3 Ingredient Creamy Tomato Shells

Three Ingredient Creamy Tomato Shells in a bowl with a fork.

This recipe is sponsored by Delallo

You know the times when you need a recipe that is quick, easy, and healthy – and you don’t have time to meal plan or research cause guess what? you’re sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store. no list. no time.

You know what you need, right?

You need a back pocket recipe.

HOW TO MAKE OUR CREAMY TOMATO SHELLS:

Three Ingredient Creamy Tomato Shells in a bowl.

Something that no matter what happens in that fateful moment in the grocery store parking lot – whether you have the energy to research meals and make a list real quick or you just end up doing a speedy, chaotic run-through so that your people don’t have to have cereal for dinner again – you are 100% covered.

Three things for making this a basic staple in my life lately:

Pasta
Pasta Sauce
Cashews**

**I know. I’m going rogue on you for this one – normally I would be all about the cheese and cream and all that, but guys, we’re talking about YOU HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR FRIDGE. You’ve just returned from a two-week trip to Europe that was totally amazing, and you ate so much cheese and bread that now what you need is a quick, 3-ingredient, back pocket meal that gives you a comforting little hug for being home without loading you with food guilt.

This Creamy Tomato Pasta is so basic WHICH IS THE WHOLE AMAZING POINT.

You cook the pasta, you add the sauce, and you whiz up the cashews until they are like a luscious nutty butter which you then use to make the pasta creamy.

Voila. Level One Basics.

Obviously if you choose pasta and sauce that is a little *too* basic, things could get boring which is why I highly recommend stocking up your pantry with these two high-quality, high-taste, but still basic and accessible things:

DeLallo whole wheat pastas of all shapes and sizes (shells in particular are pretty awesome right now);
DeLallo pomodoro fresco tomato sauces with flavor profiles that get you excited – roasted garlic, tomato basil, arrabbiata, three cheese, that type of thing.

And then, obviously, on to those buttery cashews.

The beauty of such a blank canvas of deliciousness is that it can just become what you want it to be.

Exhibit A: I made a batch of this for a friend who just had a baby and I stuck a few dozen meatballs in there, and topped it off with cheese. Family style creamy tomato pasta bake – easy. done.

Exhibit B: I made this right before our trip as my very last I-have-no-ingredients meal. It’s just too simple.

Exhibit C: I made a mini-batch as my very first welcome-home-to-an-empty-fridge meal, and then thew in some spinach and spicy sausage with the leftovers after visiting the grocery store and re-stocking the home food reserves.

Creamy Tomato Pasta, thank you for being in my back pocket, and thank you for being you.