Gorgeous Fresh Bruschetta Pasta

A 30 minute dinner that celebrates the best of summer

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We’re finally settling into summer around these parts, and with it comes a much more relaxed approach to meals. We’re eating a lot of sandwiches, hot dogs, pasta salad, and grilled chicken. Potato chips are a viable side dish at any time of day. Patio dinners morph into kickball games. The food is vibrant and fresh and EASY. I mean, you don’t have to do much to make a peach or a tomato taste good.

This Bruschetta Pasta is my favorite kind of summer dinner. It’s light and flavorful and done in less than 30 minutes. It’s delicious served hot, but is also great at room temperature—almost like a caprese-inspired pasta salad. I would serve this at a summer dinner party, but it’s also fast enough to make during the post-pool shower parade.

The flavors here speak for themselves—juicy tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and sweet tangy balsamic married with creamy burrata. It’s worth splurging on the best you can find for each of the (few) ingredients included here, but I’ve also got loads of variations and substitutions you can use to make this dish work for any budget.

Pasta Making Tips + Use What You’ve Got Substitutions

Salt your pasta water. I add about a Tablespoon of Kosher salt to every pot of pasta water I make. The salt infuses the pasta with flavor, and also leaves you with a flavorful, starchy sauce-starter. Which leads me to my next tip…

Save the pasta water. The leftover pasta water joins forces with the juicy tomatoes to create the silky, barely there sauce.

Use angel hair…or not. Angel hair is not my go-to pasta shape, but it really shines in this recipe. Spaghetti or linguine would also work well. Whatever pasta you choose, don’t overcook it! Angel hair can go mushy fast, and the four minute boiling time always flies by faster than I think it will.

Choose ripe, meaty tomatoes that aren’t too soft. Bruschetta is traditionally made with roma tomatoes, but it’s also great with cherry or heirloom tomatoes. If your tomatoes are super watery or seedy, you might want to remove the inner seedy part.

Beware of garlic. I used to believe you could never have too much garlic, but I proved myself wrong the first time I tested this. Four large cloves left my breath feeling like it could set a vampire on fire, but it was still utterly delicious. I recommend using 2-3 cloves, depending on your own tastes.

If you really don’t like the sharpness of fresh garlic, you can also saute it for a minute in a Tablespoon of olive oil to take out some of the bite.

Use high quality balsamic vinegar. While a cheap bottle of balsamic works just fine for cooked dishes like Balsamic Roasted Green Beans or Mediterranean Pork Tenderloin, I highly recommend spending more on an authentic balsamic vinegar for finishing dishes. Aged balsamics are sweeter, more complex, and have a thick, syrupy consistency. My husband bought me this $40 bottle for Christmas a few years ago. It feels like such a luxury and lasts us the whole year. If you’d rather not spend on an authentic balsamic, you can get a similar texture by making a balsamic reduction. It’s super simple!

Choose your own adventure with the cheese. We really loved the way the creamy centers of fresh burrata melted into the pasta, but we also enjoyed this with mozzarella pearls. I can imagine this would also be tasty with fresh shaved Parmesan or creamy feta.

Want more protein? Add some Italian Grilled Chicken.

Feeding kids? My kids aren’t big on tomatoes, but they like the noodles and “sauce.” I usually just reserve some of the pasta for them, and add a quick drizzle of pasta water, a pour of the tomato juices and balsamic, and a few pieces of burrata for their servings.

Can’t get enough of these flavors? You’ll also want to check out our Caprese Paninis, Cheesy Chicken Bruschetta Bread, and Mozzarella Burgers.