Made from scratch in under 30 minutes, pink sauce pasta is made with a velvety smooth, rich, and creamy tomato sauce tossed with pasta. A family favorite!
Table of Contents
Easy Pink Sauce Pasta
Pink sauce is the ultimate combination of a red sauce like marinara sauce and a white sauce or Alfredo sauce.
This simple flavorful sauce is made with aromatics, tomatoes, seasoning, heavy cream, and parmesan, and it’s an elegant and refined-looking sauce that’s simple enough to whip up for all your easy pasta recipes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The best of both worlds. It’s lighter than a cream sauce, but not as acidic as a tomato sauce.
- Less than 30 minutes. You’ll love how quickly pink sauce pasta comes together.
Pasta with Pink Sauce Ingredients
Find the full printable recipe with specific measurements below.
- Aromatics: Chopped onions and minced garlic.
- San Marzano tomatoes: Canned, peeled tomatoes will break down once cooked providing lots of zesty tomato flavor.
- Seasoning and spice: Salt, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes
- Pasta: I use either rigatoni or ziti for this dish.
- Heavy cream and grated Parmesan: Together these give the sauce a rich and creamy consistency.
How to Make Pink Sauce Pasta
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions and garlic until soft, tender and fragrant.
Add in the can of tomatoes and cook while breaking them open with a fork or your hands. Season with salt, Italian seasoning, and red pepper flakes and simmer over low heat.
Once the sauce has simmered for at least 10 minutes, remove it from the heat. For a smooth consistency, use an immersion blender, if desired. Then, add the cream and Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of fresh basil.
Season to taste, thin it out with pasta water if necessary, and then serve over cooked pasta noodles while it’s hot. Enjoy with a little extra Parmesan cheese!
Tips and Variations
- Add some protein to this dish. Adding cooked sausage, shrimp, or chicken is a great way to bulk it up. We love to use this sauce in my easy ground turkey pasta!
- Toss in some veggies. Spinach, peas, or broccoli are great additions.
- Use fresh Parmesan. I always recommend grating your own. It’ll melt and taste better.
- If you don’t have Italian seasoning use any combination of dried herbs that you do have like oregano, thyme, or parsley.
- Make it cheesier. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top of the pasta once it is off the heat and throw it in the oven for a few minutes, similar to a baked rigatoni recipe.
Pink Sauce Pasta Serving Suggestions
More pasta sauce recipes to try with pasta include homemade spaghetti sauce, garlic roasted tomato sauce and easy basil pesto recipe.
More Pasta Recipes
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Pink Sauce Pasta Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- ½ cup chopped onions
- 3 cloves garlic , minced
- 28 ounce can peeled San Marzano tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
- pepper or red pepper flakes , to taste
- 12 ounces Rigatoni , or ziti
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup grated parmesan , more if desired
For serving: fresh basil
Instructions
- Heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup onions and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until soft. Add in garlic and cook an additional minute.
- Add in the can of tomatoes and break them open with a fork or your hands. Sprinkle in 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning and a pinch of red pepper flakes. Allow to simmer over low heat.
- Cook the noodles according to package directions in a pot of salted water. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water if needed to thin the sauce.
- After the tomatoes have simmered atleast 10 minutes, remove from heat. Use an immersion blender if desired to remove tomato chunks. Then add 1 cup cream, 1/2 cup parmesan and a sprinkle of fresh basil. Simmer a couple minutes and then season to taste. Add in a little bit of pasta water if needed to thin it out.
- Serve pink sauce over the noodles while hot. Top with extra parmesan and basil if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Recipe FAQs
It’s a combination of tomatoes and cream. The cross between a tomato sauce and white sauce gives it a beautiful pink hue with a flavorful, rich yet not quite so heavy consistency.
Although very similar, vodka sauce contains vodka, and the pink sauce does not. Pink sauce is slightly creamier too.
Absolutely! Rigatoni, fusilli, penne, or farfalle are great medium pasta shapes. You can also use spaghetti or fettuccine.
Keep pink pasta sauce stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Categorized as: 30 Minute Meals, American, Dinner, Italian, Meal Prep, Nut-Free, Pasta, Stovetop, Vegetarian
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
So good. The entire family loved it!
Glad to hear it was a dinner win!
An easy option for dinner and worked out good to make ahead. Also was easy to adapt to any special dietary needs. Tossed 1/2 the sauce with regular heavy cream and 1/2 the sauce with Silk Almond milk whipping cream for dairy free members. Some pasta with regular noodles and others with gluten free. Love when one meal can be adapted to the whole family needs!
Glad to hear it could work out for the whole family!
This pink pasta was so delicious! Everyone loved it!
So happy to hear it was a hit!
I love this sauce!! It’s delicious with any kind of pasta & meat! It’s one of my go-to’s!!
This was a nice change from the usual homemade marinara I make. We enjoyed it over bowtie pasta with big shavings of fresh pecorino. Yum!
Agreed, it’s a nice menu change! Glad you enjoyed it!
Easy and delicious! Nice to have another option for pasta night!