Ina Garten Posted Her Summer Garden Pasta Recipe—and People Are Obsessed (2024)

Updated: Sep. 08, 2023

It's no wonder this "fabulous" recipe went viral.

The Barefoot Contessa has done it again. From apple crisp to engagement chicken, pretty much any recipe from Ina Garten guarantees a hit at the dinner table. This “fabulous” pasta is no exception.

After a recent Instagram post quickly garnered more than 115,00 likes, we knew we had to try it. This pasta packed with garden-fresh ingredients sounds like just the thing for our next summer picnic.

What Is Ina Garten’s Summer Garden Pasta?

Like a lot of Ina’s recipes, this pasta is “surprisingly simple,” as she says in her Instagram post. It features marinated cherry tomatoes, basil and Parmesan cheese (plus a few other ingredients), tossed with hot angel hair pasta. I mean, just looking at it makes my stomach rumble.

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How to Make Ina Garten’s Summer Garden Pasta

Straight from her cookbook Barefoot Contessa at Home, this summer garden pasta recipe is about as good as it gets. Bonus: It’s a partially make-ahead dish!

Ingredients

4 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
Good olive oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic (6 cloves)
18 large basil leaves, julienned, plus some additional for serving
1 pound dried angel hair pasta
1-1/2 freshly grated Parmesan cheese, with extra for serving
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Step 1: Season the tomatoes

First things first, add your cherry tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, basil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to a large bowl (which ideally has a lid). Stir to make sure the tomatoes are evenly coated with the seasonings.

Step 2: Let them marinate

Put the lid on the bowl or cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let the tomatoes marinate for 4 hours at room temperature.

Step 3: Cook your pasta

As mealtime approaches, you’ll need to prepare your pasta. Add dashes of olive oil and salt to a large pot of water, then bring it to a boil. Add the pasta. Once it’s al dente, drain the pasta and pop it in a large serving bowl.

Editor’s Tip: Because it’s so thin, angel hair pasta cooks to al dente in just a few minutes. Keep an eye on it!

Step 4: Toss together and serve

Mix in the cherry tomatoes, then sprinkle with Parmesan and extra basil. That’s it—it’s ready to enjoy!

See? “Surprisingly simple.”

If you want to try out another genius Ina Garten pasta recipe, we recommend her lemon capellini. Or go for these other summer pasta recipes from home cooks like you.

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Taste of Home

This pretty pasta is a family favorite —the kids love the light lemony flavor and I love that they devour the fresh veggies. You can use other types of pasta for variety, like bow ties or corkscrews. —Jennifer Fisher, Austin, Texas

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Citrus ScallopsMy husband and I like to eat seafood at least once a week. Oranges and lemon juice give scallops a refreshing burst of flavor. —Cheri Hawthorne, North Canton, Ohio

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Taste of Home

I was short on time but wanted to make an elegant dinner for my husband and me. That night, we ate this simple pasta starring spicy sausage and our homegrown kale. —Angela Lemoine, Howell, New Jersery

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With pasta salad, it’s easy to change up ingredients. We like to add grilled chicken and pine nuts, and sometimes we substitute black beans for the garbanzo beans. —Julie Kirkpatrick, Billings, Montana