I like to think of this recipe for pasta with sun-dried tomatoes, olives and garlic as a grown-up's buttered noodles. Just as comforting and easy, but with a bit more sophistication! It's a simple and quick method that highlights some of my favorite pantry staples: briny, buttery green olives, savory-sweet sun-dried tomatoes, and garlic. At less than 30 minutes start to finish, it's one of my weeknight favorites. But, thanks to that grown-up elegance, I would also happily serve this at a dinner party alongside a simple salad.
This post may contain affiliate links. There is no cost to you, but if you buy something from these links I may earn a small commission, which helps keep my stove hot and small pantry stocked–thank you!
This recipe for pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and olives is incredibly simple. It's just 4 main ingredients, not counting the pasta and butter, and takes less than 30 minutes to throw together! It started as a simple embellishment of a classic aglio ed olio, inspired by the bits and bobs always stocked in my pantry.
One of the reasons I love this type of pasta is how easy it is to customize. You can toss in just about anything, depending on your mood or what you have on hand. Try adding a handful of baby spinach when you add the cheese. Or, if you're in need of extra comfort, make this a creamy pasta by adding a splash of heavy cream for a cozier meal. If you need to feed a crowd, this makes an excellent companion to simply roasted chicken.
Core Ingredients
This recipe for pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and olives is incredibly simple. It's just 4 main ingredients, not counting the pasta and butter, and takes less than 30 minutes to throw together!
Sun-Dried Tomatoes
Almost everybody has a jar of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes open and forgotten in the depths of their fridge. This recipe gives them the attention they deserve. Sun-dried tomatoes have a savory-sweet flavor, since the drying process concentrates their natural sugars and glutamates (the umami amino acid!). Their texture can be a bit leathery if used straight from the jar, which is why this sun-dried tomato recipe gives them a bit of time to hang out in the pan and soften up.
Green Olives
Green olives have a lighter, brighter, and more herbaceous flavor than their black olive cousins. They are also usually firmer than black olives, which is why I like them here. Olives soften as they cook, so starting with a firmer olive means they are less likely to break down too much in the pan.
Garlic and Parmesan Cheese
Beloved ingredients of the savory world! Gently blooming sliced garlic in butter helps to prevent burning. A gentle bloom also infuses the butter as it melts which means that the delicious garlic flavor will disperse throughout the whole dish, coating each noodle.
Parmesan has a specific nuttiness and umami that is, simply put, exactly right for this recipe. It complements the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes and rounds out the briny flavor of the olives. You can swap in a different cheese with great success, but Parmesan is the ideal. And please, for a recipe this simple, use freshly grated Parmesan. Pre-grated is but a shadow of its former self.
Optional: Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
If you like a little bit of heat, a pinch of pepper flakes is excellent in this recipe. I usually grab Aleppo/silk chilies, but use whatever you like or have on hand.
Basic Method
Gently cook your garlic
Starting garlic in a cold pan as the butter melts is my preferred method. It allows the garlic to gently come up to temperature, which makes it easier to control the rate it cooks. Starting your garlic in a preheated skillet over medium heat will start browning the garlic immediately, making it more likely to over-shoot golden brown. Broadly speaking, over-browned garlic is a flavor bully, overwhelming all the other elements of a dish. Not the goal.
Save your pasta water!
Saving your pasta water is always important, but it's especially critical when making a light, glossy sauce like this. The starches in the water are key, helping the water, butter, and cheese to emulsify into a silky, light sauce. Without the starches, the water will just cook off, leaving clumpy cheese and a greasy mouthfeel.
Add cheese off heat
Even the emulsifying powers of pasta water can't combat the way Parmesan seizes up when exposed to direct heat. Parm (and other hard cheeses) will turn oily and lumpy if heated too quickly. Right before adding your cheese, turn off the heat. All you need is the residual heat of the skillet and other ingredients. This gentler method will slowly melt the cheese and let it smoothly incorporate into the glossy sun dried tomato sauce.
Expert Tips and Tricks
Ingredient Swaps
- Substitutes for Parmesan Cheese: Any hard grating cheese is an overall good choice. Your favorite pecorino is a no-brainer. If you'd like this recipe to be dairy-free, try some of the new vegan parmesans on the market. They may not melt in the same way, but they'll add a similar salty-umami flavor.
- Substitutes for Green Olives: You can use any olive here, so pick your favorite. I particularly like how the buttery-firm texture of castelvetranos holds up to cooking, but you can easily substitute black olives instead. A softer olive may break down more. You can also try some other briny ingredient like capers, or leave them out entirely if that kind of salty punch just isn't for you.
- Substitutes for Sun-Dried Tomatoes: This is a bit tricky, since nothing is quite like the sweet-umami flavor of sun dried tomatoes. If you don't mind a bit of extra prep, you might try blistering some grape or cherry tomatoes in a hot skillet. You could also re-hydrate some large dried chilies in hot water to slice and toss in. Guajillo would be a relatively mild, fruity choice.
What to Avoid
- Over-cooking pasta: Cook your pasta to al dente, keeping in mind that package instructions are often wrong! If you cook pasta according to most packages it will be mush, so always check it about 2 minutes before indicated. Right before the pasta is perfectly al dente, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain, and add the pasta to the pan. This is when it will go from nearly perfect to perfectly cooked.
- Burnt garlic: Taking the garlic too far is going to perfume the whole dish with an acrid, bitter flavor. Treat the garlic gently to maintain its natural sweetness and aroma. If it burns, throw it out before adding the pasta and start with a clean pan and fresh butter.
Why this Recipe Works
- Simple, punchy flavors: There are only 4 ingredients in this recipe, saving the pasta and butter. Each ingredient has a distinct, punchy character. These flavors complement each other, rather than compete with each other. Salty olives, sweet dried tomatoes, savory Parmesan, and earthy garlic all balance each other.
- Quick and easy method: Because you're starting with bold ingredients, you don't have to do much to coax out flavor. Treating good ingredients simply is the best way to make them shine, which means you'll be relaxing with a glass of wine and a forkful of pasta in no time!
FAQs
Sun dried tomatoes have a distinct flavor, both savory and sweet. The tomato aroma is also quite concentrated. Because of this, there isn't an easy substitute for sun dried tomatoes. You can try blistering or roasting tomatoes, as mentioned above. The high heat will deeply caramelize some of the tomato, tiptoeing close to the flavor depth of a sun dried tomato. You can also abandon the tomato entirely in favor of a fruity, mild dried chili. While the flavor will be different, it will have a similar savory-sweet earthiness. Once hydrated and sliced the dried chilies will also have a texture similar to a sliced sun dried tomato.
Certainly! To make this sun dried tomato pasta creamy, add a slosh of cream or a dollop of crème fraîche to the pan when you add your pasta.
This recipe is written to serve 1, so it's easy to scale up. Just multiply the ingredient amounts by the number of servings you want. Keep in mind that the more pasta you cook the bigger a pot you need for boiling, and the bigger a skillet you need for tossing the pasta. If your largest skillet won't accommodate the pasta volume, finish the recipe in your empty boiling pot after you have saved 1 cup pasta water and drained the noodles.
My preferred substitute for olives is brined capers. They are a bit sharper in flavor, but they have the right salinity. If the intensity of olives and capers is just too much for you, that's okay! Feel free to omit them entirely.
Yes! Use extra virgin olive oil instead of butter, or, if you're using sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, use some of the oil from the jar. Either omit the Parmesan or substitute your favorite vegan parm.
Recipe: Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Olives, and Garlic
Ingredients
- Kosher salt and black pepper
- 1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoons sliced firm green olives, such as Castelvetranos
- 2 tablespoons sliced sun-dried tomatoes
- ¼ to½ teaspoon Chili flakes, such as Aleppo/Silk chilies, Optional
- 4 ounces dried pasta
- 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese, Plus more to serve
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Preparation
- Step 1Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil.While the water comes to a boil, in a large skillet, heat the garlic and butter over medium-low until the garlic is sizzling. Cook just until the smallest pieces start to turn golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes, then add your olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Cook, stirring, until the sun-dried tomatoes have softened and the butter has turned a pale orange, just 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the chili flakes, if using, then set aside until your pasta is cooked.
- Step 2Cook your pasta in well-salted water to al dente, keeping in mind that a proper al dente is often as much as 2 minutes less than indicated on the package. When the pasta is finished cooking, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain, and add the pasta to the skillet with the olive mixture.
- Step 3Return the skillet to medium-low. Add 4 tablespoons of reserved pasta water to the skillet and toss to evenly coat the pasta. Remove from heat and stir in the Parmesan and lemon juice. Add more pasta water as needed to create a light, glossy sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, and lemon. Sprinkle with more Parmesan and serve.
This post may contain affiliate links. There is no cost to you, but if you buy something from these links I may earn a small commission, which helps keep my stove hot and small pantry stocked–thank you!
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