Tomato Bacon Pasta

Quick pasta recipes are a midweek lifesaver, and this tomato pasta recipe with bacon is a 15 minute meal that’s great as is but can be loaded with extras – like vegetables and chicken!

Bacon Pasta

This is a quick pasta that’s made with a tomato pasta sauce and bacon. It’s a great way to turn some bacon into a quick dinner and you can fill it out with more vegetables if you so wish. Here’s all you need:

bacon (or pancetta, speck, chorizo, ham or sausage) a can of tomato olive oil, garlic and pasta

Toss the pasta in the sauce with a splash of pasta cooking water. This is how restaurants make even the simplest of pastas taste so amazing!

There is one secret to making pasta that makes all the difference: tossing the pasta in the sauce with a splash of the pasta cooking water on the stove. This thickens the sauce, making it stick to every strand of pasta so it all ends up in your mouth rather than a watery pool in the bottom of the pasta bowl. And this is the way Italians have been making pasta ever since the dawn of time. It’s called emulsifying the sauce and if you’ll read about this in every pasta recipe I’ve published!

Quick pasta recipe

This is a really quick pasta recipe, making it a fabulous one for a busy weeknight. Especially if you’re feeling exceptionally lazy as I often am and you purchase pre-diced bacon. Sometimes it’s on special and it’s the same price as bacon slices, and I buy small portions of about 200g/8oz each and freeze them separately. Super handy to have on hand for things like this pasta, using as a garnish on everything from Potato Salad to Chicken Salads, and adding to creamy chicken pastas. To complete your quick dinner, add a garden salad with a simple Balsamic Dressing. I like to make big batches of dressing and keep it in the fridge – it lasts for weeks! – Nagi xx

More really quick pasta dishes

8 quick and easy pasta recipes – pantry staples! One Pot Vegetable Pasta – cheesy and saucy, in a tomato sauce Pesto pasta – with fresh homemade pesto Creamy Tomato Pasta – the healthier way to get a creamy pasta fix Alfredo Salmon Pasta – and try this One Pot Chicken Alfredo Pasta or Alfredo Salmon Pasta Creamy Garlic Prawn Pasta Sausage Pasta – quick to make, it’s like mini sausage meatballs in a tomato pasta sauce

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Bacon Tomato Pasta recipe video! Note the order of steps – start the saute with bacon, then add onion and garlic, then deglaze the skillet with pasta water (I do this specifically – to ensure I get all the flavour off the base of the skillet) before adding tomato. Also notice how when the pasta first goes in, there’s loads of sauce in the skillet but by the end, it’s all on the pasta!