One of Garten's most popular summer recipes is her summer garden pasta. It's also essentially a no-cook recipe, since the only time you'll need to use your stove is to boil the pasta noodles.
It's important to note that while Garten's summer garden pasta only has a few simple steps, you can't whip it up right before dinner.
To create the sauce, Garten marinates the tomatoes, basil, and olive oil for four hours before serving with the cooked pasta, so it requires some planning ahead.
Despite some extra steps, the end result was a delicious and easy dinner that was impressive enough to serve at a summer dinner party.
We had two Business Insider reporters put this recipe to the test — here's how it stacked up in terms of flavor and how easy it was to make.
Ina Garten's summer garden pasta requires just five main ingredients.
The recipe only required a few basic ingredients.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
To whip up her dish, you'll need:
Angel hair or another kind of dried pasta noodles
Parmesan cheese
Cherry tomatoes
Minced garlic
Basil leaves
For seasoning, you'll also need "good" olive oil — Garten wouldn't have it any other way — plus salt, freshly ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.
We tried making the recipe with angel hair pasta, like Garten recommends, and with spaghetti. Both types worked well with the dish, showing how versatile it is and how you can make it using any kind of pasta you might have lurking in your pantry.
We started by halving the cherry tomatoes, the stars of this pasta dish.
We cut the cherry tomatoes in half before adding them to a large mixing bowl.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Anneta opted for cherry tomatoes on the vine, while Erin purchased 2 pints of cherry tomatoes from her local Trader Joe's.
Both worked for this dish, though the pint of tomatoes was slightly easier to prepare.
Garten's recipe calls for 4 pints of cherry tomatoes to serve six. Since we were making a much smaller portion, we cut the recipe in half.
We then prepared the other ingredients for the marinated tomatoes.
We added the julienned basil leaves and garlic.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Per Garten's recipe, Anneta minced three cloves of garlic and julienned nine basil leaves.
By placing all the basil leaves on top of each other and slicing through them a few times, she was done julienning in a matter of seconds.
This is really the extent of the prep you need for the entire dish. You can also make prep even easier by using jarred minced garlic. After all, Garten claims that store-bought is fine in a pinch.
We threw the ingredients into a glass mixing bowl.
We seasoned the tomatoes, basil, and garlic with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
We seasoned everything with half a teaspoon of salt, a few dashes of red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper.
To top everything off, we soaked the tomato mixture in olive oil.
We then added about half of the serving size of olive oil.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
We used about half the olive oil Garten recommends. It was enough to cover the tomatoes and create a base of "sauce" at the bottom of the bowl.
We gave everything a good mix and then covered the bowl with plastic wrap.
We wrapped the bowl in plastic wrap and set it aside for four hours.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Garten recommends letting the mixture sit at room temperature for about four hours, so find a good spot in your kitchen and don't put it in the fridge.
We loved the ease of this meal — it reminded Erin of slow-cooker meals she's made in the past, since it's somewhat of a set-it-and-forget-it meal, other than making the pasta noodles.
Just before the four hours were up, we made the pasta noodles.
Garten recommended adding olive oil and salt to the pasta water before boiling it.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
We added olive oil and salt to the pasta water before boiling it, per Garten's instructions.
Anneta made the recipe with angel hair pasta, while Erin opted for spaghetti noodles she already had in her pantry.
The cooking times will vary slightly depending on which pasta you use, but Garten recommends cooking your noodles al dente.
Since angel hair pasta is so thin, it cooks much faster than other types of pasta, making this recipe even quicker and easier to make.
As the pasta cooked, we gave the tomato mixture another quick stir.
We stirred up the tomatoes after they marinated for four hours.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
We were instantly hit with a delicious scent, reminiscent of a plate of bruschetta.
With a smell so fresh and crisp, we understood why Garten decided to throw "garden" into the name of her dish — cherry tomatoes and basil might even be two ingredients you grow yourself in your home garden.
Once the pasta was done cooking, we threw the noodles into a bowl with the tomato mixture and added the grated cheese.
We added the Parmesan cheese to the dish, which helped it all come together.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
We followed Garten's advice and added freshly grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves before tossing everything together in the same pot we made the pasta in.
The Parmesan cheese really made the sauce come together, and allowed it to coat the noodles.
The easy pasta dish looked beautiful, and it tasted just as good.
The finished pasta dish was both beautiful and delicious.
Erin McDowell/Business Insider
Marinating in Garten's mixture for four hours gave the cherry tomatoes a rich and intense flavor, and the olive oil, seasonings, and Parmesan cheese combined to create a rich sauce that coated every noodle.
We couldn't stop snacking on the tomatoes as we tossed the pasta together, and Anneta said she'd definitely make these tomatoes again for a cheese plate or Greek salad.
Anneta thought the angel hair pasta was the perfect foundation for this dish. After her first bite, she completely understood why Garten recommends it. The airy and fluffy noodles balance out the richness of the tomatoes perfectly, ensuring that the pasta is still light, exactly what you want on a hot summer night.
Erin thought the spaghetti noodles also sopped up the delicious sauce and provided a more filling dish — it really depends on your own personal preference.
We'll definitely be making Garten's summer garden pasta again, even when the season ends.
Between prepping the tomato mixture and cooking the pasta, we only had to clean a few dishes, and the actual cooking time took less than 10 minutes.
This recipe was easy enough for a beginner cook to master, but still worthy of serving at a summer party. Combined with the fact that you might have most of these ingredients lying around, we'll definitely be adding this Ina Garten dish to our repertoire of recipes.