This creamy roasted garlic and tomato pasta is an "almost" one-pan dish that is sure to delight. It tastes high class, but it's made with affordable ingredients and with just a few steps. The perfect dinner does exist.
This sheet pan pasta sauce is a wonderful addition to your meal because it packs all the wonderful flavors of roasted garlic and tomatoes into every creamy bite. Pasta with roasted garlic and cherry tomatoes is a flavorful meal like you'd expect from a restaurant.
While the pan might get a bit messy in the process, this is one recipe worth the clean-up after.
This roasted garlic tomato pasta recipe is perfect for your family meal with or without chicken breasts. I personally prefer this as a meatless meal option, but roasted tomato and garlic pasta sauce go well with chicken, and I'm outnumbered in a house of meat-eaters, haha.
🥘 Ingredients
- Cherry tomatoes
- Fresh spinach leaves
- Garlic cloves
- Onion
- Olive oil
- Italian seasoning
- Salt
- Garlic powder
- Onion powder
- Cream cheese
- Cooked penne pasta
- Reserved pasta water
- Chicken breasts *optional
For the exact amounts needed, please see the recipe card below.
🍽 Equipment Needed
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🔪 Instructions
Check out how to make creamy roasted garlic and tomato pasta with these simple step-by-step instructions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
In a 9x13 baking dish or large baking sheet (lined with foil or well-greased) mix together the cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves, onion, and half of the olive oil.
Toss together until well coated and then push them off to the side of the pan to allow space in the middle.
In the middle of the pan place your brick of cream cheese (unwrapped). Lay a chicken breast on each side (if using).
Coat the top of the breasts and cream cheese with the remaining olive oil and seasonings.
Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and check the internal temp of the chicken. If the chicken has reached 165 degrees F then remove and place on a plate and cover with foil. Return pan to oven.
Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes or until the cream cheese looks cracked and falling apart.
While the pan is roasting in the oven, cook your noodles according to the package instructions. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining. Return pasta to the pot.
Remove the pan from the oven and use the back of a spoon to press down on the tomatoes.
Bring the loose roasted garlic cloves, tomatoes, and onions to the cream cheese in the center of the pan and mix them well with your spoon.
Add to the pot of drained cooked pasta.
Stir in the cut spinach leaves and reserved pasta water, a little at a time, until the pasta no longer looks dry.
Taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.
Serve warm with sliced cooked chicken.
🍴 Recipe Tips
I highly recommend laying a piece of foil down on the baking sheet to help with cleanup, but if you omit this, you can simply allow the pan to soak for a bit before scrubbing.
The ingredients for this pasta with garlic and tomatoes are all mixed together in the pan, so there is no need for a mixing bowl, making it a little easier.
If you choose to cook chicken breasts on the baking sheet with everything else, keep in mind that the chicken will finish cooking before everything else and that the chicken juices will make the pan have more of that "charcoal" color. Set chicken aside on a foiled-covered plate to remain warm and juicy, then add in at the end.
When you scrape together everything from the pan for the sauce, don't scrape so hard that you actually pull up all of the charcoal-roasted pieces. You just want the stuff that's easily slideable on the pan. Move it all up to where the cream cheese brick is and mash it all together. Then scrape into your pot of drained noodles.
More great pasta recipes to try
- Lemon Garlic Butter Pasta
- Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad
- Easy Cheeseburger Macaroni Skillet
- 5 Ingredient Mac and Cheese
- Cream Cheese Bacon Pasta Bake
- Instant Pot Kraft Mac and Cheese
📖 Recipe
Creamy Roasted Garlic and Tomato Pasta
Ingredients
- 1-2 pints red cherry tomatoes ($1.48)
- 1 ounce spinach leaves, chopped ($1.32)
- 4 whole garlic cloves ($0.20)
- ½ onion, diced ($0.35)
- ¼ cup olive oil ($0.52)
- 1 teaspoon italian seasoning ($0.10)
- 2 teaspoons salt ($0.20)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder ($0.10)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder ($0.10)
- 1 brick (8 ounce) cream cheese ($1.98)
- 16 ounces cooked penne noodles ($0.78)
- 1 cup reserved pasta water ($0.00)
- 2 medium sized chicken breasts *optional ($3.98)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a 9x13 baking dish or large baking sheet (lined with foil or well greased) mix together the cherry tomatoes, garlic cloves, onion, and half of the olive oil.
- Toss together until well coated and then push them off to the side of the pan to allow space in the middle.
- In the middle of the pan place your brick of cream cheese (unwrapped). Lay a chicken breast on each side (if using).
- Coat the top of the breasts and cream cheese with the remaining olive oil and seasonings.
- Bake in the oven for 25 minutes and check internal temp of the chicken. If the chicken has reached 165 degrees F then remove and place on a plate and cover with foil. Return pan to oven.
- Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes or until the cream cheese looks cracked and falling apart.
- While the pan is roasting in the oven cook your noodles according to package instructions. Reserve one cup of pasta water before draining. Return pasta to the pot.
- Remove pan from oven and use the back of a spoon to press down on the tomatoes.
- Bring the loose roasted garlic cloves, tomatoes, and onions to the cream cheese in the center of the pan and mix them well with your spoon. Add to the pot of drained cooked pasta.
- Stir in the cut spinach leaves and reserved pasta water, a little at a time until the pasta no longer looks dry.
- Taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.
- Serve warm with sliced cooked chicken.
Notes
Recipe Tips
- I highly recommend laying a piece of foil down in the baking sheet to help with clean up but if you omit this you can simply allow the pan to soak for a bit before scrubbing.
- The ingredients for this pasta with garlic and tomatoes are all mixed together in the pan so there is no need for a mixing bowl, making it a little easier.
- If you choose to cook chicken breasts on the baking sheet with everything else keep in mind that the chicken will finish cooking before everything else and that the chicken juices will make the pan have more of that "charcoal" color. Set chicken aside on a foiled covered plate to remain warm and juicy, then add in at the end.
- When you scrape together everything from the pan for the sauce, don't scrape so hard that you actually pull up all of that charcoal roasted pieces. You just want the stuff that's easily slideable on the pan. Move it all up to where the cream cheese brick is and mash it all together. Then scrape into your pot of drained noodles.
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