Easy Creamy Bacon Tomato Pasta (Zio Michele)

This easy creamy bacon tomato pasta is the perfect dinner for busy weeknights. With no onion or garlic, it cuts the prep and cooking time down and the entire recipe, takes 20 minutes or less! 

Quick and easy pasta recipes can ease the stress of what to make for dinner, especially when you're busy and tired. This creamy pasta is made with the least amount of effort and it's a meal that everyone can enjoy. Win win!

Tomato Bacon Pasta Recipe

This was one of our top selling pasta dishes in our restaurant many years ago. We introduced it on the menu as Zio Michele and it by far out-sold the other dishes. Even though all the pasta dishes on the menu were quick and easy, the pasta bacon & tomato was a hot order, and it was easy to see why. Some diners would ask for the 'pink pasta' or 'pink sauce pasta"😍

The time most taken is after you add the cream, and when I say most time, I mean 2 to 3 minutes. That's to let the liquid evaporate a little on medium-high heat. 

This creamy sauce can be amplified with a fresh cream that has a higher fat content, like thick or extra thick cream. Don't use a low fat content cream, you want a rich cream sauce that will work well the entire dish.

 I do suggest reserving pasta water and keeping a quarter of the cream behind just incase you need to oomph it up later 🙂

Do you want to add vegetables to this creamy pasta dish? 

​You can definitely add in a little baby spinach, just after the cream because it cooks quickly. There are other veggies I would consider adding like bell peppers, but again, let's not take away from the simplicity of the recipe.

If you love bell peppers, try this Creamy Chicken Pasta With Bell Peppers or for a meal that's creamy without the cream, make my Salmon Pasta Recipe Without Cream

What You Will Need For This Bacon Tomato Pasta

Ingredients​

• Fusilli Pasta, you can use any penne pasta, spaghetti etc.  
• Crispy Bacon (you can also use turkey bacon)
• Heavy Cream
• Tomato passata
• Olive oil or bacon fat
• Parmesan Cheese (or Pecorino romano)
• Black pepper

Quick Note: Parmesan cheese is salty so I suggest just a little at the end when serving this fabulous creamy bacon pasta!

Other Ingredients that you can use: 

• Red Pepper Flakes
• Fresh tomatoes
• Cream cheese
• Chicken broth
• Creme fraiche
• Thick-cut bacon
• Pancetta

How To Make Bacon & Tomato Pasta

You can find the full recipe below but here's what to expect when making this delicous and creamy bacon pasta!

Get a large pot of salted water to boil and cook the pasta al dente. Drain and set aside. 

Make The Creamy Bacon Sauce

• Start by frying the bacon: In a large skillet or non-stick pan, cook the bacon tenderly, that means, without being too chewy and hard. Medium heat, and halfway through, add a ¼ cup of white wine to deglaze the pan. If you don't like wine (you won't taste it in the pasta) you can add the same amount reserved pasta water. A splash of pasta cooking water and scraping the bottom of the pan also helps deglaze. 

Quick Note: Passata in Italian is 'passata di pomodoro - It's tomato sauce in a jar that's pureed.

What's so special about passata? It's concentrated and not watered down so you get a more substantial sauce with less cooking time!

Once you've mixed the passata with the bacon, you don't need to wait for it to cook.

• Creamy Sauce:  Pour the cream in, give it a mix, add your favorite spice (completely optional). We love a little pasta spice, vegetable spice or Italian seasoning.  Either way this creamy tomato sauce is going to hit the spot!

• Seasoning: I have not added salt to this recipe, don't fall over, it's okay it's still delicious 🙂 But incase you want to know why there is no salt?

Quick Note: The bacon has salt, the pasta water is salted and so for us, there is sufficient salt in the recipe as a whole. I would suggest that if you are adding salt, add less to the pasta water or consider the salt because you don't want to add too much!

It is best to let everyone add salt if they need. Black pepper is a perfect with this creamy pasta.

Creamy Bacon and Tomato Pasta

This recipe can be made even simpler. Buy pre-diced bacon instead of cutting it yourself. If you're cooking for just two people then you want the smaller packet of bacon, the 250grams. For a group of 4 to 6 you need a 500 grams packet. I normally buy the diced packet from Woolworths in 500g because once it's opened, everyone will find a reason to cook it.

There are so many ways to use bacon, I don't need to tell you but you can also add it to salads (not just toast with avocado). I love adding bits of bacon to potato salad!

Which Cream Is Used For Cooking Pasta?

It depends what the recipe asks for. If the recipe says 'cream' without specifying, then usually you can use regular cream. If thick cream is required then use thick cream because it will depend on what you're making. In this recipe I did not specify because 'cream' is okay and 'thick cream' is okay. I used 2 x 250 tubs of organic fresh cream from woolworths for this creamy pasta recipe.

Creamy Bacon and Tomato Pasta

This recipe can be made even simpler. Buy pre-diced bacon instead of cutting it yourself. If you're cooking for just two people then you want the smaller packet of bacon, the 250grams. For a group of 4 to 6 you need a 500 grams packet. I normally buy the diced packet from Woolworths in 500g because once it's opened, everyone will find a reason to cook it.

There are so many ways to use bacon, I don't need to tell you but you can also add it to salads (not just toast with avocado). I love adding bits of bacon to potato salad!

Which Cream Is Used For Cooking Pasta?

It depends what the recipe asks for. If the recipe says 'cream' without specifying, then usually you can use regular cream. If thick cream is required then use thick cream because it will depend on what you're making. In this recipe I did not specify because 'cream' is okay and 'thick cream' is okay. I used 2 x 250 tubs of organic fresh cream from woolworths for this creamy pasta recipe.

What Types Of Cream To Use For Cooking?

When you buy cream, read the label. For example, the Woolworths (South Africa) fresh cream, you will see on the outside of the container if it can be used for cooking, pouring or whipping. There will be an 'X' marked on what you can't use it for.

Double Thick Cream: Decadent, with a very high fat content (50%). Great for desserts like pavlova, cheesecakes, etc. It's like it's own dessert it's so thick creamy. It's also great for piping but it's not pourable and definitely don't try and whip it or you'll end up with a bowl of butter!

Pouring cream: This cream has a lower fat content so lighter in calories. It would depend on the recipe you're making.

Whipping cream: This cream is always like the best of both worlds because yes it can be whipped but it also works in recipes like this creamy pasta.

Organic Fresh Cream (used in this recipe): This cream has around 38% fat (since I last checked) which works here because it's not over thick and creamy. As mentioned, the idea with this recipe was to create an even balance. Each ingredient shines indivually while still complementing the other ingredients.

Best Way To Cook Bacon

Best to cook bacon when you want it crispy? 1). Medium-low heat for around 15 minutes until brown and crispy. 2) Cook the bacon on high first to achieve the brown edges and then lower the heat to let it render.

Here Are More Quick Pasta Dishes

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