Pasta with Tomato Bacon Sauce
Crispy bacon and rich tomatoes come together in this easy pasta recipe. A quick, comforting weeknight dinner ready in about 25 minutes!
Jump to:
- 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- 🌟 Why this recipe works
- 🍅 Ingredients you need
- 📝 Ingredient notes
- 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- 🤔 Recipe FAQs
- 🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
- 🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
- 😍 Other easy pasta recipes we love!
- ⭐️ We want to know what you think!
- Pasta with Tomato Bacon Sauce
🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- What It Is: A quick and comforting pasta supper with a crispy bacon tomato sauce.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Servings: 4 servings
- Calories: 480
- Cooking Method: Stovetop
- Good For: Busy weeknight dinners, comfort food meals, using up extra bacon, a pasta recipe with simple, on-hand ingredients.
Get even more quick info about this recipe on…
🌟 Why this recipe works
I don’t know about you, but in my house we seem to have pasta once a week at the very minimum. It’s just so dang easy to walk in at the end of the day, toss some pasta in the pot and be ready to eat in pretty much the time it takes to become al dente!
The trick to keeping the weekly pasta supper interesting, of course, is the sauce. And since I don’t know anything more fascinating then bacon, this quick and robust sauce is a favorite at my house.
This easy weeknight pasta recipe takes a simple tomato sauce and gives it a major flavor boost with crispy bacon. The bacon is cooked first, and those bacon drippings are going to add a deep savory flavor to an otherwise simple tomato sauce.
You are going to use canned diced tomatoes to keep things quick and pantry-friendly, and some butter that is swirled in at the end to add some lovely silkiness to the sauce.
As for the pasta, I love to use orecchiette pasta for this and any other chunky sauce. It translates into “little ear,” which is roughly the shape of this pasta – small and, well, ear-shaped.
Personally I prefer to think of it as little bowl shaped, for obvious reasons. (Eeek!) One way or the other, it does a very fine job of holding this chunky sauce, and so that’s what I go with for this recipe, although whatever kind of short pasta you want to use is A-OK with me!
🍅 Ingredients you need
📝 Ingredient notes
- Pasta: We love orecchiette pasta for this recipe because it is so good at holding the chunky sauce, but any short pasta will work.
- Canned tomatoes: We like regular plain diced tomatoes, but if you want to use the kind that are flavored with garlic or other ingredients, go for it!
- Bacon: We like thick cut bacon for this recipe – it has a hearty texture and gives off more substantial drippings.
💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
STEP 2: Cook up the pasta according to package directions. Save about a half-cup of pasta water before you drain it, just in case you want to loosen up your sauce a little bit.
STEP 3: Cook your bacon in a large deep skillet until it is just the right amount of crispy. Scoop it out to drain on some paper towels, but keep those tasty drippings in the skillet.
STEP 4: Now pour some canned diced canned tomatoes (juice and all) into the skillet, along with a generous grinding of black pepper. Let it simmer over very low heat.
STEP 5: Once the pasta is done, pour it into the skillet with the sauce, along with some butter, some chopped parsley and that scrumptious cooked bacon.
Stir it around until everything is nice and combined, and if you want to loosen it up a little, now is the time to pour in a little of that reserved pasta water.
Give it a taste and add some salt and pepper if you think it needs some – the bacon might add all the saltiness you need.
And that’s it! A delicious, hearty sauce in just about the amount of time it takes to cook the pasta, and now suppertime just got a whole lot more interesting, didn’t it?
🤔 Recipe FAQs
You can! Any short pasta will work – ziti, penne, even elbows. You want something substantial that will work with the chunky sauce.
You can, if you are up for a little more time with this recipe. Use about about 2 pounds of ripe fresh tomatoes. Peel them if you want (for a smoother sauce), then chop them into small pieces. Cook the tomatoes a little longer than canned tomatoes—usually 10–15 extra minutes—to help them break down and concentrate their flavor.
You can! Make the sauce up to 2 days in advance and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. For the best texture, store the cooked bacon separately so it stays crisp. When you are ready to serve, reheat the sauce gently on the stovetop, cook up the pasta, and combine everything just before serving.
Pop your question in the Comments section under the recipe card and I will answer pronto!
🥣 Equipment we used for this recipe
These are some of my favorite kitchen tools! These are Amazon affiliate links, which means I get a little something if you buy through my links at no extra cost to you. (Which helps pay for all that bacon I keep buying! 😄) And I only share things I use and love. I’m so grateful for your support!
- Measuring Cup: We love these angled cups that show the measurements on both the inside and outside of the cup.
- Large Skillet: We have a few of these in our cupboard but this is one of our faves.
- Large Pot: We have so many! But this one is the best.
- Strainer: This classic strainer is just right for these potatoes and your favorite pasta recipe (one of ours is pasta with egg sauce!)
🍽️ What to serve with this recipe
We love a zucchini carpaccio with this recipe to get our veggies on, or a bright tomato peach salad. Some sheet pan focaccia would be amazing, and for dessert? Let’s have S’Mores refrigerator cookies!
😍 Other easy pasta recipes we love!
⭐️ We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below the recipe card.
Pasta with Tomato Bacon Sauce
Make this easy pasta with tomato bacon sauce in just 25 minutes! Crispy bacon, tomatoes, butter and parsley create an easy flavorful dinner.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound orecchiette pasta (or any other pasta will do!)
- 8 strips of bacon, cut into bite sized pieces
- Two 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes, with juice
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil and salt it well. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Save 1/2 cup of pasta water before draining.
- While the pasta is cooking, cook the bacon in a large deep skillet over medium high heat until crispy. Scoop out the bacon and drain on paper towels, leaving the drippings in the skillet.
- Reduce heat to low, and carefully add both cans of tomatoes to the skillet. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add drained pasta to the tomatoes, along with parsley, butter and cooked bacon. Stir until well combined and heated through. Thin the sauce with a little pasta water if you want it a little looser.
- Divide among heated bowls and serve!
Notes
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- Pasta: We love orecchiette pasta for this recipe because it is so good at holding the chunky sauce, but any short pasta will work.
-
- Canned tomatoes: We like regular plain diced tomatoes, but if you want to use the kind that are flavored with garlic or other ingredients, go for it!
-
- Bacon: We like thick cut bacon for this recipe – it has a hearty texture and gives off more substantial drippings.
I made this last night and it was delicious! So easy and fast, and my kitchen smelled wonderful afterwards from the bacon. I did make some changes to the recipe, mainly because I added mushrooms. I used the bacon grease left over from crisping the bacon bits, and browned 4 oz mushrooms, half an onion, and a clove of garlic in it. Then I added my diced tomatoes, let it all cook down with a bay leaf and some basil and oregano, and added the bacon back. OMG TO DIE FOR.
This is definitely a keeper recipe. My family was already asking me to make it again!
Love your variations on this one! And Eau du Bacon is definitely one of my favorite aromas EVER. :)
Definitely need to give this a try soon! I cook dinners for myself twice per week (when I teach evening classes), and this looks quick enough that I can have an amazing dinner after a long day of work!
And you deserve an amazing dinner after working all day! :)
A quick note of thanks for this recipe. I served the sauce a few nights ago, with a fun cone-shaped pasta called Campanelle, because I knew my bacon-loving son would appreciate a new spin on pasta (a mainstay of our diet). He did, and the dish was a hit all-around (the Midwestern wife: “Tastes really gourmet,” or words to that effect). And I know you’ll find this incredibly hard to believe, but it’s the first time I can remember buying bacon–ever!
Campanelle is my favorite pasta shape! And I can’t believe it about the bacon! Now that you’ve bought it once, I bet you keep going! :)
Lovely simplicity!
:)
I love your sentence, “And since I don’t know anything more fascinating than bacon…” Too true. Bacon, bacon, an ode to bacon.
Right? There’s just nothing quite like it!
We couldn’t get by without our weekly pasta either! It’s a must.
Sometimes even TWICE a week! :)
We’ve had pasta twice in the last four days for the very reason that it’s so easy.
Your recipe is my go-to easy, delicious, what the heck is for dinner, pasta. Bacon makes everything better.
Bacon and pasta – the two keys to a stress free weeknight supper!
this looks so good ! and easy … that means a lot to me these days.
Me too! Hang in there, Candice…xx