Some say that Valentine's Day is a corporate holiday devised to suck more money out of us consumers. To those people, I say "Bah humbug!"
Valentine's Day isn't about roses or chocolates or gifts or an expensive dinner. It's about setting aside time to make a day extra special for your special someone. It's also about pasta.
That's why we like to stay home for Valentine's Day – we make it all about us and I don't feel like that's selfish at all. We listen to the Michael Buble station on Pandora, sip wine, and cook something together.
This pasta reason number 2 why you should stay in for Valentine's Day. Reason 1 being that having a solo, romantic, at-home date is way more sexy than going out to a crowded restaurant for a less-than-superb meal. With the money you save, you can pick up a delicious bottle of Pinot Grigio to share. 🍷 Trust me, it'll pair perfect with the hint of spice in this pasta dish. It might even make dinner taste better.
From start to on-the-table, this recipe takes less than 30 minutes. And I'm serious about the "one-pot" title. Aside from a cutting board and knife, you'll only have to wash one pot – after the sauce comes together, the pasta cooks right there in it. Another perk of cooking noodles in the sauce?You get extra flavorful pasta. 👌👌👌
This pasta is the main course on our Valentine's Day date night menu – but it also works for any date night. Any night of the week. Any time of year. You're guaranteed to earn bonus points for scheduling surprise date nights, btw.
If you enjoyed this one pot pasta diavolo dish let us know in the comments!
Easy One Pot Pasta Diavolo for Date Night
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
This spicy tomato pasta dish is easy and requires just a few ingredients, but tastes fancy enough to fool anyone into thinking you're an Italian chef.
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 - 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained
- 1 ½ cups whole coconut milk
- 1 cup water
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¾ pound angel hair pasta, (regular spaghetti, penne, or linguine would also work)
Instructions
- In a deep pot, heat olive oil to medium and add minced garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute 2 minutes until fragrant.
- Pour in tomatoes, coconut milk, and water. Add salt and pepper and stir to combine.
- If you have an immersion blender, blend the sauce in the pot for about 1 minute. This helps to puree some of the tomatoes and combine the sauce. You can also pour the sauce into a blender to combine.
- Bring the sauce to a boil and add pasta. Cook until pasta is al dente, about 10 minutes.
- Serve and garnish with fresh basil.
Notes
If you don't like spicy food – dial back the amount of red pepper flakes or eliminate them completely. The dish will still be delicious!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Main
Nutrition
- Calories: 382
- Sugar: 5 g
- Sodium: 702 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 9 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 46 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 11 g
Wow! This was so good! I was looking for an easy vegan dish to make for me & my girls since my husband is out of town & this was a dyefinite keeper. It was almost too good. I wanted to eat the whole pot!
It's so good right?? I'm glad you enjoyed! :)
The recipe seems very delicious. Can I use regular milk instead of coconut milk? And how many tablespoons of tomato sauce equal to 1 oz? Thanks!
Hi Alya'a –
Whole coconut milk is quite a bit thicker, and richer than regular milk. You could definitely try it – but be careful with the temperature as it might scorch. 1 oz is about 2 tablespoons.
After spending the afternoon browsing for healthier recipes, I came across this one. I LOVE pasta, and my current diet has it eliminated due to calories. I love how this dish is low calorie! I made it for dinner tonight and it was a hit at my house. Even my very picky 7 year old loved it!! Adding to my recipe box. The only question I have about it ---- I didn't cook it the full 10 minutes due to having no liquid left in the pan... Is that normal? Should I have added a little more water or coconut milk and continue to cook for the full 10 minutes?
Hi Kelly –
Thanks for such a stellar review on this pasta! It's honestly one of my all-time favorites because I, too, am a pasta LOVER. As long as the noodles were cooked to your liking, it's ok that you didn't need the full 10 minutes. If they were a little undercooked, I would recommend adding a bit more water at the beginning of the cooking process. Enjoy!
What happened to the Saturday posting for the Valentine's Day menu?
Oy.... Life happened! It will be online tomorrow, instead. So sorry!
I made this last night and it was wonderful! My only question is should I have turned the heat down to medium or medium-low to cook the pasta for 10 minutes? Leaving it on high made it burn within about 5 minutes, which I luckily caught in time to try and fix it. Thanks!
Yum - thank you.
Cannot wait to try this one!
This looks delicious! I'll have to make this for Cheryl this weekend.
She will love this! Perfect date night meal. :)