Our Best Summer Tomato Recipes

Burmese Tomato Salad with Shallots and Peanuts

This tomato salad is an electric symphony of sweet, salty, tangy, nutty, herbal and spicy notes that elevate tomatoes’ summery flavor.

By Courtney HillAugust 15, 2022

Campanelle Pasta with Sweet Corn, Tomatoes and Basil

This summery campanelle utilizes sweet corn two ways to infuse the noodles with creamy, grassy sweetness.

By Courtney HillOctober 15, 2019

Summer Tomato Tian

Ripe summer tomatoes are ideal for this all-tomato take on tian, with rich, concentrated flavor.

By Courtney HillSeptember 20, 2021

Calabrian-Style Tomato and Sweet Pepper Sauce with Pasta

This recipe was inspired by a stewy mélange of cherry tomatoes, garlic, sweet-spicy peppers and extra-virgin olive oil that was served with flatbread at Ristorante Barbieri in Calabria. To make a sauce for pasta, we combine mini sweet peppers (usually

By Courtney HillApril 21, 2025

Upside-Down Tomato Tart

For a crispy, sog-free tomato tart, bake the crust on top.

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 20, 2021

Three-Tomato Marinara Pasta

Most marinaras are mundane, but this one is marvelously multi-layered. Tomatoes in three forms create complexity: tomato paste lays a foundation of concentrated flavor; canned crushed tomatoes offer sauciness; and fresh cherry (or grape) tomatoes supp

By Chris Kimball & Courtney HillSeptember 4, 2025

Capellini with Smoked Paprika and Olives

This rich, tomatoey pasta gets loads of paella-like flavors from a mix of briny olives, tangy-sweet sherry, and hot smoked paprika.

By Malcolm JacksonAugust 9, 2023

Chipotle-Peanut Tomato Salad

The trick for making tomatoes taste more tomatoey

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio with Fresh Tomatoes

Italy’s perfect pasta—cheap, easy, essentially olive oil and pasta—gets an added flavor boost from tomatoes and basil.

By Rose HattabaughDecember 7, 2021

Tomato and Watermelon Salad with Basil and Goat Cheese

This is a salad for the height of summer, when tomatoes and melons are at their peak. The sweet fruit mingles with savory shallot, whose pungency is tempered by a short soak in white balsamic vinegar. Fresh basil (or mint) adds color and herbal notes,

By Courtney HillJune 8, 2020

Tomato Sauce with Vermouth and Fennel Seeds

For this multi-purpose sauce, we pair a 6-ounce can of tomato paste with fennel seeds, ground coriander and red pepper flakes, all bloomed in olive oil. Browning the tomato paste and adding umami-packed anchovies enriches the sauce even further, while

By Rose HattabaughOctober 17, 2023

Toss-Your-Garlic Tomato Sauce

This two-ingredient (not including oil and salt), 15-minute tomato sauce requires a can opener but no knifework and is super easy to make. It mirrors the technique used by the many Italian home cooks and chefs with whom we’ve spent time in the kitchen

By Milk StreetJune 25, 2024

Upside-Down Tomato Tart with Parmesan Pastry

How to get a tomato tart with a crispy crust and richly-concentrated, caramelized flavor? Bake it upside-down.

By Rose HattabaughAugust 9, 2023

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Tomatoes and White Wine

In Venice, Italy, cookbook author Marika Contaldo Seguso taught us to make a regional classic, scampi alla busara. Large, sweet, shell-on prawns are bathed in a sauce made with fresh tomatoes and flavored with a splash of white wine, smashed garlic cl

By Rose HattabaughJune 3, 2022

Pasta with Ricotta, Tomatoes and Herbs

The best summer pasta is all about tossing, and garden-fresh tomatoes; the sauce requires no cooking at all.

By Diane UngerApril 4, 2022

Tomato, Arugula and Bread Salad with Fresh Corn and Mozzarella

This vibrant, summery salad includes elements of Italian panzanella (bread salad). For best flavor and texture, we mix the tomato wedges and onion slices with the vinaigrette and allow them to marinate briefly before tossing in the leafy greens, herb,

By Rose HattabaughSeptember 7, 2021

Spaghetti Puttanesca

We think of puttanesca as a saucy dish built on anchovies. But in Naples, where it originates, two varieties of briny olives and pungent capers, not anchovies, give the dish bold savoriness that balances the sweetness of the tomatoes. We got a lesson

By Diane UngerFebruary 4, 2019

Calabrian Panzanella with Olives and Capers

In Calabria, Giancarlo Suriano, founder of Surianolii, a purveyor of Calabrian ingredients, showed us his version of panzanella. He used freselle, a thin, crunchy twice-baked southern Italian bread. In its place, we toast country-style sourdough bread

By Rose HattabaughMarch 27, 2025

Orecchiette with Tomatoes, Peas and Pancetta

Slightly brothy yet chunky, pasta e piselli lands somewhere between soup and generously sauced pasta. Home cook and Pompei resident Antonella Scala taught us her recipe, which we adapted, for an ultra-easy one-pot affair. To form the flavor base, we u

By Hisham Ali HassanApril 5, 2024

Sweet Corn Polenta with Tomato and Basil

This summery spin on polenta combines the fresh grassiness of sweet corn with the deeper, earthy notes of polenta. We grate the kernels off the ears and scrape the starchy “milk” from the cobs, then simmer the cobs to create a corn-infused broth for c

By Courtney HillSeptember 17, 2024

Georgian Tomato and Cucumber Salad with Walnuts

In Georgia (the country, not the state), walnuts aren’t in salad dressing, they are the salad dressing. Crushed and tossed with tomatoes and cucumbers, the nuts create a creamy-savory dressing that adds as much texture as flavor. We learned this versi

By Rose HattabaughMarch 26, 2025

Spaghetti all’Amatriciana

Amatriciana is a minimalist equation of pasta, tomatoes, guanciale and pecorino Romano cheese. In Rome, it’s served with barely any sauce, as we learned from Mario Ive, retired artillery colonel in the Italian army and cookbook author. We prefer the r

By Hisham Ali HassanFebruary 26, 2025

Blistered Tomato Orecchiette with Fresh Mozzarella

Tossed with olive oil, garlic and seasonings, cherry or grape tomatoes blister and soften in minutes under the intense heat of the broiler. We deglaze their caramelized juices with a little starchy pasta cooking water to create a simple, flavorful, no

By Rose HattabaughAugust 9, 2024

Romaine and White Bean Salad with Feta

Maroulosalata is a simple Greek salad that typically includes chopped romaine, salty feta and a lemony dressing. To turn the light, bright staple into a hearty dinner, we add tangy-sweet tomatoes, meaty olives and cannellini beans. Warming the beans b

By Hisham Ali HassanJune 21, 2024

Tomato and Charred Onion Salsa with Chipotle

Guatemalan chirmol is a smoky yet bright mix of charred tomatoes and onions with plenty of fresh herbs. We wanted to create an easy broiler version, but found broiled tomatoes too juicy. We char jalapeños and red onion wedges under the broiler to mell

By Diane Unger & Malcolm JacksonOctober 16, 2023