Fresh, no-fuss flavors straight from the garden.

Simple garden spaghetti is the answer for a quick, light lunch or dinner in the height of summer. All you need is enough time to boil the pasta.

white bowl of spaghetti with fresh chopped tomatoes and basil, topped with shaved parmesan

Every year, we plant a cute vegetable and herb garden on our deck. Banana peppers, heirloom & cherry tomatoes, basil, and rosemary are annual staples. This year, we added serranos, flat-leaf parsley, dill, yellow squash, and okra. We weren't expecting last year's chives to come back, as well as two volunteer cherry tomato plants - so bonus there! It's fun, and we're enjoying a nice little crop this summer.

"Little" is the operative word there. Our deck garden doesn't produce enough to make a large quantity of anything. Instead we use our harvest to supplement and garnish, like:

adding sliced tomatoes, banana peppers, and basil to pizzas
using the cherry tomatoes in a Southwest Summer Salad
blending the serranos for Avocado Ranch Dressing
dicing peppers for Vegetarian Breakfast Burritos
mincing the dill in That Good Dip
and keeping chopped parsley in the refrigerator for everything! (See Tip #2 in this post.)

And I make this 20-minute, simple and satisfying dinner!

Simple Garden Spaghetti

5 from 1 vote

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Servings:

Calories: 337kcal

Ingredients

8 ounces spaghetti
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8-10 cherry tomatoes quartered
1 tablespoon fresh garlic minced
2 tablespoons fresh basil chiffonade or rough chopped
2 ounces parmesan cheese shaved or grated; omit for dairy free and vegan
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Boil spaghetti in salted water as directed for al dente. While spaghetti is cooking, use this time to prep tomatoes, basil & garlic. Drain spaghetti in colander and set aside.
Heat olive oil in the same pot used for spaghetti. When oil shimmers, add tomatoes. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes start to give up their juice. Add garlic and cook a few minutes longer. When juice is starts to evaporate, remove from heat and stir in spaghetti.
Season to taste with salt & pepper. Stir in most of the fresh basil and parmesan. Garnish with remaining cheese and basil.
Enjoy!