a rolling boil with 1-2 teaspoons of salt. Add pasta, then reduce heat slightly. Cook pasta, stirring occasionally until al dente (see package instructions for anticipated time), then drain the pasta in a colander and give it a quick rinse with warm water (helps to remove starch and prevent noodles from sticking together).
- Combine ingredients and bake. Remove the tomatoes from the oven and gently mash them with the back of a spoon. They should be bursting and easily mash, creating a saucy tomato layer in the bottom of your baking dish. Top with the mozzarella cheese slices, and sprinkle with pepper and more fresh basil. Bake at 375 degrees for another 10 minutes until the mozzarella is melted. Serve warm!
Notes
- Fresh mozzarella. Fresh mozzarella is higher in moisture than the blocks of low moisture mozzarella you see at the store. Because of that, they can get a bit more chewy or rubbery as they cool. To avoid this, we don't bake the pasta for too long once the mozzarella is on (10 minutes total). I used fresh mozzarella to stay true to the caprese theme here, but if you don't like the texture of mozzarella that's been cooked and cooled, feel free to use shredded!
Tia says
Do you think adding frozen meatballs to this would work? If so, when would you recommend adding?
Tera Gigot says
Hi Tia! I haven't personally tested this yet, but how I would approach it is adding them right away with the layer of pasta and stirring them in with the other ingredients. Then add the top layer of mozzarella and bake according to the recipe. You might consider checking at 25-30 minutes to see if it's done enough so that the meatballs don't get overcooked. Additionally, you might also consider adding more tomatoes (~1 cup) so there's more bursty sauciness to go around. If you try it, let me know how it goes!!